Part 25 (2/2)

”We can but try,” said Kenneth.

”Zona,” said Archie, ”did ever you hear the line of that old song, 'The March of the Cameron Men,' which says, 'Whatever a man dares he can do'?”

”Gentlemen all,” replied Zona, ”the Arab is the most daring of all men who live; the Arab has sought this gold that we are going in quest of; the Arab has failed! I have spoken.”

”Worthy Zona,” said Harvey, laughing, ”you have an excellent opinion of your people, and an excellent opinion of yourself. Nay, never start, man. I love you for it. But let me tell you this. There is one thing in which even an Arab gold-seeker, with all his pluck and daring, may fail in--”

”And that is?” said Zona.

”Knowledge of prospecting.”

”I am in the dark as to your meaning,” said Zona.

”I know you are, and so are all your people. In other words, then, they don't know where to look for the gold. Now listen, friend. I have spent years and years in the gold regions of California--”

”I say, Harvey, old man,” said Kenneth, ”you weren't much the better of it. Eh?”

”True,” replied Harvey, with a sigh; ”else you wouldn't have found me working as an ordinary seaman before the mast in a craft like the _Brilliant_.”

”Forgive me,” said Kenneth, stretching out his hand, which Harvey readily grasped. ”Forgive me; I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I found you before the mast, it is true; but I took to you from the first hour we met. You have got the grit of a good man in you. Else Archie and I wouldn't have asked you to come with us on this gold-hunt, which after all may turn out to be a wild-goose chase.”

”But it will _not_ be a wild-goose chase. Man, I tell you this, the very mud of the river we are now floating over contains gold dust. We are going to trace that gold to its source, and find it in nuggets.”

”I have found gold before,” he continued. ”I have made two fortunes and lost them, worse luck; but I can tell you whether or not gold lies in any country, if I get but one glance at the land, or but walk over it once. Fear not then, I won't deceive you, nor myself.”

”Well, we shall trust to your skill,” said Archie.

”And to Zona's,” added Kenneth.

”To Zona's, certainly.”

Let us hark back, reader, in our tale for a moment, and explain the appearance of our adventurers on this wild dark river of Africa at such a time of night.

The _Brilliant_ then was in the habit of touching occasionally at Zanzibar in her pa.s.sage from the East Indies to the Cape. Being much on sh.o.r.e, Kenneth could not help becoming acquainted with some of the numerous Portuguese merchants, who had settled in that strange city,--if a Portuguese merchant can be said to settle anywhere, for they are, like ourselves, a nation of wanderers. They are hospitable at their houses, however, and Kenneth and Archie too were made welcome, enough, and many a quiet cup of coffee they drank in the cool of the evening on great square housetops overlooking the blue sea.

They would sit far into the night, listening to stories of the interior of Africa, of wild adventures with wild beasts and wilder men, of great forest land and terrible swamps, of the country of the dwarfs and the dreaded gorilla, and of diamond caves, and caves in which nuggets of the richest gold were to be had for the gathering.

No wonder that such stories as these fired the young blood of our heroes Kenneth and Archie. They both longed to be rich; it was no mean ambition, for riches would be valued by neither as a mere h.o.a.rd of wealth, but for the good they could accomplish therewith in the dear wild land of their nativity.

”Oh!” said Kenneth one evening as he sat on a roof-top under the quiet stars, listening to the conversation of his friend Morosco. ”Oh! if I could but get up and command an expedition into the interior!”

”Ha! ha!” laughed the Portuguese, ”an idle dream. Ten thousand men could not penetrate into the land of gold and diamonds.”

”But,” said Archie, ”two or three might.”

”Ah!” cried Morosco, ”there you have it, young sir; one man may do more in Africa than an army. It has ever been thus; look at your Livingstone for example.”

Then Kenneth took to thinking, and for days said no more on the subject even to Archie. But one evening, he asked him to come for a row among the coral islands. It was nearly sundown. There was not a ripple on the water, only a yellow haze all along the horizon, with the broad sun sinking red through it.

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