Charles Beadle

“ With the hot kiss upon the dew-tipped crest of the giant tree the two white men hustled the last of the empty pods into the latrine behind the hut. Just as a bird raucously announced the capture of his prey to his nearby mate, Warren-Dukely, peering through the fence, saw the first of the six young girls who daily brought his food, for to a layman or woman of the age of puberty was it worse than death to come within the orbit of the sacred magician's sight, the husband of the Tree of Life, arbiter of fecundity in crops and women, mother of all, potent and terrible. ”

“ A lizard progressed in suspicious darts across the earthen floor, reached the calabash of goat abandoned by the doctor and feasted most lizardly upon the swarming flies. Suddenly a streak of cobalt blue struck the empurpled lizard like dulled lightning, and a small snake, startled by a throttled gurgle, slithered into a hollow in the wattle and daub wall. From the southern end of the glade parrots streamed, screeching a pessimistic warning.
Warren-Dukely stirred and arose as his keen ears caught a distant chanting. He awoke the slumbering doctor. ”

“ Warren-Dukely sighed as he stretched himself on the bed.
"Queer," he observed, staring at the grass roof, "a while ago I was willing to—oh, cut a dean's throat to get out of this hell, an' now, when I think I'm good as free, I'm wanting to raise Cain 'cause I can't take my worldly goods an' chattels with me."
"Human nature, ol' boy," commented the doctor, chewing away as contentedly as a terrier at the bone. ”