"I am going to let you return to your chief," he said. "You will take him a message from me. Goruba is dead. He lies at the bottom of the well in the fort. Your people may fetch him, if they will. He coveted this treasure, which was stolen, I have no doubt, by his master Rabeh. It is now mine.
"You will tell your chief all that has happened, how we have beaten his men in fair fight, how their man Goruba has met his death through greed. You will tell him that we will fight his men again if they come to this side of the Yo. These people are no longer afraid of the Tubus. They mean to be left in peace. Tell your chief that.
"We have taken some forty Tubus prisoners. We shall keep them until your chief sends word that he will do as I say, and keep his men from raiding on this side of the river. The country here belongs to the Great White King, and if your people do wrong again, the Great White King will send men with big medicine to punish you. Now you may go, and remember my words."
Gambaru translated this solemnly, sentence by sentence, and Gamba listened gravely. When he had permission to go, he leapt upon his horse, gave a shrill whistle, and galloped away to the north.
"I hope the Tubus have learnt their lesson," said Royce to Challis. "Now what are we to do with this ivory? I suppose it is booty, fairly won in war, but we ought to go shares with the crowd."
"You mean turn it into money?"
"Yes, though money will be no good to the negroes. The first thing, at any rate, is to carry it to the coast. I think our Tubu prisoners might do that for us. We'll sell it, and consult somebody, a missionary perhaps, as to what we can best do for the people."
"What about the tin mine?"
"Well, we shall simply have to come back again. It's a terrible loss of time, but, after all, we're in no hurry to be rich, and if we have managed to secure the peace of this country we shan't regret our trouble. Don't you agree with me?"
"With all my heart. It's a sort of lesson to us, Hugh. We came out thinking only of ourselves, and in this strange way we have been led to think of others. It's a fine thing to have been able to do some good in the world."