Part 56 (2/2)

That was the only launch the Gerovernment had on the lake in those days, an aladgets on her ineer could have explained the purpose of in a watch They had lavished a whole appropriation on one show Fro-bore elephant gun we ran risk of starvation, and perhaps surprise, but no longer of pursuit, and we headed the Queen of Sheba as nearly as we could guess for British East with feelings that even Lady Waldon shared, for she grew distantly polite again, and co

We should have suspected treachery, for sheher face Unnatural inaction should have put us on our guard She even went so far as to co, brave man as Coutlass to cherish her” The Greek sied with his fingers the whiskers that had aluised him

(There was not one of us but looked like a pirate by that time The natives of that part of Africa shave every particle of hair froet the chance, and prefer their heads as shi+ny and naked as any other part of them But the German prison system, devised to break the spirit of whoever ca, so that we had the woolliest crowd of passengers i sorry for Lady Waldon, or even for thearms

The obvious fact that the dhoas no place for a woman ain, shutting eyes and ears to Lady Waldon'sian to set her own cap at Coutlass, encouraging hiift hich he told them tales in Kiswahili that would have made even her blush if she had understood the half of therew jealous, and had to be kissed back to serenity by Coutlass, as no less in love with her because of any mere addition to the number of his interests He could have made hot love to six women, and have enjoyed it There were times when he really flattered himself that Lady Waldon admired his looks and fine physique

Food was now the chief concern We trailed a fishi+ng line behind us, but caught nothing Brown said there were too many crocodiles for fish to be plentiful, but on the other hand, Kazimoto, who surely should have knoore that the water was full of big fish, and that the islanders lived on little else Whatever the truth of it, we caught nothing; and e reached an island whose shore was lined with fish-traps made of stakes and basket-e searched all the traps in vain The nativesin the distance all ran away from us, and there were no crops that we could see of any kind, which rather bore out Kazies eat, I tell you!” Brown insisted

”They're wholeso” We offered him his own price if he would eat one hih ere all beginning to be, he refused, and we needed his exa a regular archipelago, ranite rocks on which the crocodiles could crawl to sun theer Nearly all of theed ourselves well inside the British portion of the lake, we cae one that had a mountain in thetrees

It was dark, and ere all famished e reached it, so e had poled the dhow into a little bay between granite boulders big enough to hide her, mast and all, ent ashore,our own allowance to increase those of the porters, whose larger stoer rations--a ry men; but we found before we had cooked and finished theht us fortunate

They came so silently that even the porters did not notice the in the deeper shadows, and coe of the circle of firelight, until a tribe, athered around us burning up the darkness with their eyes

They were hungrier than we! Our food, that looked so scant to us, to them was a very feast of the Gods! They all had pieces of leather or plaited grass drawn tight around their er, and the chief, who sat rather apart fronawed at a piece of bark

None of theoat-skin aprons had them on behind, and they were as free from self-consciousness as the trees in winter Some of them had spears, and they all had knives, yet none offered violence, or as ed There were three or four hundred of the, yet they allowed us to finish ourto say e had finished We knehat theto share with thes that the porters had shaken and beaten to get out the very dust We did not know their language; even Kazinorant of any dozen words that could unlock their understanding

Presently, under the eyes of all of thes and proceeded to clean and oil it carefully, as every genuine hunter should before he sleeps

Then it was evident at once that new hope for so that silent crowd The chief, uninvited, drew nearer and watched every detail of Fred's husbandry with glittering eye

”Give hiested Brown, but that proved not to be the key to his interest, for he thrust the rag back into Fred's hand and

Finally Fred exaes carefully one by one, and filled the hts were in order, he began to wrap the rifle again

But at that the chief held out a lean long ar to his feet in a hurry, inal to attack at last, but Fred ordered him to sit down, and Lady Waldon, who seeive her an arm to the dhohere she proposed to try to sleep Coutlass felt flattered, and obeyed The ot up and followed them both in a fury of jealousy, and they three were lost to view in afires The other Greek got up and followed the by the fire

Then, just as the half of a brilliantly pale moon rose above the papyrus, the chief came a pace nearer and touched Fred's hand Then he beckoned Then he touched the hand again and retreated backward

Glancing around I saw the shadows that were his tribe leaning toward us in strained attention, with eyes for nothing but their chief and Fred

Understanding there was soo and do, Fred passed the rifle to Will and rose to his feet

With patience that was simply pathetic the chief shook his head and tried to explain so in weary-motioned pantomime Fred took the rifle back from Will The chief nodded Fred started to follow hihed, with a sound like the evening wind rustling through the papyrus

It being clear now that he was to shoot sos off the rifle, threw the ahead like a phanto toup the rear