Often that
vision comes back to me in my sleep, or at times in my waking hours
when some heavy odour reminds me of the overpowering scent of the
great trumpet-like blooms which hung in profusion upon broad-leaved
bushes that were planted in almost every garden.
On we marched till at last we reached a tall, live fence that was
covered with brilliant scarlet flowers, arriving at its gate just as
the last red glow of day faded from the sky and night began to fall.
Komba pushed open the gate, revealing a scene that none of us are
likely to forget. The fence enclosed about an acre of ground of which
the back part was occupied by two large huts standing in the usual
gardens.
In front of these, not more than fifteen paces from the gate, stood
another building of a totally different character. It was about fifty
feet in length by thirty broad and consisted only of a roof supported
upon carved pillars of wood, the spaces between the pillars being
filled with grass mats or blinds. Most of these blinds were pulled
down, but four exactly opposite the gate were open.
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