The Ivory Trail

JO HA

are the dear deli

them, on

of a thousand love

e lawl

old hours reborn-

sands h

n they told t

s were o

were afire wit

hite ash

sail, and t

against

a spray on

g hemp, the

d the roll of

d course

e captains come. T

s in

Africa! Who East a

ta

zibar may go, but h

undred rounds of rifle ammunition each. In an envelope in addition was Fred's check with the collector's co

nius of Courtney's friendship. A railway man looked in. The

sked. "I'll see you ge

wned fifteen minutes before high noon when we strolled to the station behind a string o

ange to hear the hero of one's school-days, mighty hunter and fearless leader of forlorn campaigns, actually trouble

aid for. Crammed in the vestibule in front of us were fifty people fretfully marshalling in line their strings of porters lest any later comer

and passenger, before any sort of progress could be made. The fact that all passengers shouted at him to hurry or be reported to big superiors complicated the process enormously; and the equally discordant fact that no passenger-and especially not Georges

lace in line. "You bloody robbers! You pickpockets! You train-t

eak, and then again to wipe his spectacles, and his forehead, and his hands, a

ss exp

e hell are you to tell

black plunderer, d'y

from the babu's hand and turn

d) "wants to make out that seventy-one times seven annas and three pice is forty-nine rupees, eleven annae!

drew in his breath for the gods of Greece alone knew

gh of you! Get to t

ition the newcomer, very cool in snow-white uniform and helmet, seized Coutlass by the neck and hustled him, arguing like a boiler under pressure, through the crowd. The Greek was three inches taller, and six or eight inches bigger round the chest, bu

right!" he said. "Babus are willin

he sa

on your honor. Go on through. Save time. Have your stuff weighed, and se

we filed through the gate, crossed the blazing hot platform, and boarded a compartment

ntraption not ill-suited to Africa-nor yet so comfortable

rs was the rear end of a second-class car, into which we could look if the doors were open and we lay f

there were neither tunnels nor bridges on that railway, and there was a single seat on the roof at each end of first- and second-class compartments reached by a ladder, for any passenger enamored of

eased in quicker order now that a white official was lending the two babus a hand, began coming through the barrier in sudden spurts, baggage in ei

k for a week. Those woolly-headed porters are going to save up his commission and hand it to him when he brings the down-train in! The game's good: he whistles-passen

d to make room for him on the seat. He apologized with less conviction of real regret than I

rid the land of 'em double-quick if government 'ud pay me a rupee a head-an' I'd provide cartridges! But government likes 'em! Ugh! Ever travel in one compartmen

ili, Indian, Biluchi, one Japanese, two Chinamen, half-breeds, quarter-breeds of all the hues from ivory to dull red, guinea-yellow, and bleached out black; but the second-class compartment facing our door remained empty. There was a name on the card in the littl

you; he's a very good gun-bearer. He'll be out of a job when I'm gone. I shall give him his fare to Nairobi. Engage him if you want a dependable boy, but remember the rule about dogs: a good one has one mast

ewells. The engine's apoplectic coughs divided the din into spasms, and there came a great bellowing from the ticket off

he was running beside the train now)-"be in no hurry to advertise the fact! Go and make terms first with government-then-after you've

ead, gazing after us as if we had all been lifelong friends of his. He made

ho is?" demanded Will, and

ur car would be clear of the station altogether. We heard a roar like a bull's from behind, and a dozen men-white, black and yel

one hand, his hat in the other, an empty bandolier over one shoulder and a bag slung by a strap swinging out behind him. He made a leap for t

hree other languages. It may be that the engineer looked back and saw what was happening (or perhaps the guard signaled with the cord that passed through eyeholes the whole length of the train) for though we did not slow down we gained no speed until a

t, tough-looking Goanese, dressed anyhow at all in pink-colored dirty shirt, dark pants, and a helmet, also with rifle and empty bandolier. I judged he weighed about two hundred and eighty pounds, but Coutlass yanked him in like a fish comin

