Newspaper Page Text
ve an re With Scenes Shifting From England to the West Coast of Africa
KATE MEREDITH, FINANCIER
The Ninth of the $150,000 Series Now Appearing in The Augusta Herald Prior to Book Publication. ‘ g
"And pray who ha* a greater right
In lane rare of yon, and prescribe
«hat a boat for yon. and look after
von generally? D'you think I want to
marry a wife who lan't In the pink
of condition?”
"I like to look nice for yon, dear,
bu' I couldn't takn that money from
you now of all timer"
"How do you mean?"
"When yon are Jnat going off on
some desperate expedition Into the
hnah, and want every penny that ran
be aeraped together ”
rarer laughed "There yon go,
wanting to lead ine Into temptation
Naming me to take nionev In my
pocket to hny tpreaninahlyl kid
glove* and flreeaeapea In the ahop*
of the hnah vlllagea and apend my
night* In local mnale hall* Fie on
yon that will one of the*c daya have
to return Into a thrifty wife’ I ahall
avoid theae temptalona 1 ahall ravel
aa imoatentloualy aa poaalhle, and so
enanra getting through I ahall lake
with m« WhHc-M»n » Trouble only If
the heggat will eondeaeend to go and
lire on native chop, for the heat of
all poaalhle reaaona that It wouldn’t
lie poaalhle to take a lot <«f carrier*-
Pant yoti aee, my dear, that the
choice Ilea between a three-thonaand
pound expedition with earrlera and
and the real of It, and going quietly,
and being too obvloualv poor to rob?"
•T auppoae there la aotnethlng In
that Father went quietly."
“Of rnrae he did, and ao ahall 1.
Some day. If thing* pan out aa I hope
I may march up country at the tall
end of a hraa* band, and do the thing
In style; hut' not tomorrow, thank
you. So If you won t take charge of
onr aupeiftnoiia M pound and decorate
tlrand Canary with It. I'm hanged If
I don't daah It amongat the factory
bova here, and have one flaring Jam
boree before w< pari com pan l
•'Oh. fleorge. you are good"'
"Don't you fret about mv goodnea*.
old lady I'm a pretty had fellow at
the boom, only I try and keep my
worat point* out of your night Man
haa to. you know, with the glrla he's
engaged to. It'a only playing the
game Now you let me go. and I’ll
Ju»t *llp acroaa to the Krnu and It'ar
net her old Dutch chipper Into glv
Ing you the heat room he* got to
fight the cockroaehe* In."
It waa on a Thuiadny that the
Frau d*oh»t at earned away hack drtwn
the muddy creeka Uden with one of
the rlcheal cargoea (hat one alngle
factory had ever collected In Wcat
Africa. ami on that name day Carter
*ei off Into the buah Kate anil Can
ra were to brave the errora of the
ateamer together aa far aa the
Island andthey found the boat even
more unniH'Shable than they had Im
agined her from the outrageous de
scription of Captain linage and Mr. ;
Halgaruie.
Now, aa regard* the matter of that
fid poitnda, Cartel', to put the matter
bluntly, had lied With the King of
Okky doing w-hat he could to keep
th# country aide In a ferment, to go
up Into the buah even with a atrong
party, and well provided, waa Haky.
To go with empty iiocket. and with
no following, aecmeii very little sort
of suicide
But Carter refuaed to see It In thl*
girl "I'm lough.' he told hlmaelf.
and I’ve worked up a certain repu
tation for 111 111 If I use my wits I
ahall gel through, and he successful
I ah*olutc|v refuse to die here In At
rice |'ve promised to marry l.aura,
and. let It coat whet It may. I'am go
ing to do It. I must; I've promised:
and. besides, she's absolutely no
other prospect before her. But I do
wish to goodness I'd a docent shot
gun I'm no kind of band with this
badly balanced Winchester"
So. with a high courage, he addrrs
aed hlm*#lf to departure, and Invited
White-Man'a-Trouble with the prom
ise of goods, lands, goat*, wife guns,
and other things that go to make up
a Krooboy com pent enry. to accom
pany him It "»* without surprise
that he received a flat refusal.
"O Carter," said his servant, "I no
fit for lib for luiah. I got 'not her
palaver too-much Important here at
factory. Item headman or factory
boy* say to me, 'Bar. you been stand
by-at-crane bov on ateamah* An' I
say. Sar. I plenty-much-toogood edu
cate ' And he sav to me, Sar. \ou
fit for llti here an' ake dem job of
second headman" An' I say to him.
