"At these words, Illustrious and Excellent Senhor, the king with some reluctance took from one of the strangers a bag in which two eyes had been cut, and pulled it over his head and went back into his hut. "Since then he has done many remarkable things. He has forbidden the importation of drink, and has freed all labour men to their homes. He has nominated Zifingini, the elder chief of the M'fusi, to be king after his departure, and has added another fighting regiment to his army. "He is quite changed, and though they cannot see his face and he has banished all his wives, relatives and councillors to a distant village, he is more popular than ever. "Illustrious and Excellent Senhor, I feel that at last I am seeing the end of the old regime and that we may look forward to a period of sobriety and prosperity in the M'fusi. "Receive the assurance, Illustrious and Excellent Senhor, of my distinguished consideration." His Excellency went purple and white. "Holy mother!" he spluttered apoplectically, "this is ruin!" With trembling hands he wrote a telegram. Translated in its sense it was to this effect-- "Recall de Sagosta without fail or there will be nothing doing on pay day." He saw this dispatched on its way, and returned to his bureau. He picked up the duc's letter and read it again: then he saw there was a postscript. "P.S.--In regard to the strangers who visited the king, the man they carried away on a closed litter was very sick indeed, according to the accounts of woodmen who met the party. He was raving at the top of his voice, but the white man was singing very loudly. "P.SS.--I have just heard, Illustrious and Excellent Senhor, that the Hooded King (as his people call him) has sent off all his richest treasures and many others which he has taken from the huts of his deported relatives to one Bosambo, who is a chief of the Ochori in British Territory, and is distantly related to Senhor Sanders, the Commissioner of that Territory." THE END TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Minor changes have been made to correct typesetter's errors; in all other respects, every effort has been made to be true to the author's words and intent. End of Project Gutenberg's The Keepers of the King's Peace, by Edgar Wallace