ith almost the joy of gre

into the compartment, where the other Greek and the Goanese grabbed him by the arms and legs and hove him to an upper berth, on which he lay gasping like a fish out of water and moaning miserably. Their compartment was a mess of luggage, blankets, odds-

dangerous. I sure do hate a Punjabi, but I don't love Greeks! The natives call 'em bwana masikini to their faces-that means Mister Mean White y'know. They're a lawles

elves. He told us

to settle in? Depends what you call good. If you like lots of room, an' hunting, natives to wait an' your own house on your own square mile-comfortable climate-no conventions-nor no ten commandments, why, it's pretty hard to beat. But if you

us about the only one. We're men

as soft as that surely! They'll be lucky if they get ten per cent. of it themselves! Man alive, but they say there's a whale of a hoard of it! Hundreds o' tons of ivory, all waiting to be found, and fossicked out, an' took! Say-if I was some o' those Greeks for instance, tell you what I'd do: I'd off to Zanzibar, an' kidnap Tippoo Tib. T

the stuff might be?" Fr

t 'ud be

Sultan of Zanzibar, although really like the rest of those parts under British rule. We were bowling along beside plantations of cocoanut, peanut, plantain and pineapple, with here and there a thicket of strange trees to show what the aboriginal

e trees thinned out to the sparse and shriveled all-but-dead things that struggle for existence on the border-lines between man's la

he sweat that streamed down us. Yet we stopped once at a station, and humans lived there and a man got off the train. A lone lean babu and his leaner, more miserable native crew came out and eyed the

own of Lumbwa produced a stone crock of Irish whisky from a basket, imbibed copiously, o

l then they've got no hold! The courts can fine you, maybe, but can they make you pay? It's none so easy if you're half awake! But take me: Suppose I break a reggylation. What happens? They know where to find me-how much I've got-where it is-an' if I don't pay the fine, they come an' collar my cattle an' sticks! D'you notice any Greeks applyin' for farms? Not no crowds of 'em you don't! I don't know one single Greek who has a farm in all East Africa! Any Goas? Not a bit of it! Any Indians? Not one! So when a few extry elephants get shot, I get the blame-down at Lum

ed found him worth attention. It happened that Fred, Will and I were all thinking of the same th

ntry's this for wom

own asked in sort

te w

ve the cattle, shot the meat, ran the whole shootin' match, an' runs him, too, when he's sober an' she's drunk. When they're both drunk everybody ducks. She's scarcely a woman, she's sort of three-men-

interest that startled our infor

his t

's she doing in this country anyhow? I made a try to get a seat in her carriage, but she ordered me out like Aunt Jemima puttin' out the cat the l

ed forward to whisper to me: "She heard what Co

her name?"

ee lied together

reservation card. Lady

atronymic, what? Lady

ver and over, crescend

title doin' d'you suppo

l right, all right! Yo

A nestin' hen giving

n' me! Good looker, to

Afr

o shift t

Jane's nuts on it, an' she's dangerous. Jane's as likely to find the stuff as any one. She's independent-go where she blooming well pleases-game as a lioness-looks like one, too, only a lioness is kind o' softer an' not so quick

band, perhaps," sugges

e in British East or Uganda

phew-oh, perhaps she's j

on't come 'just traveling' in these par

ut had reached the stage where it h

o jail where they could stow a white woman and observe the decencies. So she goes over the borderline whenever she sees fit. The king's writ runs maybe for thirty miles north o' this railway. Once over that they can't catch you. But unless you're a black man, or Pioneer Jane, the natives ti

ttled down to sleep. We took him by the legs and arms and threw h

and laughed at our surprise that he should state such he

onty in London and make plans for some other trip. Everybody's after this ivory. We haven't a look-in. Even if we kn

d his beard into the neat point it refuses to

il Courtney sends that boy he promised us. We

n?" grumb

what Brown of Lumbwa

d-li

the king's wri

uth in it!" Brown mumbl

motions of reeling off all the bad languag

standing on the lower berth and li

ut about how to reach Mount Elgon. So did this sharp. Now he hears Fred talk about dead-line

tter darkness brought no respite, but the fascination of flitting shadows and the ever-new mystery of African night. The train drew up at last in a station in the shadow of great overleaning mountai

alled the guard, walking

for dinner! Di

in a black man's land. In countries where the half-breed and the black man live for and almost monopolize government employment few white men take kindly to braid and brass bu

dinner, gents-trai

we all three recognized-"Guard!