'Her I fit ' O Carter. If I I lib for
buah with you. an - lei Okk.vmen spear
me. an' leopard* chop me. 1 dam
fool."
"You're a cheerful animat If you
think you are more likely to go get
an archbishopric by staving here, by
all me.uia stay. Hope you'll like the
Dutchmen when they come."
White-Man's Trouble crooked a
bunch of finger*, and scratched his
ribs “O Carter, deni Dutchmen all
e-aame bush Englishmen*"
"You've got It once I've no
doubt the' re a moat degraded lot
"Dem Dutchmen he no have a*
much savvy a* an Englishman*
"Nowhere near They wouldn't
have chucked up the factory !n the
ft rat Instance It they had. and In the
second no Englishman would have
bought It hack again at such an ah
surd figure a* they were fools enough
to pav Missy Kate."
"O Carter?"
“Well?"
“I lit for ateal small-small some
time* from Englishmen?"
"I can guarantee that, you scamp"
"Then." said Whlte-Mans-Trouhle
triumphantly. "I lit for steal plenty
mneb-big from Dutchman, an' he no
savvy."
"You'll uste abundance of ckiqtiot.
mj lad."
I "The Krooboy snapped a piebald
I thtiniii and Anger. 'I take ehlquot
| from Englishman, not from huah-Krtg
| llsbman If he Hog me with ehlquot, I
put Ju-ju on him-—" He picked up
an empty bottle and handled It
thoughtfully. "Ju-Ju, If deni Dutch
men give me ehlquot."
"Of the powd*r*d-gla** variety In
his morning sausage." said Carter
thoughtfully. "Well, It would he no
u*e warning the poor davlls, bo"ati»e,
[ In the first place, they wouldn't be
lieve me, and In the second they'd gc!
It *ll the same. I gne** these new
coloniser* must worry out the meth
ods of dealing with Ibc natives for
themselves, as their betters did be
fore them. And for myself, I fancy
a knapsack will he the wear. Thank
the laird. I've tramped a good many
hundred mile* with one before.”
Now, Carter was strong, and he car
ried, moreover, a high rourage and a
tierce energy, which even the steamy
atmosphere of the West Coast could
nol damp. Malaria he had with a
certain regular periodicity, tint he was
one of those iarc men who threw off
the attacks with speed, and suffered
little from their after effects. He
was essentially moderate In his habits
of life, parrying a healthy hunger hut
never overeating, being neither a
drunkard n«r a teetotaller through
fear of drink. Moreover, he did not
abuse quinine, coffee, tobacco or
drugs. As a consequence. In that
much analhetnallr.cd climate he pre
served a very level health and energy,
and owned a normal mind where moat
men were either hysterical or mor
bid.
He had come ashore at .Malls Nulla,
when he first Innded on that ugly
beaeh from the M’poao, with lwo dad
stone bags* One of these had been
looted by some light fingered merchant
of the Interior. The other ntII! re
mained with him, and bad Journeyed
to Mokkl. It* notable tint of yellow
hud long since vanished. In place*
II was mottled hlnck with mildew,
and the rest of the surface waa a
good mulatto hroi'ii. The fastenings
had burnt, and been replaced by rope.
He looked at It with a moment's
Indecision It would make a vastly I
ugly knapsack —but it represented
one of his few remaining possessions
In the world (The till pounds, or,, to
be precise, the sum of 57 pounds Us.
10d . w hich he had forced l-aura to
carry off, had emptied his purse to
the dreg*. 1 And as he could lint
make tip his mind to desert the hag.
lie tracked what things he thought es
sential within it* leaky leather sides,
arranged rope beekets for hi* shoul
ders, slung it on his back, tucked the
inehester aforesaid under his arm.
and set off down the narrow forest
road which hen Hosseln hail ittdl- 1
rated, without further word of fare
well with anybody.
The heat of main had Just faded,
blit the eighteen inch wide road was
walled In with dense high bush, anti
the Blr down In that narrow cut was
breathless anti stagnant. When the
road curved away from the sun anti
the high walls threw r shadow. Curler
waiteil for a moment and panted;
when the sun teemed rays of molten
brass directly down on him front
overhead, he hurried; anil so moved
on »t an average gait of three miles
to the hour, which Is good traveling
for West Africa
It is curious how the brain works
In these hours of discomfort and ab
normal sires*. The one thing I hat
occupied Carter's mind was a rather
good specimen of okky war horn. It
had been If Ivory, massive, well
carved, anti with » mouthpiece of
more than usual elaboration. In fnel.
