Bones of the River - Edgar Wallace [44]
A carrier pigeon had taken to Sanders a sketchy account of Bosambo’s rough-and-ready justice. Later came Fobolo himself full of trouble and plaints. Squatting in the hot sunlight before the residency, Fobolo told his story.
“Lord, this Bosambo came and made a long palaver, saying many evil things against me.”
“Tell me what evil things, Fobolo,” said Sanders.
“Lord, he called me a stealer of dogs and an eater of dogs; and that was foolish, as your lordship knows, for all true men eat dogs. And then, lord, when the palaver was finished, Bosambo went to a certain place near the water, where I keep all my dogs, and he took them all away with him; and, lord, they sat in Bosambo’s canoe and made sad noises.”
Sanders thought a moment, his chin in his palm, and then: “Fobolo, I speak! As to these dogs, I will send a book to Bosambo, and he shall tell me where they have gone. Afterwards you shall tell me from whence they came.”
“Lord,” protested the other, “they are my very own dogs. I have had them all since they were little babies–”
“That is as may be,” said Sanders. “Now listen, Fobolo. Strange stories come to me from the Upper River of men who die quickly, and for no reason. And my spies tell me of women who go secretly to you by night, and come away with little gourds which hold death. Some day I will come to your village and hold a palaver. Tell me, Fobolo, how high do the trees grow on the edge of the Great Lake?”
Fobolo shuddered. “Lord, they are too high for me,” he said huskily.
“But not so high that one of my soldiers cannot climb,” replied Sanders significantly. “And on one branch to fasten a rope where a man can hang. I think, Fobolo, your days are very few.”
That night Fobolo sat with his followers in that place on the edge of the residency wood which is set apart for the entertainment of such visitors as he; and in the morning he was gone.
The disappearance of Helen was not discovered till daylight. Bones had made for her a kennel of a peculiarly ingenious type. It was an exact replica of his own hut, with verandah poles and thatched roof complete. He had made it with the assistance of half the garrison, and had covered the floor of the interior with a thick layer of native grass. And Helen seemed to be satisfied, and to have no other desire than to sleep.
She had been attached to a thick leather thong, which in turn was fastened to one of the verandah poles, and there, with a large bone and a dish of water, Bones had left her, apparently reconciled to her fate, and even looking forward to the coming day. And in the morning she was gone.
“Nobody but an imbecile would fasten a bulldog to a leather lead,” said Hamilton. “Of course she gnawed it through.”
“But, my dear old thing,” said Bones dismally, “she was so perfectly satisfied when I said ‘night-night’ to her. And she looked up into my eyes with a kind of resigned, happy look, and toddled off without a word.”
“You’re bringing tears to my eyes,” said Hamilton. “And now she has toddled off without a word again. You’ll probably find her in the woods.”
A search, conducted by the entire population, produced no sign of the fugitive. Bones, looking for clues, found nothing more tangible than one of his slippers in the darkest corner of the kennel. It was half-eaten.
Curiously enough, nobody associated the disappearance of Helen of Troy with Fobolo, and no word of Helen came from the spies of Sanders.
Three months later, Fobolo called together his kinsmen and spoke to them.
“You know that I am rich and that all men envy me, even Sandi, who sent Bosambo here to take my dogs, which he has sold to the chiefs of the Isisi. And now I have word that Sandi is coming with his soldiers because of the death of a certain man who was poisoned by his wife. I must go quickly, or I shall hang, for the woman was put to the fire by the king of the Akasava, and she said that she bought the poison from me, giving me a thousand brass matakos. And this is true, that she told me it was for a leopard who broke into her garden and scratched her. But because