"You--you brute!" she cried. "You shall not do this! Chaké is not to blame! It is I--I, who speak. I did this. I ordered him to kill you. I alone should be punished!"
He drew a deep breath.
"I thought so," he said softly; then in Swahili: "These are my orders. Let this man be well guarded. Let him be treated well, and given potio and meat. He shall be punished later. And now," he turned to Bibi-ya-chui in English again, "let us drop the excitement and the hysterics. Let us sit down calmly and discuss the matter. Perhaps you are now ready to tell me why you have lied to me; why you have concealed your possession of a secret map and other information; why you have deliberately delayed my march; and, above all, why you have refused to aid my blindness and have attempted to kill me."
[CHAPTER XX]
KINGOZI'S ULTIMATUM
But she did not immediately answer this. She was on fire with a new thought.
"This is another of your--what you call--traps!" she cried. "You never intended to kill this man with the kiboko! You intended to make me speak--as I did!"
"That's as may be," he rejoined. "At least I should have tried how far he would have been faithful to you before telling what he knew--if you had not spoken."
"He is faithful--to the death," she asseverated with passion.
"I am inclined to believe you are right. But that is neither here nor there. I am waiting answers to my questions."