A Legend of the Dead

Chapter Eighteen

159 A Legend of the Dead: Sequel to The Crown of Thorns Chapter Eighteen Es trrt der Mensch, so lang er strebt. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust) THE THOUGHT of the confrontation did not end with the closure of the meeting by Chief Bechongncho that afternoon. The president’s description of Anuse’s accusation as a mortal stab wound on the heart of the tribe could never have been more appropriate, for Beckongncho started bleeding right from the scene of the combat. The night, weirdly silent, dark and mysterious, seemed interminable. Once in a while the breeze would rustle through the leafy branches of the trees and fall silent again. The only permanent sound in Chief Beckongnho ears was the echo of Mr. Marcus Anuse’s insults, his cynical hypocrisy, his shameless boldness, his foolhardiness. He passed the entire night a restless man. Reports on the activities of Anuse disturbed him. Thought on what Anuse was likely do in future pained him. Even more unsettling were the thoughts on what he needed to do to make it impossible for Anuse to repeat the embarrassing act. As far as the latter thought was concerned he had a lengthy discussion with his colleague, the SDO of Likume Central, who asked Beckongncho to leave everything in his hands. There was much more to disconcert him. On the night after the party held in his honour at the residence of the SDO of Likume, Ephraim Njikem came to his room at the Rest House. There, after talking briefly on a few general things, he went straight to a point Anuse had mentioned in his talk which involved him, Njikem. “Pa said a lot of annoying things this morning in fact,” he began. “But your Highness, I just want to be sure, was he right in saying that you were actually imprisoned in Tetseale for eleven days?” Beckongucho seemed to reflect. “Yes, indeed. I was locked up there,” he said abruptly. 160 Linus T. Asong Njikem nodded three times. “ You know I live in Tetseale,” he said very softly, but with suppressed emotion. “And in fact, I should think that if such a thing happened to me in Sowa you would be the very first person to be contacted. At least you did not think me a rival for the post of Paramount Chief or District Officer of Small Monje. In fact, I have always wished you well, you know that.” Beckongucho looked into his eyes but remain silent. “If such a thing happened to you in Sowa, and you told me first,” he started to say, “there would be no danger because I know and you know that I can control my feelings better, which is more than can be said about you.” That would have made Njikem even more furious. Beckongucho instead decided to try to persuade him in the simplest way possible. “The situation was much more complicated than you would ever imagine,” he began. “For one thing, I was not permitted to contact anybody I knew there. It did not look to me as though I would ever leave the prison alive.” “And after you left the place alive?” “Ephraim, when a just man, an innocent man is suddenly seized from his sleep and put in prison and tortured and brought dangerously close to death for one week and released and thrown into the street, he cannot be the same person for a long time. It took me a very long time to come to myself, for my senses to function the right way. I just hope that I am finally behaving the way I used to behave.” Njikem tried in vain to understand and sympathize with his brother. “But you should not have told pa that you slept with me without first talking to me about it,” he pointed out. “That was just not right knowing what type of person he is.” “ I told him nothing of that sort.” “But you certainly said it to somebody who told him,” Njikem persisted. “You know how his ears are always sharp.” “I am very sorry about it. Very sorry,” Beckongncho said. “ I was not really asking for an apology, Your Highness. I just wanted to have a few things clear in my mind, especially as you refused to receive me when I came to the village soon after your coronation.” 161 A Legend of the Dead: Sequel to The Crown...