The Ivory Trail

D PRE

am. 1

e know the a

curst, for the

the prophets of

f death. And t

he last of the

t privile

n, ye with th

the thing till

e loathe the a

o you to fore

the unwise ch

foe at the r

nready t

fend Goli

grinding mi

one till the

shout for the spo

e wheels of the

he warning of

the tumult i

t wrote, from

closed accou

thing ye fear

a sling when t

n anything whatever of the coast; if nobody had been afraid; and, above all, if that incessant din of surf pounding on rocks not far aw

e lives of all the party) in my right hand. Lady Saffren Waldon di

e kept shouting in my e

m! Sink

ove-affair, fearful lest discovery by the Germans should p

f we run on rocks? Can't we swim? Gassharamminy

ment, and wrenched at it until I hit him,

ordered; but Georges

girl! I will fight the whole damned crew b

iller again and I'll kil

kill me or get out and s

s funnel, marveling, when I found time for it, at the mystery of why the cotton sail should hold. The firm, somewhere in Connecticut, who made that expor

ing up both hands, and he and Brown screamed at me:

tting slightly from us toward them, and I could have sworn they heard Will's voice. Yet there was nothing for it but to put the helm over, and as I laid her nearly broadside to th

es raging around them. See? I could have spat on them! There was a current there that set strongly toward the rocks, for

ease up yet! If we get too close and they see

!" yelled Will. "T

of a sort of pocket, and it

ver!" I roared, "an

ering Syrian maid and slashing at the halyard with his knife. Down came the great spar with a crash, and as the dhow swung round in answer to anchor and helm, Fred, Will and Brown

s of being rank incompetents unfit to be trusted with the lives of fish, and Coutlass afraid of nothing but interruption. The things he said to the maid, in English-the only language that they had apparently in common-would have scandalized a Goanese harbor "guide" or a Rock Scorpion from the lower streets of

us were drenched and unburnable, even if the risk of being seen were not too great. Lady Saffren Waldon told us we were "toe-rag contrivers." In fact, now that she was out of rea

sent Kazimoto aloft to reeve our hemp rope through the hole that did duty for block, and by the ti

g is forced on the fearfullest, and there was nothing for it but to study out the method by which the unwieldy spar should be made to pass

r any other boat that might contain an enemy. The southern spur of Ukerewe stuck out like a wedge into boiling water not many miles ahead, and once around that we should be sheltered. The only fly in the ointment then w

mpatient. His Greek friend, from under the shelter of the leaky reed-and-tarpaulin deck, offered him Greek advice, and was cursed for his trouble. One curse led to another, and then they both had to be beaten into subjection with the first thing handy, because when they fought Lad

ngs in distress. Besides, it was an indubitable fact that we all much preferred Coutlass, with his daring record, and now a most outrageous love-affair on hand, to the other Greek or the Goanese, who were now dispos

Saffren Waldon's picric acid rage exploded by being dropped between two porters waist-deep into the water. It was her fault. She insisted one was not enough, yet refused to explain how two should do the work of one. Sitting on their two shoulders, holding on by their hair,

e mercy of the Germans, and had no more consideration of our rights or feeli

rdered. "Beat them blue a

swered. "Go and spread your clothes to dry. When we've

I will kill her!" she answe

rticularly none about women, and calling names. He was simply feeling gallant after h

"if you loose your bully a

rofanity. The Syrian Rebecca went over to comfort him, and eying the two of them with either malice or else c

by natives, but Lady Waldon upset that part of our plan by setting up such a scream when she saw three islanders crossing a ridge three hundred yards away, that they could not help hearing her, and came to inves

