"What is it?" asked Hamilton.
Sanders was perturbed—this he knew, and his own move towards his room was in the nature of a challenge for information.
"Bones," said the Commissioner shortly. "Do you realize that we have had no news from him since he left?"
Hamilton smiled.
"He's an erratic beggar, but nothing could have happened to him, or we should have heard about it."
Sanders did not reply at once. He paced up and down the gravelled path before the Residency, his hands behind him.
"No news has come from Ranabini's village for the simple reason that nobody has entered or left it since Bones arrived," he said. "It is situated, as you know, on a tongue of land at the confluence of two rivers. No boat has left the beaches, and an attempt to reach it by land has been prevented by force."
"By force?" repeated the startled Hamilton.
Sanders nodded.
"I had the report in this morning. Two men of the Isisi from another village went to call on some relations. They were greeted with arrows, and returned hurriedly. The headman of M'gomo village met with the same reception. This came to the ears of my chief spy Ahmet, who attempted to paddle to the island in his canoe. At a distance of two hundred yards he was fired upon."