Free Bones of the River by Edgar Wallace Page B

it is likely that I shall stop over in certain villages for months at a time. So that if I disappear, I hope I shall not give you any uneasiness.”
    “You will,” said Sanders promptly. “I do not think there is any danger, for the tribes are very quiet just now, but in this land ‘to-morrow is a different day,’ as the saying goes.”
    Mr Doughty was introduced to Hamilton of the Houssas, and to Lieutenant Tibbetts, whose other name was Bones, and whilst tiffin was in course of preparation he went down to the quay to examine his heavy baggage that had come on before him, and to try his missionary Bomongo upon the crew of the big canoe which had come down from the Akasava country to take him up river.
    “Deuced nice fellow,” said Bones thoughtfully. “I’ve often wished, as you’ll bear witness, dear old officer, to make a complete study of these jolly old verbs – what about sending me up with the doughty old Doughty to look after him?”
    “I’ll say this for you, Bones,” said Hamilton, “you’re never at a loss to find an excuse for loafing. You stay here and study the jolly old verbs and the payroll and the stores account. And you might give the men a few days’ field exercise; they’re slacking fearfully.”
    Bones sighed and abandoned his dream.
    So Mr Terence Doughty went alone, and after a month’s idling along the river, came in the dark of an evening to a beach.
    “We will sleep here tonight,” he said, and the headman of the boat grew unexpectedly agitated.
    “Lord, we will go on to the city, which we shall reach by the morning. For though my strong paddlers are tired, they will be happy.”
    “Why not here?” asked Terence in surprise.
    The man tapped his teeth with his knuckles. “Lord, this is a magic place. For here is the Tree of the World, and devils live in abundance, so that you cannot walk without treading on their tails. Now let us go on, for my men have fear in their stomachs.”
    “Land me alone and my little tent,” said Terence, now thoroughly interested. “In the morning come for me.”
    He went ashore on the flat beach and watched the hurried and fearful erection of his tent. They lit a fire for him (all in frantic haste) and paddled away.
    Terence had brewed himself a cup of tea and was preparing a meal of canned chicken breast and biscuit, when, raising his eyes suddenly, he saw, standing in the light of the fire, a slim figure. For a second he was startled, and then: “I am M’mina of The Tree,” said the girl simply, “and I am a great friend of ghosts.”
    “O woman, sit with me and eat,” said Terence, and she obeyed.
     
    *  *  *
     
    There is a tree in the Forest of Happy Dreams, which is in the Akasava country, that has stood from the beginning of time. It is the Tree of the World, and floated in the waters which, according to legend that is so splendidly confirmed by the Jeano-men, was the beginning of all substance. And to the bare roots of the tree came earth, and more earth, and rocks to keep the earth in its place, and mountains to hold the rocks, and so the world was made. It is a cedar of enormous height, which in itself is miraculous, for no other cedars grow in the Akasava. Its branches spread amazingly. Beneath, you may see the rotting stumps of other trees which in the course of hundreds of years have been cut down that the Tree of the World might grow. Some day, so the legend runs, that tree will wither, and on that day the world will begin to go back to the water. First the mountains will crumble and fall into the great river; then the rocks will go to dust, and lastly the earth will dissolve into water and there will be no more earth.
    Near by the tree, in a large hut, lived Ogonobo, the Keeper of the Tree, a wise old man, reputedly friend of devils and in the fellowship of ju-jus.
    So potent was the mystery of Ogonobo that even M’shimba M’shamba, most ruthless and disrespectful of all great spirits, spared his house on the night of