MISTAKES AND FALSE NEWS 38s I had never been told a word about that expedition, and the fact seemed strange, so I said — " Osman ! you are telling a lie. What column is going against Djermakoy ? " Then with much hesitation, and turning as pale as a negro can when he has got himself into a hobble, he began to tell us how all the people of Say, and the lORT AKaUNAKD, Toucouleurs, in fact, all the natives, had united to march on Dentchendu, a big village of Djerma, the very centre of the Futank6 agitation, but that before actually starting they were all coming to Say to receive the benediction of Saturu, who would recite the Fatiha to the glory of the Prophet on the tomb of his ancestor, Mohammed Djebbo, who had founded the town.

I understood at once, and really the plan to surprise us had not been at all badly thought out. " Well, Osman," c c