Sanders of the River   By: Edgar Wallace (1875-1932)

BY

EDGAR WALLACE

Author of "Four Just Men," "The Council of Justice," "The Duke in the Suburbs," etc.

WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED LONDON AND MELBOURNE

POPULAR NOVELS BY EDGAR WALLACE

Published by Ward, Lock & Co., Limited.

In Various Editions.

SANDERS OF THE RIVER BONES BOSAMBO OF THE RIVER BONES IN LONDON THE KEEPERS OF THE KING'S PEACE THE COUNCIL OF JUSTICE THE DUKE IN THE SUBURBS THE PEOPLE OF THE RIVER DOWN UNDER DONOVAN PRIVATE SELBY THE ADMIRABLE CARFEW THE MAN WHO BOUGHT LONDON THE JUST MEN OF CORDOVA THE SECRET HOUSE KATE, PLUS TEN LIEUTENANT BONES THE ADVENTURES OF HEINE JACK O' JUDGMENT THE DAFFODIL MYSTERY THE NINE BEARS THE BOOK OF ALL POWER MR. JUSTICE MAXELL THE BOOKS OF BART THE DARK EYES OF LONDON CHICK SANDI, THE KING MAKER THE THREE OAK MYSTERY THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE FROG BLUE HAND GREY TIMOTHY A DEBT DISCHARGED THOSE FOLK OF BULBORO THE MAN WHO WAS NOBODY THE GREEN RUST

Made and Printed in Great Britain by Ward, Lock & Co., Limited, London.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE EDUCATION OF THE KING 5

II. KEEPERS OF THE STONE 29

III. BOSAMBO OF MONROVIA 47

IV. THE DROWSY ONE 61

V. THE SPECIAL COMMISSIONER 78

VI. THE DANCING STONES 98

VII. THE FOREST OF HAPPY DREAMS 117

VIII. THE AKASAVAS 131

IX. THE WOOD OF DEVILS 151

X. THE LOVES OF M'LINO 169

XI. THE WITCH DOCTOR 189

XII. THE LONELY ONE 208

XIII. THE SEER 224

THE LAST. DOGS OF WAR 243

SANDERS OF THE RIVER.

CHAPTER I.

THE EDUCATION OF THE KING.

Mr. Commissioner Sanders had graduated to West Central Africa by such easy stages that he did not realise when his acquaintance with the back lands began. Long before he was called upon by the British Government to keep a watchful eye upon some quarter of a million cannibal folk, who ten years before had regarded white men as we regard the unicorn; he had met the Basuto, the Zulu, the Fingo, the Pondo, Matabele, Mashona, Barotse, Hottentot, and Bechuana. Then curiosity and interest took him westward and northward, and he met the Angola folk, then northward to the Congo, westward to the Masai, and finally, by way of the Pigmy people, he came to his own land.

Now, there is a subtle difference between all these races, a difference that only such men as Sanders know.

It is not necessarily a variety of colour, though some are brown and some yellow, and some a very few jet black. The difference is in character. By Sanders' code you trusted all natives up to the same point, as you trust children, with a few notable exceptions. The Zulu were men, the Basuto were men, yet childlike in their grave faith. The black men who wore the fez were subtle, but trustworthy; but the browny men of the Gold Coast, who talked English, wore European clothing, and called one another "Mr.," were Sanders' pet abomination.