Part 12 (1/2)

Tongues! Oh, ues, harhts of clove--ivory--copra--copal gue

The captains come

I was old when the clamor o' Babel's end (All seas were chartless then!) Drove forth the brood, and Solitude Was the newest quest of euessed Till scented winds that waft afar Bore word o' the war rhapsodies of rest

Wild, oh wilder than winter blasts my wet skies shriek when the winds are freed

Mild, oh h o' the reefs where sea-birds feed, Screah the sea-birds warn do captains heed?)

There is no public landing wharf at Zanzibar Passengers have to subshorenize one sole and only point of honor: neither passenger nor luggage shall be dropped into the surf

Their invariable habit, the instant the view-halloa is raised, is to sca, pounce on the victim and pull hith, or some such element decides the point; and then more often than not it is the victih, each deterrio until three times the proper fee shall have been paid Of only these two things let the passenger assure hiht how he et wet Rather they will hold him upside-down until the contents of his pockets fall into the surf Dry on the beach or into the boat they will dump him And whatever he shall pay them will surely be insufficient

But we had a privy councilor of England of our party, and favors were shown us that never fall to the lot of ordinary travelers Opposite the Sultan's palace is the Sultan's private wharf, so royal and private that it is a prison offense to trespass on it without written permission Because of his official call at the Residency, and of his card left on the Sultan, wires had been pulled, and a poreasily, and whose palm itched for unearned increment, called on Monty very shortly after breakfast with intimation that the wharf had been placed at our disposal, since His Highness the Sultan desired to do us honor

So when the B I steareat roadstead shortly after noon ere taken to the wharf by one of the Sultan's household--a very civil-spoken Arab gentlelish officers met us there who reeable to the rest of us While we stood chatting and waiting for the boat that should row us and belongings thethat azed presently in the same direction

”Johnson is nu off es Coutlass, our friend the Greek Number three is--am I drunk this early in the day?--what do you see?--doesn't she look to you like?--by the big blind God of men's mistakes it's--Monty! Didums, you deaf idiot, look! See!”

At that everybody naturally looked the same way Everybody nodded

Coutlass the Greek, and Hassan, reputed nephew of Tippoo Tib, were headed in one boat toward the stearier than the usual passenger Following the a ht not be associated with theshoreht, Lady Isobel Saffren Waldon and her Syrian maid stood at bay Her tahilicarried to a boat Her luggage was being borne helter-skelter after them, and another boat waited for her just beyond the belt of surf, the rowers standing up to yell encourage pack that dared not close in on its victims Lady Isobel Saffren Waldon appeared to have no other weapon than a parasol, but she had plainly the upper hand

”She has a ith her with natives,” said the senior officer present

”It's a pity,” said Monty ”I mean, one scarcely likes to use this wharf and watch that”

”Quite so Yet we daren't accord her official recognition She'd be certain to

The Residency ath of relief We would like to speed the parting guest, but it mayn't be done However, you'll know there are others not so particular I iine her friends are late for the appoint?” asked Monty

”British East Africa”

”Mombasa?”

”And then on She has drafts on a German merchant in Nairobi”

From that moment until ere safely in our quarters on the steaid indifference toward her or anything to do with her The British officers went out to the steamer with us, but all the way Monty only talked of the climate, trade conditions, and the other subjects to which polite conversation of Africa's east coast is li him, but Monty took no notice Yerkes whispered to Fred Then I heard Fred whisper to Monty in one of those raucous asides that he perfectly well knows can be heard by everybody

”Why don't you ask 'em about her, you ass?”

But Monty refused to rise He talked of the bowed and ancient slaves of Zanzibar, who refused in those days to be set free and afforded prolific ground for attack on British public land for her peccadillos and forget her virtues

---------------In 1914 there were still thousands of slaves in Gerh the German press and public were ever loudest in their condemnation of British conditions