Evidently he was much disturbed--the motions of his back told me this
--by the sense of some terrible mistake that he had made. For a moment
he stood still, then wheeled round and asked me if we had seen
anything.
"Yes," I answered indifferently, "we saw a number of men gathered
round a fire, nothing more."
He tried to search our faces, but luckily the great moon, now almost
at her full, was hidden behind a thick cloud, so that he could not
read them well. I heard him sigh in relief as he said:
"The Kalubi and the head men are cooking a sheep; it is their custom
to feast together on those nights when the moon is about to change.
Follow me, white lords."
Then he led us round the end of the long shed at which we did not even
look, and through the garden on its farther side to the two fine huts
I have mentioned. Here he clapped his hands and a woman appeared, I
know not whence. To her he whispered something. She went away and
presently returned with four or five other women who carried clay
lamps filled with oil in which floated a wick of palm fibre.
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