Makola moved his shoulders, looking down on the ground. “What do I know? I think only. Will you come and look at the ivory I’ve got there? It is a fine lot. You never saw such.” He moved towards the store. Kayerts followed him mechanically, thinking about the incredible desertion of the men. On the ground before the door of the fetish lay six splendid tusks. “What did you give for it?” asked Kayerts, after surveying the lot with satisfaction. “No regular trade,” said Makola. “They brought the ivory and gave it to me. I told them to take what they most wanted in the station. It is a beautiful lot. No station can show such tusks. Those traders wanted carriers badly, and our men were no good here. No trade, no entry in books: all correct.” Kayerts nearly burst with indignation. “Why!” he shouted, “I believe you have sold our men for these tusks!” Makola stood impassive and silent. “I--I--will--I,” stuttered Kayerts. “You fiend!” he yelled out. “I did the best for you and the Company,” said Makola, imperturbably. “Why you shout so much? Look at this tusk.” “I dismiss you! I will report you--I won’t look at the tusk. I forbid you to touch them. I order you to throw them into the river. You--you!” “You very red, Mr. Kayerts. If you are so irritable in the sun, you will get fever and die--like the first chief!” pronounced Makola impressively. They stood still, contemplating one another with intense eyes, as if they had been looking with effort across immense distances. Kayerts shivered. Makola had meant no more than he said, but his words seemed to Kayerts full of ominous menace! He turned sharply and went away to the house. Makola retired into the bosom of his family; and the tusks, left lying before the store, looked very large and valuable in the sunshine. Carlier came back on the verandah. “They’re all gone, hey?” asked Kayerts from the far end of the common room in a muffled voice. “You did not find anybody?” “Oh, yes,” said Carlier, “I found one of Gobila’s people lying dead before the huts--shot through the body. We heard that shot last night.”