A pause and a confused murmuring, and now again the wild song rose and
again Jeekie answered.
"What the deuce are you doing? Where are we?" asked Alan faintly.
Jeekie turned and beamed upon him; although his teeth were chattering
and his face was hollow, still he beamed.
"You awake, Major?" he said. "Thought good old sun do trick. Feel your
heart now and find it beat. Pulse, too, strong, though temp'rature
not normal. Well, good news this morning. Little Bonsa come out top as
usual. Asiki priests on bank there. Can't see them, but know their song
and answer. Same old game as thirty years ago. Asiki never change, which
good business when you been away long while."
"Hang the Asiki," said Alan feebly, "I think all these poor beggars are
dead, and he pointed to the rowers.
"Look like it, Major, but what that matter now since you and I alive?
Plenty more where they come from. Not dead though, think only sleep, no
like cold, like dormouse. But never mind cannibal pig. They serve our
turn, if they live, live; if they die, die and God have mercy on souls,
if cannibal have soul. Ah! here we are," and from beneath six inches of
water he dragged up the tin box containing Little Bonsa, from which he
extracted the fetish, wet but uninjured.
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