CHAPTER X 



MY JOURNEY CONTINUED TO ASHAKA 



At length we reached Dorroro, a town lying in the valley at 

 the foot of a lofty hill with a square-topped head. Between 

 the city and the hill there runs a river, which serves as a line 

 of defence for the more peaceful inhabitants against the fierce 

 tribes of the hills, whose pastime it is, when they get the 

 chance, to swoop down and cut off the labourers, as they 

 gather nuts in the palm groves, beheading the men and 

 carrying off the women and children. 



I was well received by the king, who lodged me in a 

 fine house and supplied me with plenty of food. In the 

 evening I set up the phonograph with much ceremony, and 

 bidding him listen attentively, told him that a friend desired 

 to greet him. At the first few words he recognised the 

 voice of his ally, and with no more than a gesture of ordinary 

 surprise, as if to say, " I didn't know you were here," he 

 stood up and looked busily about him, over the heads of 

 my " boys," quite expecting to find the King of Nassarawa 

 there. When I assured him his friend was not present, 

 but that I had captured his voice and held it there (tapping 

 the box), his face became a picture of fear. I am sure 

 that at the moment, he regarded me with more dread than 

 his enemies, the fierce Kagorras over the river. For it 

 was evident that I was not only a head-hunter like them, 



