Summary

The story begins with a description of the political state of an unnamed African country where a power struggle was taking place between the king and a president. The king and the president belonged to different tribes. The king was liked by the colonists--the British--but the president controlled the army. As such, the president had checkpoints established to capture the king, with the people from the king's tribe being mistreated during the crisis. The king's territory was in the Southern Collectorate, where Bobby worked as an administrative officer. He was in New Shropshire, the capital in the north, and was to return to the south with Linda, a wife of a fellow officer. The night before the trip, he was in a gay bar attempting to pick up a Zulu man, but he was unsuccessful. He had hoped to meet...