It was the fittest specimen he hail
route aeroas, and lie was a Judge. H
had purchased It front Its native owner
to copy for Mr Balgarnle's markets.
Itut he had seen Kale's eye upon II
Just before the Frau Probst took her
away, and with the Impulse of the mo
ment had given It to her. She took
It at once, and thanked him lightly
enough, and he told himself, forgot it
a moment later. A thousand times he
called himself an ass for trying to
keep In her memory. What was he,
a factory rlcrk. to Mis* O'Neill? And
what, Indeed, was Miss O'Neill to him
an engaged man?
Tho bush rustled back at him:
"latum is well, wlug you know
I .aura's got a lick of the lar brush.
lAura Is probably the Identical per
son n certain reverend gentleman In
I’pper Wh.trfedale especially warned
>ou against I.nura may pass muster
in Ciraml t'anary, hut she won't do
further north. Fancy I .aura in
Wharfedale!" flood (!od. In Wltnrfc
dale! Now he came to think of It he
had never talked to t.aura about home,
and the moors, and tho grouse, and
the roses
He laughed noisily at his fancies,
j and a flock of red and gray parrots
'cattle on to the tree tops above and
cawed at him. Well, after all. there
were plant' of Englishmen who lived
out In England, tie might initiate
a new era lie might he one of the
first English colonists who looked
upon West Africa as a home, not a
place of exile, lie rubbed the sweat
from his face with a long forefinger
and plodded -on Why not'.’ lie seem
ed to have the knack of health Why
should not he and l.aura become
powers In the Oil Rivera? They
might well rise to the rule of cities
and territories.
Then a voice brought hitu to earth
again Someone hailed him from the
rear, "t'aner. O Carter!”
it was the excellent White-Man's
Trouble, wha came up sullen, frighten
ed and ahustve. Ills cheek-bones
.were whitened with lime in token of
I
By C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne, Author of “Capt. Kettle,” etc.
i some Ju-Ju charm. He look over the
| battered Gladstone bag, and balane
ied It on the renter plot of hi* ow'ti
elaborately shaven cranium.
"I no fit for lib at dent factory an*
know you carry dem load- In dem riant
fool way,” said the Krooboy crustily.
They pulled up that night at a small
I terror-shivering village, ami quartered
themselves on the headman. He
made no secret of hi* displeasure at
their visit. Carter talked of the l
'glories of Mokkl. and the advantages
of having a steady stream of trade
pouring through one's territory. Tho
headmen |K>lnt*ri oik with peevish
annoyance that the King of Okky I
frowned upon Mokkl In particular and
trade In general, and the the King's
t.tapleasnre was generally fatal lo
those tm whom It fell, even though
they had the happiness to live be- 1
yond his marches. But in spite of i
Ills gloomy reception, he set before
his guest a portly bowl of akitk, when
hia women hail cooked It. and him
self ate g paw-full from the calabash
aa a testimonial to Its freedom from
poison.
They spread their sleeping mat*
that night In the dark hut from which
the headman's fowls had been driven
to mayke room for them, and next
morning Carter collected some wing
feathers and some bits of wood, and
made a windmill to amuse the child
ren who swarmed almnt the compound
Presently there arrived the headman,
who saw the toy spinning In the'
breexe, ami annexed It. He and
Whlte-Man's-Tronble harangued one
another with much noise and gesture,
and then there was a hustle in the
village, and the cooking fires horn
ed strongly. The headman's gloont
had dropped from hint like a discard
ed cloth; he wore In Its place an air
of obsequiousness that showed he
could b« quite the courtier upon oc
casion.
They breakfast that morning on
no mere kankl.
"Dem,” said White Man's-Tronhle,
pointed to the three great howls, "dem
hen-chop, dent monkey-chop, an' dem
dug-chop.”
'Quack-quack dug?"
"No. bow-wow dug.”
Cgh!" said Carter. “I’ll leave these
rich dalii'lcn to you and His Nibs
there. Isi me have a go at the j
stewed fowl. Croat Christopher! .No
wonder rubber's so hard to eolleri in
this country when they use up so
touch to mak,. chickens. Well, thank
heaven for sound teeth and lough
Inside.
