“And what?  Or what?” I demanded, as insolently as I knew how.  I saw no sense in answering him gently.

“I will show you!”

I had begun to feel weak again, but he offered me an arm, and since he seemed in no hurry I was able to struggle along beside him.  We took to the main road and when we reached the D.O.A.G. he called for a hammock and some porters.  Being carried in that way was sheer luxury after the walk in my weak state, and I lay back feeling like a tripper on vacation.  I saw Fred and Will climbing down from their observation post on top of the Bismarck monument, but he did not notice them.

Every German sergeant, and every askari we passed saluted us with about twice as much respect as I had ever seen them show the commandant; and Schillingschen returned salutes much less carefully than he, merely by a curt nod, or one raised finger.  Apparently the military feared him, for when we passed the commandant, who was personally superintending the flogging of two natives in the market-place for not saluting himself, he took several paces forward to make sure Schillingschen should see his act of homage.  The professor merely nodded in return, and I began to I wonder whether there was a rift in the lute of Muanza’s official good relations.  Surely I hoped so.  Anything calculated to set the Germans’ garrison life at odds looked to me like the gift of heaven!

Schillingschen, striding beside the hammock, directed our course along the shore-front under palm-trees, planted in stately rows with meticulous precision.  He kept far enough to one side to avoid the charge of being seen walking with me, but from time to time tossed me remarks calculated to keep my nerves on edge.

“What I shall show you is by way of warning!” was a remark he repeated two or three times.  Then:  “A native can always be made to talk by flogging him.  Some white men need sterner measures!”

We left the commandant’s house on the hill far behind and followed the curve of the lake shore, toward a rocky promontory with a clump of thick jungle behind it.  Fear began to get its work in, until the thought came that what he most desired was to make me afraid; then I managed to summon sufficient contempt for him and his tribe to regain my nerve and once more almost enjoy the promenade.

He halted the hammock bearers at a spot about three hundred yards away from the promontory and, leaving them standing there, turned inland with a hand on my arm to give me support and direction.  We followed a path that was fairly well marked out and trodden, but rough, and several times I should have fallen but for his help.  My legs still refused any sort of strenuous duty.

“The staff surgeon at this station is a man of ideas,” he announced as we rounded a big rock and passed down a narrow glade in the jungle.  “He is original.  He is not like some of our official fools.  He studies.”