"
Now from all the company went up a great gasp, and the Kalubi fell
down upon his face again, and lay still. Only the Motombo seemed to
show no surprise, perhaps because he already knew the story.
"Is that all?" he asked.
"No, O Mouth of the god. Last night, after the council of which you
have heard, the Kalubi wrapped himself up like a corpse and visited
the white men in their hut. I thought that he would do so, and had
made ready. With a sharp spear I bored a hole in the wall of the hut,
working from outside the fence. Then I thrust a reed through from the
fence across the passage between the fence and the wall, and through
the hole in the hut, and setting my ear to the end of the reed, I
listened."
"Oh! clever, clever!" muttered Hans in involuntary admiration, "and to
think that I looked and looked too low, beneath the reed. Oh! Hans,
though you are old, you have much to learn."
"Among much else I heard this," went on Komba in sentences so clear
and cold that they reminded me of the tinkle of falling ice, "which I
think is enough, though I can tell you the rest if you wish, O Mouth.
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