"I tell dem headmen." said the
Krooboy when they had started their
day’s march, "that dent windmill will
he Hue Ju-Ju. I say to hint, 'You savvy
dem fight at Smooth River factory'
An' he savvy plenty. All the hush
savvy of dent fight. So I tell hltn
me an' you, we keep dent Okky-men
away by ourselves, an' shoot most of
them, and' kill more by dent talking
god. So dem headman savvy we
plenty-big Ju-Ju men, an' we no fit
eat kankl for breakfast.”
"My dear Trouble, your powers of
diplomacy are only equalled by your
personal appearance. Keep It up. If
your eloquence can carry us through
the country on the free hotel list It
will save a lot of trouble both for tts
and for everybody else we come near.
I like to ihlnk of myself as an adven
turons knight exploring the black
heart of Africa, but I suppose in tho
Stales theyd call os a pair of hoboes,
and set the watchdogs at us —tiee!
lgtok at that!”
The rifle dropped to Carter's
shoulder and cracked A herd of
small deer were crossing the nar
row road ahead of them, and one of ■
them tripped nnd fell, and there was
payment for their next night's lodg
ing.
Thirteen day's march All hen Hus
sein hail called it to the hill where
an unnamed river scoured the foot
of a red streaked bluff, and Carter,
who wan lean and strong and wiry,
flattered himself on being able to
walk as well as any Moslem in Hau
saiand. But the fad remained that
more than three limes thirteen day*
passed before 'hey readied the place,
and the perils of the way proved
mnnv and glaring. In some of the
villages the headmen proved hospi
table; in other they would have
neither truck nor dealing with any
callers whatever.
The country was full of war and
unrest, and there was no doubt that
ll was desperately poor. The cassava
grounds were unplanted, the millet
was unsown, the banana gardens
were wantonly stashed and ruined.
| The small bush farmer is a creature
of nerve and tic stands adversity
badly Hut him under a strong over
-1 lord, and he will serve gladly and effi
ciently. I.eavo him to himself, and
when things go awry with him for
100 tunny weeks togeihcr he is apt
to suddenly give up the struggle,
and ail down w ith chin on his knees,
and quietly starve to death. One
cannot reckon far upon the moods of
a man who is ridiculously unenthu
slastlc over his own life or Ills
neighbor
Bui at one place they marched in
upon red war
The village lay amongst its farm
lands in a break of the forest, and
the gaps between the houses had
been filled with thorns. Shots came
front it at intervals, and were an
swered by the shots of invisible
marksmen who lav within the edge
of the forest. The sun glared high
overhead in a fleckless sky. The
air was salt with ihty smoke of the
crude unde powder.
THE AUGUSTA HERALD
White .Man's-Tronhle counselled re
i treat.
"Yes. that's all right,” said Carter
Irritably. "No one wants to ran his
head Into a scrap less than I do. Hut
where the deuce can we go to?
There's been no single branch to this
road we've come nlong, and the hvtsh
lon each side is about the thickest In
Africa. Nothing short of a regiment
: of men with matehets would make a
I path through It anywhere. Cuing
I hack to that last village means get
j ting skewered. All the way nlong
I've been wondering how on earth we
got nut of It without having at least
ten spenrs rammed Into each of us.”
"O Carter. I no fit lo go get mixed
111 dem light palaver.”
"You're so beastly unoriginal Why
co on repealing the same thing? I'd
further to point out that we've not
t had a bite to eat for twenty-four
hours, anil I personally can't go on
living on my own fat without incon
venience. as von seem lo do.”
"No savvy.”
"Well, to translate, I say plenty
much til for chop.”
Whlte-Man's-Trouble rubbed the
waistband of his trousers tenderly.
"Me. ton.” he admitted.
"Then, as there Is only starvation
and other unpleasant things behind.
I'm going ahead to prospect. Gee!
There's somebody on this side with a
rifle. And. by Christopher, there's
I another rifle In the village shooting
bach!”
-When : ©f a sudden h« was
a rifle
The flintlock tratio guns roared
out at Intervals, and every now and
again there came the sharp bark of
smokeless powder, and Its clean
whop whop of a bullet from a mod
ern rifle. Bv careful watching Car
ter decided that there was only one
rifle on each side, and he further
made out that one was bombarding
the other to the exclusion of all
lesser interests.
