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We were not so easily to be had, however. In accents of grave reproof the professor pointed out to Lualamba that it was inconsistent with our dignity to pay a visit even to so great a potentate as M'Bongwele; that, on the contrary, it was M'Bongwele's duty to show his appreciation of our condescension in entering his country by paying us a visit within the next few hours, for the purpose of rendering homage to us.
It was the dissatisfaction of certain chiefs with Seketulo's system of government, as prescribed to him by the four Spirits, that made M'Bongwele's secret return and his resumption of the throne possible.
The result of which prompt treatment was that the girl, after enduring some three hours' slight suffering and inconvenience from the pain and subsequent swelling of the wound, recovered, and in a day or two was as well again as ever. This incident was, as might be expected, much talked about in the village, and it very soon reached M'Bongwele's ears.
A low murmur of applause from the king's adherents followed this enunciation, showing that they evidently considered their monarch to be getting the better of the strangers, and a smile of gratification flickered for an instant over M'Bongwele's features. "Not everything," corrected the professor. "We know a great many things, but not everything.
"And, thereupon, the majority declared for M'Bongwele; while we who were opposed to him agreed to bide our time and await the return of the Spirits, recognising the futility of resistance at the moment, which, indeed, could but have ended in M'Bongwele's triumph and our destruction to no purpose." "You did well, O Lobelalatutu," answered von Schalckenberg, approvingly.
"Then spake M'Buta, one of the few chiefs who, with us, had refrained from declaring in M'Bongwele's favour, asking what would happen to the nation, when the four Spirits of the Winds should return and find M'Bongwele again in power, and Seketulo slain.
A very large amount of excavation much more than they could possibly manage alone would be necessary before the lower portion of the walls and the pavement of the building could be laid bare, and they decided to go over to M'Bongwele's village on the following morning and arrange with him if possible for the hire of some fifty or a hundred men.
A moment later the Flying Fish was sweeping over M'Bongwele's village, the inhabitants of which could be seen scuttling into their huts, like so many rabbits into their holes, evidently in a state of lively terror at the portentous reappearance of the well-remembered ship of the Four Spirits wending its way toward the spot where the king's latest victim had that morning been led forth to undergo the torture.
"I see your point, old chap, and out goes the `glim'." And so saying he took down the lamp, opened, and extinguished it. "It is well," approved the king, with a sigh of relief. "Now can I talk without fear of discovery." Know you also the story of Seketulo, whom the Four Spirits made king in M'Bongwele's stead when they first came among the Makolo?" "Yes, we know," answered Dick.
This was all very well, but von Schalckenberg had not yet fully carried out his programme; he had still one more item in the entertainment which he was determined to produce, and which he fully believed would render M'Bongwele's subjugation not only complete but permanent.
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