"Lord king," said the oldest of his councillors, "what if Sandi puts you to the chain-gang?"
"That is with to-morrow," quoth the king, and gave orders for preparations to be made for departure.
Half-way to headquarters the two met; King Peter going down and Sanders coming up. And here befell the great incident.
No word was spoken of Peter's fault before sunset; but when blue smoke arose from the fires of Houssa and warrior, and the little camp in the forest clearing was all a-chatter, Sanders took the king's arm and led him along the forest path.
Peter told his tale and Sanders listened.
"And what of the chief of the Akasava?" he asked.
"Master," said the king, "he fled to the forest cursing me, and with him went many bad men."
Sanders nodded again gravely.
They talked of many things till the sun threw long shadows, and then they turned to retrace their footsteps. They were within half a mile of the camp and the faint noise of men laughing, and the faint scent of fires burning came to them, when the chief of the Akasava stepped out from behind a tree and stood directly in their path. With him were some eight fighting men fully armed.
"Lord king," said the chief of the Akasava, "I have been waiting for you."