Now when a man has hunger gnaw
ing at the Inside of his ribs, and
knows, moreover, that any movement
in retreat will he fatal. It does not
take much to spur him on to an ad-'
vance. So Carter went cautiously
ahead, keeping well under the fringe
of the cover, and Whlte-Man's-Trou
blc. who was copiously afraid, and
who muttered evil things under his
breath In Kroo. hung m to the re
mains of the Gladstone bag and
crouched nlong st his heels
Carter took a step at a time, and
was cautious always not to rustle or
trend on a dead branch, So he push
ed his way ahead, and when the Kowi
boy. with less dexterity, blundered
and made the shadow of a noise, he
turned upon him with such a look of
ferocity that it awed even so cross
grained a person as Whlte-Man's-
Tronble. A dozen times Carter near
ly walked on to the heels of one or
other of the attacking force, and as
often drew off unnoticed: and at last
he made his way to the place where
he had located the rifle fire, ami was
closing In on It from behind, when,of
a sudden ho was confronted with a
rifle muzzle which suddenly spirted
up front the middle of a clump of
bush.
It swung lip till li covered the left
side of Ills chest, and hung steady
there for an appreciable number of
second*, and then a very well-known
voire said, "Well, Mr. Carter, I con
gratulate you on keeping your nerve
in spite of the climate.”
"(Joe!” said Carter under his
| breath. "That’s old Swizzle-Stick
Smith.”
"I beg vottr pardon?"
“I said I'm sure that's Mr. Smith.”
■ A bald head, garnished with an eye
glass* shaggy gray hair and a shag
gy heard, came forth. "May I itsk
what you are doing here? Thrown
up vottr commission by any chance?”
“Exactly that.”
"On you own?"
“Well, sir. starvation's my master
at present."
“Oh, 1 beg pardon. Go into the
nieas and order what you'll have. Or
, look here, I've shot my man. so I’m
free for the moment, and I'll come
with you. Whiskey we're out of. but
1 1 can recommend gin and soda. We
! looted a sparklet machine, by the
. way. from the Frenchmen.”
They worked cautiously hack front
the firing line, and came upon a mean
lean to of boughs and thatch which
Mr. Smith referred lo as “my head
quarters." As the mess-sergeant ham
pened to lie away. Mr. Smith kindly
produced from under the eaves a
damp slab of translucent cassava
bread, which was obviously all the
place contained in th way of food,
and extracting if square faced bottle
from a green box of trade gin. poured
out a half a calabash full, added mud
dy water from a chatile, and offered
It to his guest.
Come to think of It. that's more
healthy for you than soda. Mr. Carter
So you're not up here on O’Neill nnd
Craven's service, you tell tne?"
“No; handed in my patters, sir. I’m
passing through here on urgent pri
vate affairs."
Mr. Smith put a hand Inside his
shabby pyjama coat and produced a
piece of new black-watered sllb rlb-
Ixm. on the end of which was an eve
glass. He screwed this In place, and
started at his guest.
"Ah, then tn that rase. Mr. Carter,
1 shall have to hear more of your pro
ject before 1 can give you permission
to pass through my territory."
Carter stiffened " Your territory?
On. 1 remember. You've buying up
ruober lands, of course, for the firm.''
"As a point of fact. I have not
been worrying about the firm very
lately. When I said ‘my territory."
I meant exactly that, neither more nor
less, l ater 1 may turn it over to
British protection. But recently it
was no man's land, and as that Infer
nal blackguard, the King of Okky,
was after It. I seized It for myself."
"Hear, hear," said Carter. "As the
King of Okky was once Indecently
keen on adding my head to his pri
vate collection, I can never he really
fond of that man, somehow."
"Confound your hear, sir! That
had nothing to do with It. I didn’t
quarrel with the matt for following
out his ordinary African - methods.
I nt going for hint for letting In the
French.”
Carter was clearly puzzled. "What
on earth have the French to do with
It?"
"Exactly what they had to do with
all the British West African colonies.
We hold a seaboard, and, when the
men on the spot try to consolidate an
Influence In the hinterland, our For
eign Office promptly truckles to the
Anti-British party tt home and tells
them to drop It. The Antl-Brltlsh par
ty says. ‘Oh no. mustn't make a
sphere of Influence there. The er
niatts want it. or the French have set
their minds on It. or why shouldn't
poor dear Portugal have a chance
there? But whatever you do, don't
give it to nasty, greedy Great Britain.'
And unless the hum! of the Foreign
Office Is absolutely forced, they al
ways do as the Anti-Britishers ask.
