5. THE KING'S SCEPTRE
BREAKFAST TIME was the hour of controversy at the residency. It was most vehement when Captain Hamilton of the King's Houssas had a little touch of liver, or was recovering from the effects of a bout of fever.
Lieutenant Tibbetts could also be very annoying. He was constantly rediscovering obvious things, or revivifying theories that had been decently interred in the year dot. Never a trip did he make to hinterland but he brought back some marvellous recovery of that which had never been lost.
"As to the sceptre of the great king—stuff, Bones! That old yarn has been dead a hundred years," snapped Hamilton. "There never was such a thing and you know jolly well that native chiefs, they call themselves kings or princes or just ordinary trumpery lieutenants—"
"Thank y
