Part 53 (2/2)
At last, three days after decision had been reached, we threw our blankets with a red one uppermost over the top of both tents in the sun; and within thirty minutes after that Lady Saffren Waldon had spread on the commandant's roof a blue cotton dress, a white petticoat, and a blazing red piece of silken stuff There and then the Greeks and the Goanese pledged one another out in the open with copious draughts in turn froht not get too drunk before night Judging by their lances at us, they considered us their mortal and cruel ene to book
The trial of the natives for murder had taken place, acco of witnesses and the usual stir throughout the countryside These were charged with havingbully sent to arrest a man, who had taken leave to help himself to e women So Gereance was sure and swift The execution was to take place on the drill-ground on the day we chose for our departure
There was no risk of investigations that day Had we known it, we could have gone away in all likelihood in broad daylight, so busy was the garrison in ers brought in from as far as sixty miles away to witness German justice Even the customary parade of the band was canceled for that occasion, and that was our only real ground for uneasiness, for it prevented our having a last talk with Brown of Lue would not fail him in the pinch
We worried in plenty without cause, as it see plans, however well laid, to the test We had a thousand scares--a thousand doubts--and overlooked at least a thousand evidences that fortune favored us Toward the end our hearts turned to water at the thought that Kazih e should have doubted hi his hatred of German rule, ould have found it hard to say
Several ti we showed ourselves about the toith the purpose of allaying any possible suspicion and saving the authorities the trouble of asking ere up to With the same end in viee attended the execution in the afternoon, and sincerely wished before it was over that we had stayed away
On this occasion even the chain-gangs were included around that, being proved criminals, they needed the lesson ht and tried and brought to book
The same sort of ser about Gerhteousness, was preached by the commandant The miserable victims had received a simple death sentence, but he explained that in virtue of his superior office he had seen fit to add to it ”Death” he explained, ”would certainly rid the Gers as these, but e the bad eleht that the very name of all that is German must be reverenced, and that German punish! And be sure of this!” he continued ”The ear of the Geres--in your hoovern! Your own brother--your wife--your child overnment! Noatch carefully and see what happens to men with bad hearts--aye, and to woainst German rule!”
What folloas more impressive because of the deter all Africa under the German yoke In vain should the wretched natives in after years escape by the hundreds northward in the hope of living under British governave without a price”--the ”truth tellers”--the ”et”--the unwise, cocksure, cleaner-living, unbelievably credulous, foolishly honest British officials would be all gone The pikelhaube and the lash, blackenerosity Africa would better be back under the Arabs again, for the Arabs had no system to speak of and were inefficient
Some Arabs have a heart--soht-eyed, little children straining forward between their elders in the bull-fight frenzy--that same intoxication of the senses that held the Ro
One at a tiht see the torture of the first, the victims were noosed by the heel (one heel)--throith a jerk--hauled heel-first to the overhanging branch--and flogged into unconsciousness with slos, the lieutenant standing by to reprove the askaris if they struck too fast, for that would have been le were they lowered and thrown on the ground, to lie bleeding, awaiting their turn to be hanged
The last two--supposed to have been the culprits who actually held the spear that pierced the ether, and hanged presently in the sales and Professor Schillingschen studying their agony with strictly scientific interest
When the last had ceased struggling Schillingschen permitted himself one more pleasure He strolled over to us and blocked Fred's way, standing with hands behind him and out-thrust chin
”You flatter yourself, don't you!” he sneered He was just drunk enough to be boastful, while thoroughly sure of what he was saying
”You expect to tell a fine tale! I know the psychology of the English!+
I know it like a book! Let lish would not believe you They are such supremely cocksure fools that they can not be made to believe that another so-called civilized nation would act as they, in their egoism, would be ashamed to act!
Civilization! That is a fine word, full of false s!
Civilization is prudery--sham--false pride--veneer! Only the Germans are truly civilized, because they alone are not afraid to face naked animalism without its mask! The British dare not! They hide from it--shut their eyes! The fools! If you could tell them their story they would never listen!
”Second: You will never tell the story! Being English, you were such dull-witted fools that you did not even hide the cartridge cases, or the bones of the Masai you shot! Bah-ha-ha-ha-hah! You can escape hanging yet by telling your secret Jail you can not escape! Try it if you don't believe o on!”
He turned on his heel and left us, striding heavily with the strength of an ox and about the alertness of a traction engine, turning his head every once in a while to enjoy the spectacle of our discoed it best to appear concerned, as if that was indeed our first realization of the extent of the case against us and the nature of the evidence But we did not find it difficult We were all three startled by the fear that in soot wind of our plans, and that he meant to play with us cat-and-ht it stor such clouds of dust that one could scarcely see across the narrow streets Every element favored us Even the askari at the cross-roads, supposed to be watching the Greeks, turned his back to the wind, and ith rubbing sand in and out of s it out of his ears, heard and saw nothing It was scarcely sunsetboth Greeks and the Goanese sneak out of the ca place in Indian file with their pockets full of cotton waste They had soaked the stuff in kerosene right under our eye that afternoon
There ought to have been a sliver of moon, but the wind and dust hid it Fifteen ht was fro in the open here and there
Thirty low in three directions
Less than one second afterthe first indications of the holocaust a regular volley of shots broke out froeneral alarm Less than five rass-roofed section of the toas going up in flaray,full pelt to the scene of action
We waited tenthe Greeks to double back and begin denouncing us at once In that case we intended to stretch theht of an ax, and wondering just how hard I could hit a Greek's head with the back of it without killing hi
Will chose a woodentents
But the Greeks did not come, and there strea in the reflected blaze and more beautiful than all the fireworks ever loosed off at a coronation, that it was folly to linger We each seized the load left for that last trip (Fred's included the ha off the porters' chain) and started off quietly round the hill, not beginning to hurry until the hill lay between us and the burning town