Samba

er is

untry, Jack. There'll so

replied Jack Challoner with a smile.

ran to length instid uv breadth. Whin I was a bhoy she had to buy breeches always a siz

ough juice in you to make it worth their while to worry you. Whereas they suck at me til

Paddle small small,

o under the paddles of twelve stalwart Baenga, who stood, their bodies bent slightly forward, singing in time with their strokes. They were paddling against the current of a stream that forced its brown waters into one of the tributaries of the Congo. It

of Banonga turns out to be wind. I don't see what the Congo State has to gai

of gold turns out

told me of the gold, and Barnard hasn't got enough imagination to say more than he knows. No, the gold is th

his life in roaming over the world and making discoveries that laid the foundation of other men's fortunes, not his own, he learnt from him that clear signs of gold had been observed in the Maranga district on the Upper Congo. Mr. Martindale was very rich; but, like many another man, he found after h

there; I've no further interest in the stuff. I'm off to the Philippines

r his wife followed him to the grave, and the guardianship of Jack fell to his uncle, who, being a bachelor without other ties, readily assumed the charge. He surprised his friends by the course he took with the boy. Instead of bringing him to America, he entered him at Bilton and afterwards at Rugby, declaring that as the boy was

rning to serve his turn. He's tip-top at sports: he's a notion of holding his own and helping lame dogs; and I don't want his nose to turn up, as I believe noses have a trick of doing at Oxford. No: the boy'll come home. I don't

do you no harm to see a little travel off the beaten track," he said, "and I'm not going to work the gold myself: my mining days are done. You

ge concession on the Upper Congo, the mining rights in the Maranga district, on condition of the company receiving a percentage of the profits. The first practical step having been taken, Mr. Martindale's interest in his project became ke

a week they arrived at a "head post," whence they continued their journey, up a tributary of a tributary, by canoe. This last stream was quite a considerable river as the term would be understood in Europe, though neither so broad nor so deep as the one they had just left. But this again was insig

' school, 'bus conductor, cabman, and chauffeur; but in none of these numerous vocations, he said with a sigh, had he ever grown fat. He was long, lean, strong as a horse; with honest merry blue eyes, and curly lips that seemed made for smiling. H

he went to Australia, and by the powers! when he came back to say 'God bless you' to his ould mother, she did not know him at all at all, he was so full in the flesh, sorr. Sure an'

earth'

an' sleeps on my coat, so he will not cost ye much for board and lodging. And I would thank ye kindly, sorr, if I might but go home to 'm an' say, 'Pat, m

ale, laughing. "Bring Pat, if you like. Bu

d an eye as Barney declared with emphasis that the Congo was a "mighty foine river, sure an' 'tis only

rfy platform by the bank, worn level by the treading of innumerable feet. The dog uttered one sharp bark, fa

ll were ashore, "lead the way. Not too fa

me go fust; frighte

plants. Insects innumerable flitted and buzzed around the travellers, provoking lively exclamations from Mr. Martindale and Jack, and many a vicious snap from the terrier, but leaving Barney almost untouched. Once a wild pig dashed across the path and plunged into the thicket, with Pat barking frant

e, on a low hill, stood a crude open hut, consisting of upright supports

said Nando cheerfully. "Ch

upright in the ground. At one side lay two or three wicker baskets, at the other a bottle; in front a big iron spoon stuck out of t

them?" asked Mr. Martinda

f her,

ou mean-a

ry; bang! chief him missis lib for[1] dead, sah. Bad

shivered, then

"Such things aren't done in these days. The

e. But are we nea

ll, sah, d

"I want to see with my own eyes whether

been annihilated. Mr. Martindale had heard, in America and England as well as in Africa, strange stories of the administration of the Congo State; but, like many others, he had been inclined to pooh-pooh the rumours of cruelty and atrocity as the vapourings of sentimentalists. But the stories imperfectly interpreted by Nando on that pleasant evening by the river made a new impression on him. He was a hard-headed man of business, as little inclined to sentimentality as any man could be; he hated any appeal to the emotions, and unasked gave large subscriptions to hospitals and philanthropic societies so as to avoid the harrowing of his feelings by collectors and other importunate folk; but beneath his rough husk lay a very warm heart, as none knew better th

he same path through another stretch of forest unti

his hand, and looking into Mr. Martindale's e

e are the huts?" s

etween palms and plantains away into the impenetrable forest. These leafy walls were vivid green, but the road itself was black. A smell of charred wood and burnt vegetation filled the air. There was not a complete hut to be seen. The space once thronged with a

the way now as the party left the ring of forest and walked int

indale, swinging round irritably.

mimory a sight I saw in the ould counthry whin I was a bhoy; sure

out such traces of former habitations as remained: here a cooking pot, there a half-consumed wicker basket, a broken knife, a blacke

who did it? I won't believe it was Europeans till 'tis proved. There are cannibals here;

nerveless; in his right hand he clutched a broad-pointed dagger. He had been lying in a stupor until roused by a sharp sound, the cry of some animal strange t

ushy tail; but this creature was new to him. True, it was like a dog, though its brown coat was rough and its tail stumpy; but he had never seen the dogs of his village trot round their masters as this was doing, never heard them speaking, as it seemed, to the men with this quick sharp cry. The

n came to a sudden surprised stop when he descried a black form among the leaves. He stood contemplating the boy with his honest brown eyes, and his tail was very active. Then with one

ye the slip, then?" he sai

less, went on alone to scrape acquaintance. He stood before the boy at a distance of a yard, blinking at him between the tendrils of a creeper. Then he advanced slowly, wagging his stump, poked his nose through the leaves, and after a moment's sniffing delibera

and waited for the boy to follow. The latter understood at once; but he shook his head, and said, "O nye! O nye!" under his breath, and lay still. Pat began to see that there was something keeping the white man and the black boy apart. It was very foolish, he tho

is it wid ye thi

said Jack, amused at the dog's manne

scarce, we will have a new kind uv Irish stew, Pa

t he had no sooner reached the edge of the plantation than there was a rustle among th

and a bhoy, black as the peat on me father's bo

urs. But the negro did not crawl far. Faint with weakness, moaning with pain, he sank to t

ay, Barney? What

uv his spache did I learn. Perhaps he has niver seen a white

me here!"

up, followed quick

this? A boy! They're

scared. He tried to crawl awa

im up, Barney

forth his hands the boy uttered a piercing shr

tindale. "Speak to him, Nando; tell him

quiringly from one to the other as the negro talked in his rapid staccato.

man, blood brudder Tanalay, oh yes. He know 'bout Tanalay:

ll kinds of circumstances by the natives, practical