d iron and under that the yellow lamplight cast a maze of moving shadows as the passengers swarmed toward the dining-room. The smell of greasy cooking blended with the reek of axle and la

he voice again. "

ur windows and lock our compartm

n asleep in t

e was in the train in Mombasa two hours afore startin' time, an' the things she ordered me to do 'ud have made a 'alf-breed think 'e was de

he platform, drunk enough not to know whether Hassan was with them or not

he voice again. "

n charge of that section of the line, who checked the station master's accounts and counted money in a tray between mouthfuls. Between us and the second-class tables was a wooden screen on short legs, and beyond that arose babel. Second-class is democratic always, and talks with its mouth full. In addition to

ass swaggered in, closely followed by his

" he snarled, and shove

s and stood leering at

ng our eyes, but pl

You three would want a special private piece of earth to spit on!"

brought everybody to his feet except the two officials and the railway man. They continued e

Then he swaggered over to the long table, thrust the other Greek and the Goanese into chairs on either side of him, and y

hite hair-came running from the kitchen in a state of near-c

money. "That man is crazy! He came in once before and broke the dishes!

lway man. "Go on servin

and the running to and fro r

or two on tray

ned to him and he win

nd had your own meal, I want

to come and fetch the food?" I said malicious

cross the platform in the dark! Never saw anything like 'em! Tears! An' dignified! When I climbed down they was too afraid next to be left alone.

ilway man looked up for a moment, saw my face, and explained in a moment of expansiv

get nothing more until you

ment it worked. We swallowed, like the lined-up merc

me from the direction of the train that brought him back on the run. No black woman ever screams in just t

screen doors, the guard fighting to burst between us, and, because with a self-preserving instinct that I have never thought quite creditable to the

ll drunk-affectionate,

The door was open. Within the compartment all was dark

you come in for, if yo

won't h

p. He listened, looked, disappeared through the

o you don't! This is my li'l sweetheart! Sh

h the big railway key in her fist that the guard had left with her. By that time there was a considerable crowd about our car, unable to see much because it stood in the way of the station lamp-light. She slipped throug

th his hair all tousled and a wild eye. The guard was wiping a bloody

vised some expe

hers or her in mine? Eh? Me. I'm sleeping. Hasn't a gent a right to sleep? Next thing I know she's fingerin' my whiskers. How should I know she's not balm

d the official. "Had a

the lady in the next

you s

sit

uard! See who

nose and obeyed orders. We cl

in here?"

He tried the door a

here two of you? I c

nner?" said Lady Sa

not the d

not,

our maid o' enterin' the

long waiting for dinner we were both asleep

to the holes appointed for them, and the train that had been a bl

the guard reported, retreating backwa

wa to levy charges, and the crowd remembered its dinner (not th

babu station master, and everybody hurried to

we get here? Why wasn't I called for dinne

urried cow, it's lo

us at the door

through, but I can't find

e with almost unanimity in water as a drink. Every guest at either table had left at his place a partly empt

ager, with a fearful air, and shoulders s

ft, yet not eating. I looked at the railway official, who had not left his seat. It struck me he was laughing

shall I do?" wailed t

han I! They were g

ntly true, and stated mildly

it was so full of various drinks. "Why should we not take? Who isn't thi

o?" wailed the

id the railway man, glancing up from h

friends; but they did not leave the table because there was another course to come, and, as the manage

ar the likes of it? They swear neither of 'em was out of the compartment. They call me a liar for askin' for my key

on to the

r. Mine's lost. Can't open doors

im his key with a bored

presently," he ordered. "Be

s across the table. "If she's sure our pockets are wort

id went through our

ging on a hook. Everything was emptie

a confession presently,

then he did n

rt and coffee!" advised Fre