286 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



to the queen, and danced before her. Then the music and 

 the singing grew loud and louder, and fast and faster flew his 

 feet ; the sporran jumped and shook, and the monkeys' tails 

 whirled round him. On and on he danced tireless till the 

 Ught began to fade and silhouette the lines of swaying girls 

 who still wagged their heads like china mandarins. At last 

 the music and the dancing died upon the dusk ; then girls 

 came and laid a parrot and a bow with three bunches of 

 arrows at my feet as an offering from the king. 



