But Komba
put the matter by with a smile and a wave of his hand.
So in due course off we went, taking with us all our baggage, which
now that it had been lightened by the delivery of the presents, was of
no great weight.
Five minutes' walk along the wide, main street led us to the northern
gate of Rica Town. Here we found the Kalubi himself with an escort of
thirty men armed with spears; I noted that unlike the Mazitu they had
no bows and arrows. He announced in a loud voice that he proposed to
do us the special honour of conducting us to the sanctuary of the Holy
One, by which we understood him to mean the Motombo. When we politely
begged him not to trouble, being in an irritable mood, or assuming it,
he told us rudely to mind our own business. Indeed, I think this
irritability was real enough, which, in the circumstances known to the
reader, was not strange. At any rate, an hour or so later it declared
itself in an act of great cruelty which showed us how absolute was
this man's power in all temporal matters.
Pages:
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404