You see the Anti-British party is noi
sy and hysterical, and always shriek
ing that Is can command countless
votes." Mr. Smith limited across the
hut and sat on a green case nnd
emphasized Ills further remarks with
a powder-stained forefinger.
"Well," he said. “It's an old game
with me, and after all the official
kicks I’ve had ought to have dropped
It years ago. But somehow I couldn't
resist the temptation. The King of
Okky is our matt by georgraphj
and agreement. I have made repre
sentations to the F. 0., I am till I am
sick of putting pen to paper, that he
ought to be recognized and patted on
the hack. They don't even take
the trouble to reply much less carry
out the suggestions. Therefore the
French, who have taken hold of the
hinterland, have done the obvious 1
They sent down a sort of fourth-rate
tin-pot sonr-officier, and told hint
that if he fixed up things ail right
for France thpy'd give him a com
mission and a 500 francs gratuity;
and as he'd absolutely no competi
tors. he naturally did the trick."
“What a beastly shame!" Carter
blurted out, and then felt surprised
|at himself. It was about the first
| time in his life that the Englishman
that was within him had ever peeped
lout upon the surface.
“I know what the man's expedition
cost —practically nothing. I saw the
| presents he gave old Kallee —30
pounds would hare covered them. And
for that, and a mouthful of empty
words, he gets half a million square
miles of territory, and trade of a
present value of 100,000 pounds, and
a potential value of 730,000 pounds,
at a low estimate. Well, Mr. Carter,
I'm braver than our F. O. I'm gblng
to buck against the Ant-British party,
and I'm going to see that we keep in
our otfn hands what rightly belongs
to us. - 1 shall be called a pirate, but
that doesn’t, disturb me. 1 lost nil
the reputation I had to lose at this
same game years ego. I was doing
my duty here then in West Africa. A
smug little beast of a newspaper man
got up In the House of Commons and
demanded my dismissal. He would
never have been heard of if he hadn't
been consistently Anti-British on ev
ery occasion when the country was in
disagreement with anyone else. But
It was his dirty line, and it brought
him a eertain disgraceful notoriety,
which wag what h,> was i ter. He
could command voles, or said he could,
and the Government believed him.
They didn't care particularly for Eng
land; their one interest was keeping
their party in office; and as I was a
nuisance, I had to go. It wasn't a
ease of being actually broke, you must
understand, Mr. Carter, but they made
things so awkward that I had to send
in my papers all the same. They tried
the same game with Rhodes, and Cur
-7011. and Milner, the dirty little ours.
They hate a man who tried to uphold
Great Britain’s dignity or give her an
other acre of territory.
“But here now. thank the Igird. I
personally am unofficial, and I'm do
ing exactly what I know to he best
without fear or favor of anybody."
“How far docs your territory cx
-1 tend, sir?"
•'As far as I can make it," said Mr.
Smith dryly.
"Are you going to let it be developed
by the white man?"
I "Assuredly."
"Then," said Carter, "we shan't
clash, and I'm sure you will give me
my passiKirts. I don't know whether
the place I am making for Is In your
territory or the next king's, but I am
going there purely for purposes of de
velopment. I tell you frankly . 1
haven't a bit of ambition at present be
yond making a pile. If ever 1 find
myself a rich man 1 may take a hand
in the thankless game you are on at
here. But that’s In the future. In
the meanwhile, if the question is not
indiscreet, might one ask if it was a
Frenchman you were having that rifle
duel with ju-t now?"
"The Frenchman's down with fever.
I was exchanging shots with a soldier
of fortune who Is. I believe, an old
acquaintance of yours. Kwaka his
name Is."
“Great Christopher! what a small
place West Africa Is. Old Kallee sent
Kwaka down to borrow my head for
his collection, and after the way I
hambooxled that man I shouldn't
have been surprised if he'd been
struck off the Okky army list. Did
you—er—make a clean Job of him?"
"Winged only, I think. Ho kept
very well to cover."
"You were both blazing away for
long enough."
"Well,” rhuekled Mr. Smith, "I'm
afraid It* hardly had a fair chance
Yon see. I'd n boy with a
trade gun lying under a log a dozen
yards lit my right, and I’d a string
from my foot to his trigger. When I
loosed ofT the Winchester I pulled the
other gun. too, and Kwaka shot for
tho smoke every time, and made very
good practice of it. That log would
he worth mining for lead."
