Each Man Then Pulled The Skin Cover Off
His Gun Lock, Carefully Looked To See If Things There Were All
Right
and ready loosened his knife in its snake-skin sheath; and then we
set about hauling poor Silence out,
Binding him up where necessary
with cool green leaves; for he, not having a skirt, had got a good
deal frayed at the edges on those spikes. Then we closed up, for
the Fans said these pits were symptomatic of the immediate
neighbourhood of Efoua. We sounded our ground, as we went into a
thick plantain patch, through which we could see a great clearing in
the forest, and the low huts of a big town. We charged into it,
going right through the guard-house gateway, at one end, in single
file, as its narrowness obliged us, and into the street-shaped town,
and formed ourselves into as imposing a looking party as possible in
the centre of the street. The Efouerians regarded us with much
amazement, and the women and children cleared off into the huts, and
took stock of us through the door-holes. There were but few men in
the town, the majority, we subsequently learnt, being away after
elephants. But there were quite sufficient left to make a crowd in
a ring round us. Fortunately Wiki and Kiva's friends were present,
and as a result of the confabulation, one of the chiefs had his
house cleared out for me. It consisted of two apartments almost
bare of everything save a pile of boxes, and a small fire on the
floor, some little bags hanging from the roof poles, and a general
supply of insects.
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