German settlements were semi-permanent camps where they were cutting wood, for fuel for their o

ather was fairer and growing intolerably hot. Even before the sun grew high the dhow was a comfortless indecent thing, more crowded than anything Noah can have had to tolerat

to breathe that mostly had not been tasted half a dozen times. Fred, Will and Brown took turns commanding the foredeck look-out, keeping it awake and its units from quarreling. The rest of us found no joy in life, and not too much hope even when Fred's concertina l

any one. Coutlass refused to leave his new sweetheart, for the freely-voiced reason that then Brown might make love to her; and we did not care to send both of them below for obvious reasons. That reduced ope

ts, during which we had to linger alongshore close to the papyrus. In order to keep mosquitoes out we had to light a smudge in the sand-box below. The smudg

next to impossible, because the soft mud bottom gave no purchase. And the oars we made out of poles were clumsy affairs; there was not room for m

ffered less, because of mutual distraction. The rest of us took turns with the natives below, lying packed between them, much as sardines nestle in a can, wondering whether the famous Black Hole

t. The third night out the man next me began coughing, shaking my frame as much as his own as he racked himself, for we were wedged together with only the thickness of his blanket and mine between

have known enough by that time to leave four or five men on guard close by; as it was, when the men still on board the dhow began kicking up a babel, Fred and I came running and jumping ba

the villagers were so used to dhows that they would not trouble to report having seen us in the distance; but it was perfectly certain that if we paid th

hered by the German machine-guns long ago (for to teach Sudanese mercenaries the art of rapid fire in action their officers marched them out to pract

ry few, and then only to discover the invincible repugnance natives have to eating "dagi" as they call all bir

ne miserable finny specimen, all head and mouth and tail, that the natives said would poison any one who ate it. The truth was, of course, that they preferred rice to anything, and, African native-like, would eat nothing else as long as rice was to be

when they bore down on us in long canoes demanding vengeance. They voted for blankets and money, but vowed they would

ours," and we prayed he might be only a non-commissioned man in charge of it, but knew that prayer was too sweetly reasonable to be answered where

lace for the launch to lie in wait; it was where we would have waited had we been pursuers and they the pursued. So we decided after a council of war to put the helm over and sail almost due westward, hoping to meet with an island where we might stop fo

objected to further waste of ammunition. A dead hippo would have provided us with meat enough for a month for the whole ship's company. We could have towed the carcass ashore somewhere and dried the meat in slabs. But the glare on the water made shooting

Probably they heard the shooting in the distance and gave chase. At any rate, within ten minutes of

mminy! Th

launch approached us leisurely. She had plenty of fuel; the wood was piled high above her gunwale in a stack toward the stern; but those on board her seemed to take more pleasure in contemplation of

ing above the launch's side, and we all took cover in the hope either that they might decide we were not the dhow they waited for, or else that they might come very close out of curiosit

as soon as it was evident that the launch did no

er. Then they laid the launch broadside on to our bow at about two hundred yards' range, and without a word of w

schen's bullets appearing to come anywhere near the target, until a yell from below showed what their real plan was and I understood why the sail was not ripped and no bullets whistled ov

oard and tried to swim toward the launch, but one of the Germans hit him in the head at the third shot and he

d did not answer. He kept up a very steady succession o

stead he, too, came struggling to the after-deck, bellowing like a mad-man. Coutlass knocked him back below with a blow on the chin, and he there and then threw the

ly no catamount ever did. Brown leaped in to lend a hand, and into the midst of that inferno three more bullets penetrated, each wounding a man. Lady Waldon, mad with some idiotic strategy of her own sudden devising, seized the tiller and tried to wrench it fr

hen the something grew denser; invisible hot vapor became a pall of steam that bid the launch from view, three more shots from Fred

pierced the boiler when I found out where to aim! I think three of them are scalded badly-ho

't get Schillin

the screen of steam between us and them. A shot or two from Schillingschens rifle proved him to be still alive, and still determined, but missed us by so much that we began to dare t

tter off we were than if the launch had caught us somewhere close inshore. Now we could sail safely northward, every puff of wind carrying us nearer to British water and safety, whereas unless they could mend that high-pressure boiler, they would have to lie there for

xposing his beefy carcass recklessly. But by the time it had thinned down sufficiently to let him really see us we were too far away to m

pose of in a watch. They had lavished a whole appropriation on one show. From the minute we were out of range of Schillingschen's big-bore elephant gun we ran risk of starvation, and perhaps surprise, but no longer of pursui

put us on our guard. She even went so far as to compliment the maid on "finding such a great, strong, brave man as Coutlass to cherish her."

