"Oh!" said Mrs. Stott, her face paling at the very thought, "after all the _time, labour, money_—much of it _your_ money—that we’ve put into Mission work in the Happy Valley. Oh, _why_ wasn’t it taken over by the English? ... I think it would _break my heart_ to leave it and begin our work over again. We’ve got so fond of the people ..." "Don’t be down-hearted," said Roger, "I shall always stand up for them as long as I’m here, and I have no intention of going—except for a holiday—for ever so long.... _What a strange noise_...?!..." A prolonged, distant rumble, like the sound a big avalanche makes in the Alps: and before they could speculate on its meaning, the ground trembled under their feet, the two-storied house seemed to sway this way and that, and then settle itself with a jarring thud. Fine dust fell from the ceiling; trophies of shields and spears came clattering down, the glass and china on the table tinkled, the finger-bowls giving forth a prolonged musical note. Outside, after a moment’s hush, cocks crowed, hens whooped, geese raised grating screams, peacocks honked and yelled, turkeys gobbled and crowned cranes threw back their golden-crested heads and uttered their resounding call. "An earth tremor," said Roger in an even voice, for Lucy looked like fainting. "A _very small_ earthquake; _nothing_ to be alarmed at, though it turns one a bit sick inside. They don’t often happen. This is only the second I’ve experienced in ten years. You see, we live on the border of a volcanic region. Here, _Lucy_! Pull yourself together. Have a nip of brandy?... "Better? Let’s get out into the air, on the verandah, and see if any damage has been done.... I hope it won’t affect our mining galleries...." But no reports of damage from the earthquake came to hand. The natives said that these shocks were sometimes followed by outbursts of gases, smoke, steam from one or other of the craters in the north. A week after Mrs. Stott’s visit, Roger, accompanied by Maud to look after him and see he did not overstrain himself, rode down into the Happy Valley to Mwada station. Here they interviewed the redoubtable Ann, now a square-built grey-haired matron of middle age and practically no sexual charm. She had black eyes, glowering under black eyebrows, a sallow complexion, and a thin-lipped mouth, with down-turned corners, like the mouth of Queen Victoria when she was displeased. Ann listened in grim silence to Major Brentham’s hesitating remonstrances. When he had finished she replied that it was more than flesh and blood could stand that she should be spending her time and the Mission money training up native girls to be Christian wives for Christian natives, and as soon as they had learnt some civilization they were sought out and snapped up by Germans, inside and outside the Concession. It wasn’t for that she had come out to Africa....