VISITORS IN THE ZERIBA.
"Under the directions of the Doctor, M'tesa spoke through the instrument, and immediately received a response from our end of the wire. The voice of the minister seemed to be close to his ear, and he looked around, with an angry expression on his face, as if he believed there was some trick about it.
"The kahotah was so far off that he could only be heard by shouting, and then the king spoke again through the telephone.
"The kahotah responded immediately. To say the king was astonished is to express very mildly his mental condition.
"In some doubt as to what was going on, he called one of his daughters, a little girl about eight or nine years old, who spoke Arabic fluently, and sent her to our end of the line. Evidently he thought it possible that the minister might be in collusion with us, and therefore he called the girl, as he knew she had not seen us till that morning, and had not spoken a word to any of our party.
"She talked with her father both in their native language and in Arabic. As soon as they began speaking Doctor Bronson walked away a few yards from the king's side, so as not to overhear the conversation; and Fred and I walked away from the little girl in the same manner.
"They talked there for nearly half an hour, and then the king asked if we could do the same thing at a greater distance.
"We told him we could talk that way farther than he could possibly travel in a whole day.