Imgani, in his hunting trips, saw things which might have filled him with amazement, but for the fact that he was a man who was not given to emotion. He saw little caravans that came stealing from the direction of the territory of France, with whimpering women and groaning men in bondage. He saw curious midnight shippings of human souls, and grew to know the white-robed Arabs who handled the whip so deftly. One night as he stood watching all these things, El Mahmud, that famous trader, espied him in the moonlight and saw that he was of a strange people. "What man are you?" he asked. "Lord," said Imgani, "I am of a strange people--the N'Gombi." "That is a lie," said the slaver, "for you have not the face marks of the N'Gombi; you are a half-bred Arab," and he addressed him in Arabic. Imgani shook his head. "He does not understand," said the slaver to his lieutenant; "find out where this man's hut is; one night we will take him, for he is worth money." He spoke in Arabic, and his subordinate nodded. When the slaver came again three men visited Imgani's house, but he was hunting, and he was hunting every time the long boats came by night to O'Fasi. * * * * * Sanders did not go to O'Fasi for six months, during which time, it should be emphasised, nothing happened which by any stretch of imagination could be held to justify any loss of prestige. He was due to make his half-yearly visit to the Isisi. The crops had been good, the fish plentiful, the rains gentle, and there had been no sickness. All these facts you may bear in mind. One morning, when swirls of grey mist looped from tree to tree and the east was growing grey, Imgani came back from the forest bearing on his shoulders all that was material of a small buck which he had snared in the night. When he saw a little fire before his hut and a man squatting chin on knee, he twirled those spears of his cheerfully and went on, for he was afraid of no man. "Is the world so full of people that you come to disturb my loneliness?" he asked. "I have a thought that I shall kill you and fry your heart, for I do not like to see you sitting by a fire before my hut." He said all this with a ferocious mien, and the man before the fire shifted uneasily. "Master, I expected this," he said, "for I see you are a proud man; but I come because of your pride, knowing your wisdom." Imgani tossed the buck to one side and sat down, staring threateningly and laying the haft of his spears across his bare knee. Then the other man craned his neck forward and spoke eagerly. The sun came up and flushed the world rosy; but still he sat talking with great force, Imgani listening. "So, master," he concluded, "we will kill Sandi when he comes to palaver. Ifiba, M'bwka, and a cousin of my mother's, will put spears into him very quickly, and we shall be a great people." Imgani nodded his head wisely.