s whenever they get the chance, and prefer their heads as shiny and naked as any other part of them. But the German prison system, devised to br

s kisses and strong arms. The obvious fact that the dhow was no place for a woman made us overlook the conduct of bo

en her blush if she had understood the half of them. At intervals the maid grew jealous, and had to be kissed back to serenity by Coutlass, who was no less in love with her because of any mere additio

known, swore 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 when we reached an island whose shore was lined with fish-traps mad

ste worse than a rotten hen's egg." We offered him his own price if he would eat one himself in the pr

l to sun themselves, but some of them a half-mile long, or longer. Nearly all of them were barren, but at last, when we judged ourselves well inside the

nt ashore, made fires, and served out the last handfuls of rice, skimping our own allowance to increase those of the porters, whose larger stomachs afforded vaster yearning p

the deeper shadows, and coming presently to squat outside the edge of the circle of firelight, until a tr

gods! They all had pieces of leather or plaited grass drawn tight around their middles to lessen

ss as the trees in winter. Some of them had spears, and they all had knives, yet none offered violence, or as much as begged.

hem, and they knew that, for they could see the empty rice bags that the porters had shaken and beaten to get out the very dust.

rifle from its wrappings and proceeded to clean and oil it

n born among that silent crowd. The chief, uninvited, drew nearer

ved not to be the key to his interest, for he thrust the rag b

y one by one, and filled the magazine. Then, after making sur

eemed possessed for the once by uncanny calmness, asked him to give her an arm to the dhow, where she proposed to try to sleep. Coutlass felt flattered, and obeyed. The maid got up and followed them both in

uched 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 no

ry-motioned pantomime. Fred took the rifle back from Will. The chief nodded. Fred started to follow h

to me, and walked into the dark, the chief trotting ahead like a phantom and glancing back to beckon

rustling, neither stumbling nor crowding one another, but all so governed by one all-absorbing thought that they acted in absolute unison. That the thought wa

arm and waved it in a circle. Instantly the whole tribe vanished. It was as if a puff of wind had blown them; or as if they had been figures thro

the lake. We approached a low rise, and as he drew near the top of that he went down on hands and knees

we all knelt down and crawled behind Fred, striving to make no noise and filling the un

rward very gradually. One by one we followed suit until, lying prone in line alo

eyes. Out there nothing troubled him, as for instance the mosquitoes troubled us. He had eaten his fill, for some sort of green stuff hung from his jaws; and he was beginning

in that uncertain light at a downward angle. The glare of the sun on the lake had troubled his eyes during the last few days. The shimmer of the moonlight was deceptive now. I wished he would pass the rifle to Will, or even to Brown of Lumbwa, wh

re than half the size of a man's hand, including only the ear and eye and the narrow space between them. By daylight at a hundred yards that is nothing for a cool shot to complain about, but in half-moonlight, a

suspense? Then, even while we watched, another problem added itself. Over on the water there began to come a wind, driving ripples and little waves in front of

d seen or heard something that alarmed him. He was in the act of sinking under water when Fred made sure of the sights at last and the rifle

t. Where stilly blackness had been, now four or five hundred crazy shadows leaped an

fe-blood. A whole herd, several hundred strong, emerged shoulder-high from the water to take one swift look at him and flee. The arriving wind overswept the li

our he should rise to the surface again, but no man could guess where, and the wind and currents woul

of the tribe had uncovered three canoes, hidden from marauding enemies among the more-than-man-high reeds, a

nd boots, began running like hares toward the sound. In twenty minutes after that, with the aid of grass ropes and leather thongs, they had

ceremony. He drove them off. A white man had slain that animal; therefore the white man's choice of meat was first, and he very leisurely and skillfully cut out the enormous tongue

raw and quivering, while they worked. The little bits of children, each chewing raw bloody meat, brought baskets for the overflow, dragging them to wherever they cou

n baskets to be cooked. And where the last little soft iron dagger had done its work, the blood had been drunk, and the last scrap of hide bad been cut into strips, to be chewed wh

ended paunches. "There's a good bull hippo the less. We've saved the lives fo

ant, also she was more afraid of Fred than Satan is said to be of shriving. The chief led her by the hand, she hanging back and h

ined. "Married to the gal forever

firmed the f

ccord with tribal custom!" Bro

nd swiftly, somebo

cows-many or few according as she was lovely or her father rich. In case of divorce, custom decreed that the cows with their offspring should be given b

