Part 18 (1/2)
We s, and leaned froether The tiers continued spurting for the train at intervals--all sorts of passengers--English, Mauritius--French, Arab, Goanese, German, Swahili, Indian, Biluchi, one japanese, two Chinamen, half-breeds, quarter-breeds of all the hues frouinea-yellow, and bleached out black; but the second-class co our door remained empty There was a name on the card in the little er who could read English glanced at it, but nobody ca and at last the ringing of a bell warned Courtney that tiot out on the platforh the”I've done what I could to bring you luck Don't be tee the first servants who apply to you at Nairobi If you wait there a week I'll send un-bearer He'll be out of a job when I'e him if you want a dependable boy, but reood one has one --far fro, and he'll serve you well He's a first-class Nyamwezi, from German East Oh, and one more scrap of advice--”:
He caave a final screaine's apoplectic coughs divided the din into spas from the ticket office He could not speak softly and be heard at all Louder he had to speak, and then louder, ending alon is by way of Kisumu and Mumias, whatever anybody else may tell you And if you find the stuff, or any of it,” (he was running beside the train now)--”be in no hurry to advertise the fact!
Go and overnment--then--after you've made terms--tell 'em you've found it! Find the stuff--? Good-by, all Good luck!”
We left hi the sweat fro after us as if we had all been lifelong friends of his He made no distinction between us and Fred, but was equally anxious to serve us all
”If that man isn't white, who is?” demanded Will, and then there was new interest
We had left the ticket office far behind, but the train was th of platforether We heard a roar like a bull's from behind, and a dozendown the platfor, and all the paraphernalia that travelers in Africa affect
First in the van was Georges Coutlass, showing a fine turn of speed but tripping on a bed-sheet at every other step, with his uncased rifle in one hand, his hat in the other, an e by a strap swinging out behind him He made a leap for the second-class compartment in front of us, and landed on all fours on the platform We opened the door of our compartment to watch him better
Once on the platform he threw his rifle into the cos his staht the instructions in Greek, Kiswahili, Arabic, English, and two or three other languages
It ineer looked back and saas happening (or perhaps the guard signaled with the cord that passed through eyeholes the whole length of the train) for though we did not sloe gained no speed until all his belongings had been hurled, and caught, and flung inside Then caed on their knees up the steps They were heavychestnuts fro, and without the spirit that in the case of Coutlass s--dressed in khaki, with rifle and empty bandolier Next, chin, elbow, hand and knee up the steps ca Goanese, dressed anyhow at all in pink-colored dirty shi+rt, dark pants, and a helhed about two hundred and eighty pounds, but Coutlass yanked hiht be Arab, or part-Arab, part-Swahili, whonize at first, fat, black, dressed in the white cotton garments and red fez of the more or less well-to-do native, and voluble with rare profanity
”Johnson!” shouted Fred with al an old acquaintance
It was Hassan, sure enough, short-winded and afraid, butCoutlass took hold of his outstretched arainst the top step, and hurled him rump-over-shoulders into the corabbed his and hove hi like a fish out of water and e, blankets, odds-and-ends, and angry men Coutlass found a whisky bottle out of the confusion, and sed the stuff neat while the other Greek and the Goanese waited their turn greedily There was nothing much in that compartment to make a man like Hassan feel at ho coree better than Indians--a shade less depraved perhaps--a sight erous I sure do hate a Punjabi, but I don't love Greeks! The natives call 'em bwana masikini to their faces--that means Mister Mean White y'know They're a lawless lot, the Greeks you'll run across in these parts My advice is, shoot first!
Walk behind 'em! If they ain't arood!”
We introduced ourselves He told us his name was Brown
”There's three Browns in this country: hell-fire Brown of Eleil, and Brown of Lumbwa Brown of Lumbwa's me Don't believe a word either of the other two Browns tell you!
Yes, we're all settlers Country good to settle in? Depends what you call good If you like lots of roo, natives to wait an'
your own house on your own square mile--comfortable climate--no conventions--nor no ten commandments, why, it's pretty hard to beat
But if you want to wear a white shi+rt, and be et rich, it's rotten! You've a chance to , for there's elephants But if you're moral, and obey the laws, you haven't but one chance, an' she's a slienially, ”tell us about the only one We're men to whom the ten commandments are--”
”You look it!” Brown interrupted ”Well, what's the odds? You'll never find it, and anyhow, everybody knows it's Tippoo Tib's ivory I et my farm fenced an' one or two other matters attended to Gov'ment offers ten per cent to whoever leads 'em to it, but they can't believe any one's as soft as that surely! They'll be lucky if they get ten per cent of it themselves! Man alive, but they say there's a whale of a hoard of it! Hundreds o' tons of ivory, all waiting to be found, and fossicked out, an' took! Say--if I was some o' those Greeks for instance, tell you what I'd do: I'd off to Zanzibar, an' kidnap Tippoo Tib The old card's still living I'd apply a red-hot poker to his silver-side an'
the under-parts o' his tripe-casings He'd tell ! Supposin' I was a Greek without morals or no compunctions or nothin', that's what I'd do! I don't hold with allowin' any er with all that plunder!”
”Have you a notion where the stuff uilelessly
”Ah! That 'ud be tellin'!”
We had crossed the water that divides Mombasa from the mainland
Behind us lay the prettiest and safest harbor on all that thousand-league-long coast; before us was the narrow territory that still paid revenue and owed noh really like the rest of those parts under British rule We were bowling along beside plantations of cocoanut, peanut, plantain and pineapple, with here and there a thicket of strange trees to shohat the aboriginal jungle had once looked like When we stopped at wayside stations the heat increased insufferably, until we entered the great red desert that divides the coast-land from the hills, and after that all seemed death and dust, and haziness, and hell
At first we passed occasional baobabs, with trunks fifteen or twenty feet thick and offshoots covering a quarter of an acre Then the trees thinned out to the sparse and shriveled all-but-dead things that struggle for existence on the border-lines between man's land and desolation At last we dren the sht of the depressing desolation