The Stolen Child 
been taken by Ogudookpeh’s men and that 
Artumbala was afraid to give it up until I sent 
the price of the child to Ogudookpeh, for if the 
latter should get angry with me, he would come 
and kill everybody in the compound. 1 then 
threatened to take the whole case before the 
Bashorun. The messenger immediately returned 
from Artumbala and said that I must not take the 
matter before the Bashorun, that he did not want 
to see me get into trouble and that he himself 
would satisfy Ogudookpeh's men, and that if I 
would come down he would give me the child. 
I took the mother and went. The crowd was 
still there but very silent. The mother threw 
herself at the feet of the chief in mute supplica¬ 
tion. In another moment he took the child from 
some one behind him and handed it to me and I 
placed it in the arms of the mother. She re¬ 
ceived it with many expressions of joy and of 
thanks, and hurried away. I also thanked the 
chief but I did not give him a cowry. 
When I came out next morning, I learned that 
Artumbala had come with some of his men early 
that morning and gone to the chapel and passed 
several moments on his knees and then had gone 
away without saying anything to anybody. I 
suppose that he intended this to be a kind of dig- 
255 