o note Fred's consternation. "You'd better stay here an' take the chief's jo

ird figure, gesticulating like a windmill, stumbling and careening through the gloom, shouting as it cam

iny! Give m

his teeth another rational syllable, but he made his intentions partly cle

ive me that rifle, or come yourself! Hur

another moment we were all running as fast as we dared through the darkness toward the cam

campfires they were standing gazing out on the lake, where we could just make out the bellying sail of the Queen of Sheba leaning like a phantom away from the gaining wind. The dis

tlass, dancing up and down the bank in frenzy. "G

angry shouts for vengeance. Will offered no argument against sending them a parting shot. Fred set the butt of the rifle down with a

among the lot of us, I don't see it anyw

ur money! Worse than that-she has my woman! You

lging pocket of hi

e," he said quietly, and

" shouted Coutlass, beginnin

n a little more wind for an hour or two, then doldrums again until late afternoon. They'll run on a rock in all likelihood. If they do we can catch them at our

d, they had run along the bank in vain hope of catching the dhow somehow-perchance of swimming through the crocodile-infested water, and returned now disconsolate, to leap and laugh with new hope at sight of us and of the red meat that Kazimoto had t

found the pots we had cooked the rice in, an

wn before we eat and t

sugge

ast calmed himself sufficiently to laugh at Fred's woman,

Mine is God knows where! She said to me-that hell-damned Lady Saffren Waldon said to me-we sat

he chief's canoes," Will interrupted. "W

them!" Fred suggeste

tla

g Fred Oakes gave you on the island, Mr. Coutlass? Where is your Greek honor?'-Do you see? She worked on my bodily bruises and my spiritual c

d. The presence of the dusky damsel, confirmed by her s

simply report you to the authorities for raiding those cattle of Brown's. Can you imagine that creature Brown forgiving you? He will have you thrown in jail! Why

. I drove him on board, and she put him to work with Kamarajes getting up the sail. Then I went off to get those cursed porters. I cou

what form the punishment would take. "Get on with t

ail in the distance. I shouted! No answer! I shouted again. I heard Rebecca call to me! Then I heard laughter-Lady Isobel Saffren Waldon's laughter! Gassharamminy! I will run red-hot skewers into that woman

gain furiously, shaking both f

uld have fired when I told you! That she-dog has a trick of some kind up her sleeve yet! How shall we catch her? Why do we wait? Give me that rifle! I will

en put upon" Fred answ

justified d

ld you do to me if you could get me to British East in

ed Brown of Lumbwa. "You

ed Coutlass. "Why, then, shou

"We can't trust you out of sight. The only way to prevent you from st

re. "How many cartridges have you left? Five, eh? Aft

t time I suspected he was speaking in deadly earnest. Coutlass suspected it, too, an

ve me here?"

d, smiling

h on all-in scoundre

on Brown, and faced Fred squarely. "You are a man

miled

ak to you G

gri

you where t

head back and l

t the town on fire I made her give me that for a hostage, lest she should prove treacherous and leave me behind after all! I have i

nything," Fred countere

o leave you b

e that she did not care for anything else! She hates you! She hates me! She hates Rebecca! Those who hate-as I can hate!

nswered. "The map,

you and the

t to me

e a share o

the map

angrily. His jaw dropped. Even between the fire-light and the mo

re we bargain!" Fred

th the canoe. We can'

itted Coutlass. "

t place," Fred informed him, rising to

it?" Cout

e it while she was supposed

Those Syrians-she meant to give us al

en Waldon! Kazimoto saw her do it-saw where Lady Waldon hid it-and stole it from h

nner pocket just far enough for Coutlass to recogniz

you, my knife against your rifle! I can not fight all four of you! Go away then, and be damne

lking like a m

yours, and go to hell,

ee

rough the motions of presenting her to Coutlass. The woman gasped-stammered something that was positively not consent-stared with frightene

more to Coutlass. "I don't think we'll leave you to raise Cain on this island. It depends on you whet

are a gentleman! You are the best man in

" said F

of deeding you the woman. I took your name in vain, Fred, and consented to that while your back was turned-kick all you like-the deed is done! Four of his savages come with us as far as we want to go, w