Henderson the Rain King - Saul Bellow [69]
the drums, deep drums carried by women of unusual stature, the female soldiers or amazons of the king, Dahfu, there came into the street a company of people carrying large state umbrellas. Under one of these, a large fuchsia-colored business of silk, marched a burly man. One of the other umbrellas had no user and I reckoned, correctly, that it must have been sent for me. "See," I said to Romilayu, "they wouldn't send that luxurious-looking article for a man they were going to frame up. That's a lightning deduction. Just an intuition, but I think we have nothing to worry about, Romilayu." The drummers marched forward rapidly, the umbrellas twirling and dancing roundly and heavily, keeping time. As these huge fringed and furled silk canopies advanced the Wariri got out of the way. The heavily built man, smiling, had already seen me and extended his burly arms toward me, holding his head and smiling in such a way as to show that he was welcoming me affectionately. He was Horko, who turned out to be the king's uncle. The dress he wore, of scarlet broadcloth, was banded about from his ankles over his chest and up to the armpits. This wrapping was so tight as to make the fat swell upward under his chin and into his shoulders. Two rubies (garnets, maybe?) dragged down the soft flesh of his ears. He had a powerful, low-featured face. As he stepped out of the shade of his state umbrella, the sun flared richly into his eyes and made them seem as much red as black. When he raised his brows the whole of his scalp also moved backward and made a dozen furrows all the way up to the occiput. His hair grew tight and small, peppercorn style, in tiny droplike curls. Genial, he gave me his hand to shake, in civilized manner, and laughed. He showed a broad, happy-looking, swollen tongue, dyed red as though he had been sucking candy. Adapting my mood to his, I laughed too, corpse or no corpse, and I poked Romilayu in the ribs and said, "See? See? What did I tell you?" Cautious, Romilayu refused to be reassured on such slight evidence. Villagers came about us, laughing with us, although more wildly than Horko, shrugging their shoulders and making pantomimes about me. Many-were drunk on pombo, the native beer. The amazons, dressed in sleeveless leather vests, pushed them away. They weren't to get too close to Horko and myself. Corset-like vests were the only garments worn by these large women, who were rather heavy or bunchy in build, and unusually expanded behind. "Shake, shake," I said to Horko, and he invited me to take my place under the vacant umbrella. It was a real luxury article, a million-dollar umbrella if I ever saw one. "The sun's hot," I said, "though it can't be eight o'clock in the morning. I appreciate the courtesy." I wiped my face, making looks of friendship, in other words exploiting the situation as much as possible and trying to put the greatest possible distance between us and the corpse. "Me Horko," he said. "Dahfu uncle." "Oh, you speak my language," I said, "how lucky for me. And King Dahfu is your nephew, is he? Hey, what do you know? And are we going to visit him now? The gentlemen who questioned us last night said so." "Me uncle, yes," he said. Then he gave a command to the amazons, who at once made an about-face which would have been noisy had they worn boots, and began to pummel out the same march rhythm on the bass drums. The great umbrellas began again to flash and sway and the light played beautifully on the watered silk as they wheeled. Even the sun seemed to lie down greedily on them. "Go to palace," said Horko. "Let's," I said. "Yes, I am eager. We passed it yesterday coming into town." Why shouldn't I admit it, I was worried still. Itelo seemed to think the world and all of his old school friend, Dahfu, and had spoken of him as though he were one in a million, but on the basis of my experience thus far with the Wariri I had little reason to feel comfortable. I said, above the drums, "Romilayu, where is my man Romilayu?" I was worried, you see, lest they decide to hold him in connection with the body. I wanted