Chapter 1

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_Title:_ Again Sanders
_Date of first publication:_ 1928
_Author:_ Edgar Wallace (1875-1932)
_Date first posted:_ Jan. 4, 2019
_Date last updated:_ Jan. 4, 2019
Faded Page eBook #20190143

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[Cover Illustration]

=NOVELS BY=
=EDGAR WALLACE=

=The Flying Squad=
=The Double=
=Again Sanders=
=The Clue of the Twisted Candle=
=The Man who Knew=
=Again the Three Just Men=
=The Forger=
=The Squeaker=
=The Feathered Serpent=
=Terror Keep=
=The Traitor’s Gate=
=The Ringer=
=The Square Emerald=
=The Northing Tramp=
=The Brigand=
=The Joker=
=The Black Abbot=
=Sanders=
=The Door with Seven Locks=
=Penelope of the “Polyantha”=
=The Day of Uniting=
=We Shall See=
=The Yellow Snake=
=The Four Just Men=
=The Terrible People=
=The Three Just Men=
=The Mind of Mr. J. G. Reeder=
=The Gaunt Stranger=
=The Strange Countess=
=The Valley of Ghosts=
=Double Dan=
=The Sinister Man=
=The Green Archer=
=The Clue of the New Pin=
=The Crimson Circle=
=The Angel of Terror=
=The Law of the Four Just Men=

=H O D D E R A N D=
=S T O U G H T O N=
=LTD., LONDON=

=_AGAIN SANDERS_=

=_By_=
=_EDGAR WALLACE_=

=_Hodder and Stoughton_=
=_Limited_ _London_=

TO
LORD DEWAR

Made and Printed in Great Britain for Hodder & Stoughton, Limited

C O N T E N T S

I. BONES AND THE BEE…………………………… 7
II. THE TERRIBLE TALKER…………………………. 33
III. THE NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF…………………….. 55
IV. THE GHOST WALKER……………………………. 81
V. THE KING’S SCEPTRE………………………….. 109
VI. IN THE MANNER OF LIPSTICK……………………. 135
VII. THE SPLENDID THINGS…………………………. 163
VIII. BONES THE PSYCHIC…………………………… 191
IX. THE RICH WOMAN……………………………… 217
X. THE KEEPERS OF THE TREASURE………………….. 245
XI. THE PRESENT………………………………… 267
XII. M’GALA THE ACCURST………………………….. 291

1

I =BONES AND THE BEE=

MAKARA, Chief of Kobala’ba, was paddled down the river to within ten
miles of the residency and here he hired new paddlers from a lower-river
village, leaving the ten girls who had paddled him so far in charge of
the village headman.

He was young and skinny and beautiful to see, for not only did he wear
the robe of monkey skins which is the robe of his rank, but his forearms
were invisible under brass bangles; his hair was dyed red with ingola,
his legs shone with oil, and he wore anklets of copper that clinked as
he walked to the residency, where Mr. Sanders awaited him.

“I see you, lord Sandi,” he greeted the Commissioner, and his voice had
the quality of boredom and weariness.

“I see you, little chief,” said Sanders, and there was acid in his tone.
“And yet as I sat here before my fine house watching you come from the
river, I had a strange thought. For it seemed to me that you were not
Makara, son of Lebulana, son of Elibi that warrior, but a dancing woman
of Kobala’ba, such as a man can buy for a thousand _matakos_.”

If Makara felt shame he showed none.

“In my land all men are pretty,” he said complacently. “Even in
Kobala’ba I wear a feather in my hair and sometimes about my waist.”

Sanders showed his teeth in a smile that was entirely mirthless.

“Rather would I see you with a spear in your hand and a shield on your
arm, Makara,” he said. “It seems that there are too many women in
Kobala’ba——”

“Lord,” said Makara eagerly, “that is why I came; for soon your lordship
will send to us for the rubber and fish which you steal from us every
year for your government, and because we are few men we have nothing to
give.”

Sanders took a cheroot from his pocket and lit it before he replied, his
audience watching him anxiously.

“Was there tribute when I sent before?” asked Sanders. “And when I sent
before then, did I find skins and rubber, and before then, even? Makara,
your people of all the people on the river pay no tax to my king. And
because you are far away and I cannot come in my little ship along the
shallow river, I think you laugh at me. Strange stories come along the
river to me—of women who hunt and women who fish, and women who build
houses. It seems that there is a new race of slaves growing under my
eyes: slaves who are penned like dogs and beaten like dogs. Which is
against all the laws of all the tribes, but terribly against my law.
Some day I will come and see.”

“Lord, all that you hear is lies,” said Makara, “for my young men are
very strong and brave, and women have their proper place, which is in
the fields and at the fires——”

“And at the paddles?” asked Sanders significantly. “My spies tell me
that women brought you down the river, and that you left them at the
village of Chubiri, so that I should not be offended. The palaver is
finished.”