heels with bowed head, and his eyes on the ground. And in the midst of a
great stir they passed swift and absorbed, like two men hurrying through
a great solitude.

In his council hall he was surrounded by the gravity of armed chiefs,
while two long rows of old headmen dressed in cotton stuffs squatted on
their heels, with idle arms hanging over their knees. Under the thatch
roof supported by smooth columns, of which each one had cost the life of
a straight-stemmed young palm, the scent of flowering hedges drifted in
warm waves. The sun was sinking. In the open courtyard suppliants walked
through the gate, raising, when yet far off, their joined hands above
bowed heads, and bending low in the bright stream of sunlight. Young
girls, with flowers in their laps, sat under the wide-spreading boughs
of a big tree. The blue smoke of wood fires spread in a thin mist above
the high-pitched roofs of houses that had glistening walls of woven
reeds, and all round them rough wooden pillars under the sloping eaves.
He dispensed justice in the shade; from a high seat he gave orders,
advice, reproof. Now and then the hum of approbation rose louder, and
idle spearmen that lounged listlessly against the posts, looking at
the girls, would turn their heads slowly. To no man had been given the
shelter of so much respect, confidence, and awe. Yet at times he would
lean forward and appear to listen as for a far-off note of discord, as
if expecting to hear some faint voice, the sound of light footsteps;
or he would start half up in his seat, as though he had been familiarly
touched on the shoulder. He glanced back with apprehension; his aged
follower whispered inaudibly at his ear; the chiefs turned their eyes
away in silence, for the old wizard, the man who could command ghosts
and send evil spirits against enemies, was speaking low to their ruler.
Around the short stillness of the open place the trees rustled faintly,
the soft laughter of girls playing with the flowers rose in clear bursts