“The god! What god?”
“The god which these shenzie (savages) had here before the Bwana came.”
“The idol!” Zu Pfeiffer ripped out an oath. Then glaring questioningly at the shrunken figure on the floor considered.
“Tell him he lies. How does he know that the idol has come back if they will not tell him anything?”
Again the interpreter jabbered at Sakamata who mumbled back.
“He says, Bwana, that his words are white. That [pg 284] they have not told him, but that he has heard the message of the drums. ‘The Fire is lighted!’”
“What is that?”
“I don’t know, Bwana.”
“Ask him, you swine pig!”
“He says that whenever there is a new king that they call out those words, meaning that he is come.”