"O Kalubi," he said, "set the Kalubi-who-/was/ and the three white men
and their three servants on the borders of the forest that is named
House-of-the-god and leave them there. Then return and depart, for
here I would watch alone. When all is finished I will summon you."
Komba bowed his handsome head and at a sign two of the men got out
paddles, for more were not needed, and with slow and gentle strokes
rowed us across the water. The first thing I noted about this water at
the time was that its blackness was inky, owing, I suppose, to its
depth and the shadows of the towering cliff on one side and of the
tall trees on the other. Also I observed--for in this emergency, or
perhaps because of it, I managed to keep my wits about me--that its
banks on either side were the home of great numbers of crocodiles
which lay there like logs. I saw, further, that a little lower down
where the water seemed to narrow, jagged boughs projected from its
surface as though great trees had fallen, or been thrown into it. I
recalled in a numb sort of way that old Babemba had told us that when
he was a boy he had escaped in a canoe down this estuary, and
reflected that it would not be possible for him to do so now because
of those snags.
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