A Legend of the Dead

Chapter Two

9 A Legend of the Dead: Sequel to The Crown of Thorns Chapter Two Le hasard c’est peut-être le pseudonyme de Dieu, quand il ne veut pas signer. (Anatole France, Le Jardin d’Epicure) IT WAS a little after six. Darkness was still a long way. Heavy rain had fallen in the early hours of the afternoon, but the sun was now shining. It had been shining for the past two hours. Now thick columns of vapour could be seen rising gently from the smoking earth, winding up in grotesque curly spirals towards the amber sky. Termites, invaded in their subterranean castles by floods of rain-water, crept out in ones and twos or even threes and fours and launched themselves lustily into the air. Not for them that whatever goes up must come down. Sparrows, clock birds and countless other species of birds perching on mounds and tree tops, chirping and chiming away the hours of the day, sprang voraciously at the defenceless insects. A greenish long-base Land Rover, not in the newest of conditions, rattled up to the rear gate into the Governor’s lodge and stopped. A policeman on duty (the truest porter of hell’s gate) had been dozing off for the past hour in the shed inside the compound. His rifle, loaded, lay discarded at his feet. The noise of the Land Rover woke him up. He shook his head with the briskness of a cock bathing in saw dust and turned reluctantly in the direction of the noise. For one brief moment he was afraid. Switching agility into his slumber he grabbed his gun and shot up. It was no Government vehicle, he realized. His feet instantly seemed to be weighted with lead. It must have taken him not less than five irritating minutes to make the short distance of ten metres between his shed and the barred gate. Two men climbed down from the vehicle and strode with an air of importance, possibly calculated to offset the idea that they had approached the house from the rear. The policeman scrutinised them 10 Linus T. Asong as they came towards the gate. One was in a charcoal-grey threepiece suit, an unlit pipe sticking tenaciously to his lips. He must have been in his fifties or even sixties, for his face was wrinkled, and his hair was already greying around the edges in a manner that could only be ascribed to age. He stood probably one and three quarters of a metre in height. The other was slightly shorter, and wore a very colourful gown. It reached down midway between his knees and ankles and was gorgeously decorated along the hands, neck and bottom. The outfit gave him a look of wealth and respect. He looked just as old as the first man, but he walked with greater consciousness of his own dignity. “Good evening, officer,” the man in suit greeted through the bars. “Evening,” the officer answered in his throat. It was actually a snarl. “Is this the Provincial Governor’s residence?” the man asked. “Yes, it is.” “Is he in?” The officer leaned against the barrier and looked down appraisingly at the man’s shoes. He then lifted his eyes along his profile to the head and said sourly. “Yes, he is in.” “We like to see him,” the visitor said. “We who? You are who?” The man in suit searched his breast pocket for his identity card which he presented through a gap in the barrier. The officer looked from the picture in it to the man’s face. Then he read the details: NAME: .......................................... Blasius Betong BIRTH PLACE: ........................... Yegoh DIVISION:.................................... Biongong DATE OF BIRTH:...................... Around 1913 RESIDENCE: .............................. LIKUME OCCUPATION: .......................... Businessman He did not return the card to the man. Instead he held out his knotted palm towards the other man. The man understood and gave him his card. 11 A Legend of the Dead: Sequel to The Crown of Thorns NAME: .......................................... Marcus Anuse BIRTHPLACE: ............................ Small Monje DIVISION:.................................... Biongong DATE OF BIRTH:...................... Around 1917 RESIDENCE: .............................. LIKUME OCCUPATION: .......................... Businessman “You want to see the Governor for why?” No answer. “You want to see the Governor for official wok or for personal?” “Is offisial,” the man called Anuse said. “We come with all the Palamount Tsiefs of Biongong,” he announced, pointing to the Land Rover. “Tshey hafe important tsings to discuss with the Gofnor. About Small Monje.” “What...