Hillyard asked no questions but drank his whisky-and-soda.

“I haven’t seen Luttrell since we were at Oxford together,” he said.

“And it’s by an accident that you see him now,” said Rayne.  “The Governor of Senga was thrown from his horse and killed on the spot down by the bridge there six weeks ago.  The road gave way suddenly under his horse’s hoofs.  Some one was wanted here immediately.”

“Yes, there’s no doubt of that,” said Mr. Blacker, the short square man, with emphasis.

“Captain Luttrell had done very well in Kordofan,” Rayne resumed.  “He was fetched up here in a hurry as Acting-Governor.  But no doubt the appointment will be confirmed.”

Mr. Blacker added another croak.

“Oh, it’ll be confirmed all right, if——­” and he left his sentence in the air; but his gesture finished it.

“If there is any Luttrell left to confirm,” Martin Hillyard interpreted, though he kept his interpretation to himself.

There certainly was in that room with the big balcony a grim expectation of trouble.  It was apparent, not so much in words as in an attention to distant noises, and a kind of strained silence.  The sound of a second caravan was heard.  It was coming from the north.  Rayne ran to the rail of the balcony and looked anxiously out.  The street here was very broad and the huts upon the opposite side already dark except at one point, where an unshaded kerosene lamp cast through on open door a panel of glaring light upon the darkness.  Rayne saw the caravan emerge spectrally into the light and disappear again.

“They are our beasts,” he said in a voice of relief, and a minute later he called down to the soldier in charge.  He spoke in the Dinka language and the soldier replied in the same tongue.  Hillyard understood enough of it now to learn that the women had arrived safely at Senaar without any incident or annoyance.

“That’s good,” said Colin Rayne.  He turned to Hillyard.  “Luttrell’s a long time.  Shall we go and find him?”

Both Blacker and Dr. Mayle looked up with surprise, but Hillyard had risen quickly, and they raised no objection.  Rayne walked down the stairs first and led the way towards the rear of the building across an open stretch of ground.  The moon had not yet risen, and it was pitch dark so that Hillyard had not an idea whither he was being led.  Colin Rayne stopped at a small, low door in a high big wall and knocked.  A heavy key grated in a lock and the door was opened by a soldier.  Hillyard found himself standing inside a big compound, in the midst of which stood some bulky, whitish erection, from which a light gleamed.

Colin Rayne led the way towards the light.  It was shining through the doorway of a chamber of new wood planks with a flat roof and some strange, dimly-seen superstructure.  Hillyard looked through the doorway and saw a curious scene.  Two Sudanese soldiers were present, one of whom carried the lantern.  The other, a gigantic creature with a skin like polished mahogany, was stripped to the waist and held poised in his hands a huge wooden mallet with a long handle.  He stood measuring his distance from the stem of a young tree which was wedged tightly between a small square of stone on the ground and the flat roof above.  Standing apart, and watching everything with quiet eyes was Harry Luttrell.