Edgar Wallace

“ With that, the hundred armed warriors in attendance at the palaver closed round the girl.
"And so," said Sanders, "you got nothing?"
"Lord, it is as you say," moaned the old chief.
"It is evident," said Sanders, "that an injustice has been done; for no man may take a woman unless he pay. I think," he added, with a flash of that mordant humour which occasionally illuminated his judgments, "that the man pays twice, once to the father, and all his life to his wife—but that is as may be." ”

“ Yet, if the Great King will pay a fine of one thousand head of cattle and will allow free access to his country for my soldiers and my commissioners, I will live in peace with him.'"
The old man laughed, a wicked, cackling laugh.
"Oh, ko!" he chuckled; "a great king!"
Then the girl stepped forward.
"Sandi," she said, "once you put me to shame, for when I would have danced for you, you slept."
"To you, Daihili," said Sanders steadily, "I say nothing; I make no palaver with women, for that is not the custom or the law. Still less do I talk with dancing girls. ”

“ The very day Sanders had left, the messenger of the great king had come, and with him a hundred warriors, demanding the dancing girl. True to his pre-arranged scheme, the chief began the inevitable bargaining over terms. The presents offered were too small. The girl was worth a hundred thousand rods—nay, a thousand bags of salt.
"You were mad," said Sanders calmly; "no woman is worth a thousand bags of salt." ”

“ The flat stones were being taken from the fire with wooden pincers and laid to form a rough pavement before the tent.
"White man," said the king, as rude hands pulled off the Commissioner's boots, "the woman Daihili would see you dance."
"Be assured, king," said Sanders, between his teeth, "that some day you shall dance in hell in more pleasant company, having first danced at the end of a rope."
"If you live through the dancing," said the king, "you will be sorry." ”

“ A slim girl, taller than the average woman, with a figure perfectly modelled, a face not unpleasant even from the European standpoint, graceful in carriage, her every movement harmonious. Sanders, chewing the end of his cigar, took her in at one glance. ”

“ In such a case," said the chief hopefully, "I will barter and bargain, keeping him in suspense, and every day the price will rise——"
"If the Great One need her, let her go," said Sanders, "lest instead of money presents he sends an army. I will have no war, or women palaver, which is worse than war, in my country—mark that, chief." ”

“ King-maker he was beyond question—you could see Republicanism written legibly in the amused grin with which he made them—but the kings he made were little ones—that is the custom of the British- African rule, they break a big king and put many little kings in his place, because it is much safer. ”

“ When you place a man upon a throne, even though that throne be a wooden stool worth in the mart fourpence more or less, you assume a responsibility which greatly outweighs all the satisfaction or personal gratification you may derive from your achievement. ”

“ It may have been his discovery that induced the girl to send an army against the Icheli, thinking perchance that her people were spying upon her.
One day the city of Icheli was surrounded by the soldiers of the great king, and neither man, women nor child escaped.
The news of the massacre did not come to Sanders for a long time. The reason was simple; there was none to carry the message, for the Icheli are isolated folk. ”

“ He had three hundred wives and forty thousand fighting men, and his acquaintance with white men began and ended with the coming of a French Mission, who presented him with a tall hat, a barrel organ, and one hundred thousand francs in gold. ”