Then with really marvellous
swiftness he cut the straps of the tin box that Alan wore upon his back,
and since there was no time to find the key and unlock it, seized the
little padlock with which it was fastened between his finger and thumb,
and putting out his great strength, with a single wrench twisted it off.
"What are you----" began Alan.
"Hold tongue," he answered savagely, "make you god, I priest. Ogula know
Little Bonsa. Quick, quick!"
In a minute it was done, the golden mask was clapped on to Alan's head,
and the leather thongs were fastened. Moreover, Jeekie himself was
arrayed in the solar-tope to which all this while he had clung, allowing
streams of green mosquito netting to hang down over his white robe.
"Come out now, Major," he said, "and play god. You whistle, I do
palaver."
Then hand in hand they walked from behind the rock. By this time the
particular company of the cannibals that was opposite to them, which
happened to include their chief, had climbed the steep slope of the hill
and arrived within a distance of twenty yards. Having seen the two men
and guessed that they had taken refuge behind the rock, their spears
were lifted to kill them, since when he beholds anything strange, the
first impulse of a savage is to bring it to its death.
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