"I dashed straight back to the _Wiggle_," said Bones breathlessly, "searched for my medicine chest--it wasn't there! Not so much as a mustard plaster--what was I to do, dear old Miss Hamilton?" he appealed dramatically. "Don't tell him, Pat," begged Hamilton, "he's sure to guess it." "What was I to do? I seized a bottle of brandy," said Bones with relish, "I dashed back to where Bosambo was lyin'. I dashed into the village, into his hut and got a glass----" "Well, well!" said Sanders impatiently, "what happened after all this dashing?" Bones spread out his hands. "Bosambo is alive to-day," he said simply, "praisin'--if I may be allowed to boast--the name of Bones the Medicine Man. Look here, sir." He dragged towards him along the floor of the hut a package covered with a piece of native sacking. This he whisked away and revealed the hideous handiwork of an artist who had carved and painted as true to nature as a man may who is not quite certain whether the human eye is half-way down the nose or merely an appendage to his ear. "That, sir," said Bones impressively, "is one of the most interestin' specimens of native work I have ever seen: a gift! From Bosambo to the jolly old doctor man who dragged him, if I might so express it, from the very maws of death." He made his dramatic pause. Sanders bent down, took a penknife from his pocket and scraped the paint from a flat oblong space on the top. There for all men to see--save Bones who was now engaged in a relation of his further adventure to his one sympathizer--was a brass plate, and when the paint had been scraped away, an inscription-- Department du Medicins, Etat CONGO BELGE. Sanders and Hamilton gazed, fascinated and paralysed to silence. "I've always had a feelin' I'd like to be a medicine man." Bones prattled on. "You see----" "One moment, Bones," interrupted Sanders quietly. "Did you open this box by any chance?" "No, sir," said Bones. "And did you see any of its contents?" "No, sir," said Bones confidentially, "that's the most interestin' thing about the box. It contains magic--which, of course, honoured sir and Excellency, is all rubbish." Sanders took a bunch of keys from his pocket, and after a few trials opened the case and scrutinized the contents, noting the comforting fact that all the tubes were sealed. He heaved a deep sigh of thankfulness. "You didn't by chance discover anything about the missing cultures, Bones?" he asked mildly. Bones shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, and looked disconsolately at his chief. "You think I've been feeble, but I haven't lost hope, sir," he said, with fine resolution. "I've got a feelin' that if I were allowed to go into the forest, disguised, sir, as a sort of half-witted native chap, sir----" "Disguised!" said Hamilton. "Good Lord, what do you want a disguise for?" CHAPTER IV BONES AND THE WIRELESS Ko-boru, the headman of Bingini, called his relations together for a solemn family conference.