"The white man understands why I will have nothing to do with him—why I will not allow my people to trade with him. It may be true that you, O white man, are not as these others; you may be a friend to the black man, and believe that the black man can feel pain and grief; but did not the servants of the Great White Chief say that they were friends of the black man? Did they not say the Great White Chief loved us and wished to do us good? We have seen the love of the Great White Chief; it is the love of the crocodile for the antelope: we would have none of it. Therefore I say, O white man, though I bear you no ill-will, you must go."
Courteously as the chief spoke, there was no mistaking his firmness.
"We must go and take stock of this," said Mr. Martindale. "It licks me at present, Jack, and that's a hard thing for an American to say. Come right away."
They took ceremonious leave of the chief, and were escorted to their camp at the edge of the stream.
"What's to be done, my boy?" said Mr. Martindale. "We can't find the gold without the chief's help, unless we go prospecting at large: we might do that for months without success, and make Imbono an open enemy into the bargain. We can't fight him, and I don't want to fight him. After what we've seen and heard I won't be responsible for shedding blood; seems to me the white man has done enough of that already on the Congo. This is a facer, Jack."
"Never say die, uncle. It's getting late: I vote we sleep on it. We may see a way out of the difficulty in the morning."
[[1]] The native word for any food or meal.
[[2]] Arab slave raiders.
[[3]] Leopold II, sovereign of the Congo Free State and king of the Belgians.
[[4]] Yes, do so.