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Updated: June 16, 2025
"Nay," answered Bimbane, quickly placing her right hand behind her, "the power is in myself; the ring is but a means, and any bright thing would do as well."
I, Pousa, captain of the queen's bodyguard, have been dispatched by Bimbane, the Deathless One, the Possessor of all Knowledge, the Reader of all Secrets, the High and Mighty Queen of the Bandokolo, to bid thee welcome to her country and to conduct thee in all honour to her gracious presence." "It is well, O Pousa, and I thank you," answered I, as I lowered my rifle.
As for Bimbane, what little I could induce him to say about her only went to confirm the astounding account of her that Siluce had given; and I confess that once or twice during the progress of that conversation I very seriously asked myself whether, after all, it would not be wiser on my part to turn back there and then, instead of pushing on any farther into so extraordinary a country, and placing myself in the power of so extraordinary a woman.
And then, when at length we reached Anuti's dwelling, that individual introduced me to some thirty of the most important and influential nobles and chiefs of Bandokolo, among whom was Mindula, the father of the unhappy Siluce; and, one after the other, these men arose and related the wrongs, the cruelties, and the injustices which they and theirs had suffered at the hands of Bimbane, accompanying their statements with proofs of so convincing a character that I no longer found it possible to disbelieve.
Anuti had been absent about three-quarters of an hour when a servant announced that two of my natives desired speech with me; and when they were introduced they proved to be 'Mfuni and Piet, who had encountered each other on the main road and now returned together, bringing with them the astounding news that the whole of my oxen had suddenly dropped dead while feeding, at the precise moment so far as I was able to fix it when Bimbane had pronounced their death warrant!
I know the story which the lips of the dying Siluce whispered into your ears, for my spirit was with you both then, and I say that every word of it is true, although I know that Bimbane has asserted the contrary. Think of this, therefore, Chia'gnosi, and ask yourself whether you may not have been led by a cunning, unscrupulous, and lying old witch to give your sympathy to the wrong person.
Profoundly perplexed, and quite unable to decide which of these two, Bimbane or Anuti, was telling me the truth, I rode slowly and thoughtfully back to the palace, and, surrendering Prince to the care of 'Mfuni, sought the privacy of my own apartments, anxious to think over quietly and free from all distraction what I had heard, in the hope of being able to arrive at some definite conclusion with regard to the matter.
I am fully aware that they will have to be so in order to convince you; and I promise you that they shall be. And now, a word of warning. It may be that Bimbane is cognisant of what has passed between us, for I doubt not that she watches your every movement; and, if so, she will be fully aware, not only that we have met, but of every word that we have spoken.
But if this and the other things that he had told me concerning Bimbane were indeed true, she must be a most extraordinary woman, endowed with strange and wonderful powers, and it might be that I should find her rather more than I could manage before I had done with her.
It was an exceedingly disquieting circumstance; for if Bimbane actually possessed this astounding, supernatural gift of knowledge it practically rendered her all-powerful, and how could any ordinary individual myself, for instance successfully contend with such a being if contention should ever become necessary?
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