THE DICTATOR OF GRAND BASSA	251
stop the soldiers from coming here.' I stood with my
back to the wall and they flourished their spears in
my face. My derk said, "Colonel, I will not leave you.
I will die here with you/ I said to him, 'There is
no point in dying. Obey orders/") But the facts
were undisputed. He had been a prisoner and he had
escaped. He said that when his clerk had gone, he
left the wall and walked very slowly to the door. They
made gestures of stabbing, but no one would stab
first. Then an old man appeared with a great staff
and beat them back and cleared a way for Davis
through the village. "Afterwards Nimley killed the
old man/'
His cook appeared on the verandah behind us and
said that dinner was served, but the Colonel wouldn't
let me go: he had an audience for a story which had
probably become rather stale on the Coast.
'That night I was sitting on my verandah, as it
might be to-night; it was ten o'clock, and there, just
where the sentry is, I saw a big warrior dressed in
war paint with little bells tied under his knees. He
came up and said, 'Who's the big man around here?'
I said, *I guess I'm the biggest man here. What do
you want?' He said, 'Chief Nimley send me to tell
you he's coming up here at five o'clock in the morn-
ing to collect his tax money/ So I said, Tou tell
Chief Nimley that I'll be waiting for him/
"And at eleven o'clock I looked up and there was
another warrior, a small man, all in war paint. He
came up to the verandah and said, 'Are you the big
man here?' *Waal,' I said, fl guess you won't find
anyone bigger around this place. What do you
want?' He said, 'Chief Nimley send me to tell yqu