"When you take the place what
shall you do with the Frenchman?"
"Just the same that he would do
with me." said the old man grimly.
"Now suppose we change the subject.
The bush telegraph* have been per
sistently talking about a white wo
man who's he.it upsetting the face of
Africa, especially shout our factories.
Heard anything of her?”
Carter laughed shortly. “Of course
I've heard. In fact, she's why I'm
here. She's Miss Kate O'Neill."
The old man dropped his eyeglass
to the <nd of its ribbon, fumbled for
it til! he caught It again, and three
times tried to screw It In place before
he got It fixed. “Kate O'Neill, you
say? she'd, he about twenty—no,
twenty-three years old?”
"I’m a had Judge, hut I daresay
she'd he about that. Why, do you
know her, sir?"
Mr. Smith straightened himself with
an obvious effort. "As I have not
been to England for five-and-twenty
years. Is it likely? You said she was
English. I think?”
"As a point of fact. I did not. though
presumably she is English. She was
adopted, so I heard. But he left her
the business for all that, and she's
making it hum. She's marvelously
able. But of course you have seen
for yourself more of her efforts than
I have, sir.”
“I have seen them?"
Carter laughed. "I'm afraid you
made the same mistake that every
body else made, from Slade and oid
Image. She is the K. O'Neill of the
kindly-buek-up-and-get-lt-done letters.
She ig the Mr. K. that you chaffed me
about at Malla-Nulla for admiring so
much as a business man.”
“My God!” said Swizzle-StlekS mith,
and sat hack limply against the wall
of the hut, and then "My God!” ha
said again.
Carter hesitated, and then. "Did
you,’ he ventured, “know Miss Kdfe-’s
own people before the late Godfrey
took her over?"
Mr. Smith, with an obvious effort,
pulled himself together. “I did, Mr.
Carter. Her mother —she—she died.
Her father went under. He had a
pretty trying time of it first, but when
the pinch came he went under most
thoroughly. Godfrey O'Neill, good fel
low that ho was, took the child then,
and so he got her chance, and, thank
heaven, she's used It.”
Carter looked at the old man nar
rowly. "And is the father alive now?”
But by this time Mr. Smith wfis
hts old cool, profane self again. "How
the devil should I know? Do you
think I keep traok of all the failures
in Africa? You seem very interested
in this young woman yourself. May
I ask if you've any aspirations in that
direction?"
"If you mean have i any wish to
marry her, I cun answer that best
hy telling you that I'm engaged to
marry l.aura Slade."
"Ah. I see. Well, Mr. Carter, we
will drop the subject, which is a pain
ful one to irrr* for many reasons. Let
us get on to your personal schemes.
In what way can I forward them?"
CHAPTER XV
Tin Hill: The Mine.
Tin Hill, when they got to It.,
carried riches that lay in full view
of the sky. The mountain of coun
try rock which held the veins rear
ed up out of the dark green bush,
red-streaked and barren and the last
day's march toyvards it lay through
a heavy growth of rubber vinos. Even
the Krooboy could not help noticing
these.
"O Carter,'’ he said, "rubber lib for
here. Dent Missy Kate she say rub
ber-palaver, an' kernels, an' gum, all
c-same corked hat."
"She didn't. Those are my word*
of wisdom you've got hold of. Still
I admit the sentiments are Mis*
O'Neill's. But the main thing Is,
Trouble, that rubber takes capital and
labor to handle, and this firm's short
of both at the moment. We'll rub
her Miss O'Neill for the present."
"O Carter, deni Missy Kate, she
no fit for love you now?”
"She no fli.' said Carter, with a
sigh, "because you savvy I fit foi
do wife-palaver with deni Miss Laura.
The last marches of Alt ben Hos-
Bein'* road had been little travelled
during these latter months of politf.
eal upheavel. and this meant that the
ever-growing bush had encroached
and passage was difficult. Moreover
food was painfully scarce. Swizzle-
Stick Smith, out of this scanty store
had given them what he could, but
this was soon eaten, and once more
they had been forced to fall back or
that marvellous thing, the kola
Bui though nlbblinfl kola puts off the
desire for a meal, and makes one
able to endure prolonged strains, 11
does not fill gaps In the Inside.
Both Carter and the Krooboy were
very guant. and tattered, and savage
looking when at last they arrived al
the rock and the river bet the omen!
seemed to change from that moment
To Be Continued.