This pot looked innocent enough when all was done, like one of those that gardeners in England put over forced rhubarb, no more.  And yet, such is the strength of the imagination, I think that on the whole I should have preferred the object underneath naked and unadorned.  For instance, I have forgotten to say that the heads of those of the White Kendah who had fallen in the fight had been set up on poles in front of Simba’s house.  They were unpleasant to contemplate, but to my mind not so unpleasant as that pot.

As a matter of fact, this precaution against injury from the sun to the late diviner proved unnecessary, since by some strange chance from that moment the sun ceased to shine.  Quite suddenly clouds arose which gradually covered the whole sky and the weather began to turn very cold, unprecedentedly so, Marut informed me, for the time of year, which, it will be remembered, in this country was the season just before harvest.  Obviously the Black Kendah thought so also, since from our seats on the roof, whither we had retreated to be as far as possible from the pot, we saw them gathered in the market-place, staring at the sky and talking to each other.

The day passed without any further event, except the arrival of our meals, for which we had no great appetite.  The night came, earlier than usual because of the clouds, and we fell asleep, or rather into a series of dozes.  Once I thought that I heard someone stirring in the huts behind us, but as it was followed by silence I took no more notice.  At length the light broke very slowly, for now the clouds were denser than ever.  Shivering with the cold, Marut and I made a visit to the camel-drivers, who were not allowed to enter our house.  On going into their hut we saw to our horror that only two of them remained, seated stonily upon the floor.  We asked where the third was.  They replied they did not know.  In the middle of the night, they said, men had crept in, who seized, bound and gagged him, then dragged him away.  As there was nothing to be said or done, we returned to breakfast filled with horrid fears.

Nothing happened that day except that some priests arrived, lifted the earthenware pot, examined their departed colleague, who by now had become an unencouraging spectacle, removed old dishes of food, arranged more about him, and went off.  Also the clouds grew thicker and thicker, and the air more and more chilly, till, had we been in any northern latitude, I should have said that snow was pending.  From our perch on the roof-top I observed the population of Simba Town discussing the weather with ever-increasing eagerness; also that the people who were going out to work in the fields wore mats over their shoulders.