CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
When the district commissioner arrived at Okonkwo's compound at the head of an
armed band of soldiers and court messengers he found a small crowd of men sitting
wearily in the obi. He commanded them to come outside, and they obeyed without a
murmur.
"Which among you is called Okonkwo?" he asked through his interpreter.
"He is not here," replied Obierika.
"Where is he?"
"He is not here!"
The Commissioner became angry and red in the face. He warned the men that
unless they produced Okonkwo forthwith he would lock them all up. The men
murmured among themselves, and Obierika spoke again.
"We can take you where he is, and perhaps your men will help us."
The Commissioner did not understand what Obierika meant when he said,
"Perhaps your men will help us." One of the most infuriating habits of these people was
their love of superfluous words, he thought.
Obierika with five or six others led the way. The Commissioner and his men
followed their firearms held at the ready. He had warned Obierika that if he and his men
played any monkey tricks they would be shot. And so they went.
There was a small bush behind Okonkwo's compound. The only opening into
this bush from the compound was a little round hole in the red-earth wall through which
fowls went in and out in their endless search for food. The hole would not let a man
through. It was to this bush that Obierika led the Commissioner and his men. They