'MacKenzie has been very patient with him. If I'd been in his shoes I'd have sent him back to the coast when he sacked Macinnery.'
Walker did not answer, and the doctor proceeded to moralise.
'It seems to me that some men have natures so crooked that with every chance in the world to go straight, they can't manage it. The only thing is to let them go to the devil as best they may.'
At that moment Alec MacKenzie came in. He was dripping with rain and threw off his macintosh. His face lit up when he saw Walker and the doctor. Adamson was an old and trusted friend, and he knew that on him he could rely always.
'I've been going the round of the outlying sentries,' he said.
It was unlike him to volunteer even so trivial a piece of information, and Adamson looked up at him.
'All serene?' he asked.
'Yes.'
Alec's eyes rested on the doctor as though he were considering something strange about him. The doctor knew him well enough to suspect that something very grave had happened, but also he knew him too well to hazard an inquiry. Presently Alec spoke again.
'I've just seen a native messenger that Mindabi sent me.'