"Palaver," said he, speaking in the language of the Fans. "Friends. Trade-palaver Good."
The only answer he got was an arrow that shot past his ear, and disappeared in the mud He threw back his head and laughed.
"No good," he cried. "Trade-palaver friends."
A tall, thin savage, about six feet in height, approached by leaps and bounds, springing like an antelope from one tuft of grass to another. His black face, with white, gleaming teeth, looked over the top of a large, oval shield. With a final spring, he landed on dry ground a few feet from where Crouch was standing. Then he raised his spear on high; but, before he had time to strike, Crouch's fist rang out upon his chin like a pistol-shot, and he went over backwards into the mud.
"CROUCH'S FIST RANG OUT UPON HIS CHIN LIKE A PISTOL-SHOT, AND HE WENT OVER BACKWARDS INTO THE MUD."
There was a strange, sucking noise as the marsh swallowed him to the chin. For some moments he floundered hopelessly, his two hands grasping in the air. He laid hold of tufts of grass, and pulled them up by the roots. Then Crouch bent down, gripped both his hands, and with a great effort dragged him on to terra firma.
His black skin was plastered with a blacker mud, and on almost every inch of his body, from his neck to his feet, a large water-leech was glued like an enormous slug. The man was already weak from loss of blood. Had he remained in the marsh a minute longer, there is no doubt he would have fainted. Crouch took a knife from his pocket, and, talking all the time, as a nursemaid talks to a naughty child, one by one he tore the leeches from the man's body, and threw them back into the marsh.
The others, who had drawn closer, remained at a safe distance. It seems they were undecided how to act, since this man was their leader, and they were accustomed to receive their orders from him. It is impossible to say what would have happened, had not Crouch taken charge of the situation. He asked the man where his village was, and the fellow pointed to the east.
"Yonder," said he; "in the hills."