"We should like you to dine with us," said Sanders pleasantly. The leader of the L'Mandi mission hesitated, but the thin man with the spectacles, who had been silent, answered for him. "We shall be pleased, Mr. Commissioner," he said. "After eating with these swine for a month, a good dinner would be very acceptable." Sanders said nothing, though he winced at the inelegant description of his people, and the three evangelists went back to their huts, which had been built for their use by the Akasava chief. An hour later that worthy sent for a certain witch-doctor. "Go secretly," he said, "and call all headmen and chiefs to the Breaking Tree in the forest. There they shall be until the moon comes up, and the L'Mandi lords will come and speak freely. And you shall tell them that the word he spoke before Sandi was no true word, but to-night he shall speak the truth, and when Sandi is gone we shall have wonderful guns and destroy all who oppose us." This the witch-doctor did, and came back by the river path. Here, by all accounts, he met Bosambo, and would have passed on; but the Chief of the Ochori, being in a curious mind and being, moreover, suspicious, was impressed by the importance of the messenger, and made inquiries.... An old man is a great lover of life, and after the witch-doctor's head had been twice held under water--for the river was providentially near--he gasped the truth. * * * * * The three missioners were very grateful guests indeed. They were the more grateful because Patricia Hamilton was an unexpected hostess. They clicked their heels and kissed her hand and drank her health many times in good hock. The dinner was a feast worthy of Lucullus, they swore, the wine was perfect, and the coffee--which Abiboo handed round with a solemn face--was wonderful. They sat chatting for a time, and then the bearded man looked at his watch. "To bed, gentlemen," he said gaily. "We leave you, Herr Commissioner, in good friendship, we trust?" "Oh, most excellent," said Sanders awkwardly, for he was a poor liar, and knew that his spies were waiting on the bank to "pick up" these potential enemies of his. He watched them go ashore and disappear into the darkness of the forest path that leads to the village. The moon was rising over the tall trees, and an expectant gathering of Akasava notables were waiting for a white spokesman who came not, when Bosambo and his bodyguard were engaged in lifting three unconscious men and laying them in a large canoe. He himself paddled the long boat to midstream, where two currents run swiftly, one to the sea and one to the Isisi River, which winds for a hundred miles until it joins the Congo.