Part 46 (2/2)
Fred went out with a tent-peg and scored in the sand a deep line to denote our boundary, the Greeks watching, all eyes and guesswork
”Over the other side with you!” Fred ordered when he had finished
They refused He charged at them, and they ran
”Whichever of you, man or servant, sets foot on our side of that line shall be a dead-sure hospital case!” Fred announced ”We'll reciprocate by leaving your side of the camp to you!”
”Who made you men rulers of this rest-camp?” Coutlass demanded
”We did,” Fred answered ”We've lost our rifles just as you have
We'll fight you with bare hands and skin you alive if you trespass!”
”Gassharamminy!” shouted Coutlass ”By hell and Waterloo, you ! Wait and see!”
We had to wait a very long and weary time, but we did see In the days that follohenmyself about, Fred and Will were able to leave me alone in the camp without any fear of a visit from the Greeks It was not that there was ht have had consequences we could never have offset Alone, unable to rise, I could not have forced the would surely have been interpreted by the guard, who alatched them from the corner of the road, as evidence of collusion of some sort between them and us
Just at that ti better in the world than the chance to persuade the Germans that he was in our councils Fred's mere irritable determination to divide the camp in halves saved us in all human probability from a trap out of which there would have been no escape
CHAPTER NINE
”SPEAK YE, AND SO DO”
Ok Thou, who gavest English speech To both our Anglo-Saxon breeds, And didst adown all ages teach That Art of crowning words with deeds, May ho use the speech, be blest With bravery, that when shall come In thy full time our hour of test-- That promised hour of Christendori to be fed or freed, Or faun, By broken word or serpent plan, Or cruelty in malice done To helpless beast or subject man
Amen
There was method, of course, behind the difference in treat Coutlass sell his mules and stay within the miserable confines of the rest-cah to feed himself, and to cut off all opportunity for swift escape Not for a second were the Germans sufficiently unwary to admit collusion with him
The real ownershi+p of the three mules was left in little doubt when they were sold at public auction and bought in by Schillingschen Fred and Will attended the auction the day following our scene in court, and extracted a lot of a hiood sum more than the e predica of Brown's cattle had been a bid for fortune on his own account Yet by causing us to give chase he had brought us into the German net more handily than ever they had hoped So it was reasonable on his part to suppose that if he could betray us et rewarded instead of treated as a broken tool
Yet he did not dare to approach our caht The fight would certainly be reported by the askari on watch at the crossroads, and that would destroy his chance ofnotes to ht thee to a stone and throwing it in through the tent door
They were strange, illiterate ht-out offers to help us escape and dark insinuations that he knew of soate
It was an Englishthree days in Muanza on his way to Lake Tanganika, who came to see what he could do for my wound and cleared up thewhat he had heard in the non-commissioned mess, where he had been invited to eat ato curry favor by pretending he knows your plans If he succeeds in wor you to make plans to escape with hi you in jail--and that, I understand, is where they want you”
”Will you do me a favor?” I asked