Part 71 (1/2)
Now for opulence and place And the increment unearned We will thieve and stab and cover it with perjury, Conterace And the lesson never learned That the Rules are not ahbor's tools In the quest for easy cash, Aye, jump his claim and burrow to the heart of it, But the innocents and fools Get all the goods, and we the trash, And that's thepart of it!
nobody in caht When the tusks had been chopped out, and our cahed--lion-proof boorged thereat and strong; when all thein the tropics such a business, then there were tales to be told We demanded Monty's first; he ours; and because his was likely to be uh,” he insisted ”Before I begin, have you any notion who a man with a beard could be--bruised face-broken front teeth--Mauser rifle--big dark beard cut shovel-shape--enormously powerful by the look of his shoulders and arms? I caschen!” we exclaischen!” echoed Broas very drunk by that tischen, an' I'll show you a corpse!”
”He's right,” nodded Monty ”The e Looked to me to have lost hi all torn Hadn't been dead long when some of my boys caht, do you know?”
But ould not tell him that tale until we had his own
”Mine's short and sian ”Some ruffians boarded my shi+p at Suez, who e at the first opportunity, that I talked it over with the captain (giving hireed to slip ht, you know--had the doctor isolate the ruffians on the starboard side while the shi+p anchored--soht of as happening until the shi+p went on again Very si--what did you do with the King of Belgiu of Belgiurounds for fourteen days; and who should co into the same lazaretto on the last day but Frederick Courtney--a very old friend of o to Somaliland,” I said
”So he told me He's on his way there now Decided for reasons of his own to enter the country by way of Abyssinia Told iven you fellows, and assuredLeopold himself on the very ht succeed where he failed, using influence and all that sort of thing, but he assured me Leopold was hard to deal with, and difficult to tie down His advice was, go back to Elgon, and hunt for the stuff there”
”That's what he kept advising us,” said Will ”But why should he give away his inforet it?”
”Courtney's no dog in the schen Said he had sent in a report about hiet docues”
Will whistled, and drew out the diary he had rescued from the tin box
Fred nodded Will threw it to Monty, who caught it
”He told schen had searched the whole country over for the stuff--had it straight froschen's boys--I dare say you kno Courtney can schen, he said, had elion was about all there is left Courtney said, too, that there were always so on that Tippoo Tib probably gathered a harvest there We discussed probabilities, and agreed it wasn't likely he would carry the stuff far in order to hide it It seemed likely to both of us, too, that if the quantity the oldlike what ru-places, not one Most of the stuff o Free State, and we'll do well to leave that to Leopold of Belgium and his pet concessionaires Some of it may be near here I stayed in the lazaretto an extra day with Courtney, talking it over One other thing he reh and low for Tippoo Tib's old servants, and had finally ed to have the relatives of that man Hassan--I remember, Fred, you called him Johnson in Zanzibar--thrown in jail in Gered offense or other”
Monty stopped to scrape out a faithful pipe, fill it, press down tobacco with a practised thu brand Then he smoked for two minutes reflectively
”I offered Courtney a share should we find the stuff Knew you felloould agree” Pause ”Courtney wouldn't hear of it” Pause ”Said good-by to hi steahtful trip--put in everywhere--saw everything Saw a lot of the Galla--fine tribe, the Galla”
”Suppose you cut the travelogue stuff until later on!” suggested Will
”Landed at Moed to make more enemies than friends Put in a nuered at the club--drank too in-and-black-pepper appetizer--but ht, I think”
”We're not interested in the slued Fred
”That is what I did--and undid I made friends Soon I had all the other junior officials in a state of an to inquire for Hassan They drew the dragnet tight, and discovered hi assistant district superintendent of police, ill rise in the service, I hope, before long, discovered a wo love to the dusky damsel particularly favored by Hassan; and in that roundabout e discovered that Hassan intended to take a trip very soon toward Mount Elgon, where, if you please, he was to take part in Professor Schillingschen's ethnological studies On condition that he held his tongue until I gave hi polices as swiftly as ot your code letter saying you would head this way It all fitted in like a gaet that letter so soon?” demanded Fred
”The missionary chap was to mail it in Ujiji, via Salisbury, Rhodesia”
”I suppose he simply didn't do that, that's all,” Monty answered ”The bank --from Ujiji, yes, but by way of Muanza, Tabora, and Dar es Salaam It reachednearly parallel with you chaps for about a week!”