Witch-Doctors

Witch-Doctors by Charles Beadle

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Witch-Doctors by Charles Beadle
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license

Title: Witch-Doctors
Author: Charles Beadle
Release Date: July 18, 2007 [Ebook #22099]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO 8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITCH-DOCTORS***

Witch-Doctors
by Charles Beadle Author of "A Whiteman's Burden"
Boston and New York Houghton Mifflin Company 1922

Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner, Frome and London

CHARACTERS

LUCILLE CHARLTRAIN (Mrs. Gerald Birnier) A Photograph USAKUMA (The Incarnation of the Unmentionable One) An Idol
GERALD BIRNIER A Professor
ZU PFEIFFER (Hermann von Schnitzler und) German Kommandant
ZALU ZAKO (son of Kawa Kendi) Heir Apparent
BAKUMA (daughter of Bakala) in love with Zalu Zako
MYALU (son of MBusa) a chief in love with Bakuma
BAKAHENZIE (son of Maliko) Chief Witch-Doctor
MARUFA (son of MTungo) another Witch-Doctor
KAWA KENDI (son of MFunya MPopo) King-God and Rainmaker
MFUNYA MPOPO (son of MKoffo) Predecessor of Kawa Kendi
KINGATA MATA (son of Kabolo) Keeper of the Sacred Fires
SAKAMATA deposed Witch-Doctor and spy
YABOLO another Witch-Doctor
MUNGONGO Birnier's servant
SCHULTZ German sergeant
LUDWIG German sergeant
SCHNEIDER German sergeant

CONTENTS
Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31
Extra Pages Errata

WITCH-DOCTORS
CHAPTER 1
In a bayou in the south-eastern corner of the Victoria Nyanza was the station of Ingonya, a brown scab on the face of the green earth. The round mud huts of the askaris were like two columns of khaki troops marching rigidly on each side of the parade ground. To the north, upon a slight rise of ground, were the white men's quarters; the non-commissioned officers had four bungalows to the south of the orderly room and Court House; and beyond a green plot flanked by a store house and an ordnance building, was a bigger bungalow, florid in the amplitude and colour of the red pillared verandah, the residence of the Kommandant, Herr Ober-Lieutenant Hermann von Schnitzler und zu Pfeiffer.
On the northern side, overlooking the swamp and the distant lake, was a flagpole, before which paced an ebon sentry in a uniform of white knickers, tunic and lancer cap, red faced. The glow of sunrise stained the green of the moon with crimson. A trumpet blared. From the rear of the Residence marched with stiff-legged precision a squad of askaris and the stocky figure of a non-commissioned officer in a white helmet. Simultaneously appeared on the verandah of the large bungalow the tall form of a white man in pink silk pyjamas. The sergeant barked. The squad presented arms. A coloured ball slid up the flagpole. The first rays of the sun splintered the bloodied waters beyond into silver spikes and caressed a fluttering black, white and red flag.
Then the squad ported arms, relieved the sentry, and retired, their black legs gleaming blue points as they rose and fell. The pink figure disappeared. Sergeant Schultz strutted back to his bungalow, in the verandah of which squatted a native girl clad in gay trade cloths. He emerged lighting a cigar, and sjambok in hand, returned to the orderly room. Another trumpet blared. From beyond the askaris' camp came a line of natives, young and old, their scrawny necks linked together by a light iron chain which clanked musically. Filing on to the parade ground they were divided into gangs by Sergeant Schneider to labour under guard at the interminable work of the camp.
The air above the swamp began to sizzle in the heat. The same slender figure clad in immaculate white reappeared upon the south verandah of the florid bungalow. Herr Ober-Lieutenant stood staring about the small square with a peevish glint in the fair eyes. A big negro in spotless white hurried around the house bearing a brass tray set with a cup, a liqueur glass and a decanter. Herr Lieutenant sprawled his legs on either arm of a Bombay chair. As he delicately mixed cognac with his coffee, his jewelled fingers sparkled in a shaft of sunlight which set afire the sapphires mounted in an ivory bracelet.
At a yard from the table stood the servant as rigid as the flagpole. With a lazy insolence which marked his movements, the lieutenant sipped the caf��-cognac and smoked a cheroot, as if he were seated on the terrace of the Caf�� de la Paix. The brutality of the round skull, emphasized by the cropped blonde hair, seemed at variance with the boyish rotundity of the face and the small, but dominant, nose. Two separate moustaches bristled so fiercely that they suggested sentries on guard over the feminine softness of the lips. When he had finished zu Pfeiffer arose languidly, lighted a