The Summons

norary

rvice, heard, as he sat on the balcony of the mess at Senga, the rhythmical

nkeys trooped into the light. Hillyard was riding bareheaded, with his helmet looped to his saddle, a young man, worn th

r you. He has got some work on hand for

nk y

by the way, where

ey were packed and Rayne called a Sudan

expect that you can do with

nto the cause of an obscure fever; and to the other officers of this headquarters

too," said Rayne, "but they live in

appreciable moment there was silence. Then a shortish, square man,

o Senaar this morning-to

uestions but drank

ll since we were at Ox

thrown from his horse and killed on the spot down by the bridge there six weeks ago. Th

t," said Mr. Blacker, the sho

resumed. "He was fetched up here in a hurry as Acting-G

r added an

if--" and he left his sentence in t

rm," Martin Hillyard interpreted, thoug

d of a second caravan was heard. It was coming from the north. Rayne ran to the rail of the balcony and looked anxiously out. The street here was very broad and the huts upon the opposite side already

charge. He spoke in the Dinka language and the soldier replied in the same tongue. Hillyard understood

turned to Hillyard. "Luttrell's a

open stretch of ground. The moon had not yet risen, and it was pitch dark so that Hillyard had not an idea whither he was being led. Colin Rayne stopped at a small, low door in a high big wall and knocked.

Two Sudanese soldiers were present, one of whom carried the lantern. The other, a gigantic creature with a skin like polished mahogany, was stripped to the waist and held poised in his hands a huge wooden mallet with a long handle.

nd. It was not a look of age, but authority clothed him as with a garment. Rayne and Hillyard passed into the chamber. Luttrell t

ready u

ce replied thr

ull and heavy weight like a full sack was

oo

rned toward

y? And you kn

on, with a flash of big white teeth, and took a firm

aid Luttrell, "so that all m

lf than to his audience. Hillyard could make neither head nor tail of the strange scene. It was evident

quare. The beam jumped from its position, hopped once on its end, and fell with a crash. And from above there mingled with the crash a most horrid clang, for, with the removal of the beam, two trap-doors swung downwards. Hillyard looked up; he

very well now what he was witnessing-the rehearsal of an execution. The Sudanese soldiers were grinning from ear to

e said to the soldiers. "I

missed them and turned a

into Hillyard's face and laughed. "Shook you up a bit, that performance, eh? Well,

hich not so many years ago ruled in Omdurman. It was

arpening its spear-heads a few weeks ago. Then two of them got excited and killed. That's the conse

n the mess-room. There were thousands of the tribe, all in a ferment, and just hal

ony on the correctness of his judgment. Sir Charles Hardiman would never have recognised in the man who now sat at the head of the mess table the young man who had been so torn by this and that discrimination

myself from the scaffold-cautionary tales for children, don't you know-and then, if old Fee-Fo-

s of his race, without fear and without too much self-questioning. Indeed, the Luttrell, Acting-Governor of Senga, was a more familiar figure to Hillyard than he would have been to Stella Croyle. For he had shaken off, under the pr

Hillyard was to learn. For Mr. Blacker st

hat of course. But you are tak

to Hillyard that Luttrell stood alone in his

the only course is to refer the wh

o flick and dance from one to other of that company like the b

ry member!"

solemnly, and

Member of the Senga Mes

about him and wondering what in the world the Mec?nas of the First Nights

ner who refused to honour the Royal Toast could only have scandalised

d with humility. "I repair my err

yne repeated, as Hill

r I know

ndous happening; eyes were riveted upon Hilly

nows

incred

ly know

the din Blacker's v

as we can and think out our questions very carefully lest the Heaven-se

bout Hillyard. The care which had bro

stige too. He might write a successful play. That was all very well. He might go shooting for eight months along by the two Niles and the Dinder. Th

your mess, you must know him too," cried

one upbraiding a child. "Sir Chichester Spla

Why, he lives

tilled all voices. Then the

le that we ar

Rackham Par

r fell bac

nt. It is near to Chichester. He went

e a country gentleman with a foot in town, had chosen the neighbourhood on account o

hey all cried, and, whe

that," Luttrell conceded

hat I am wrong too. I pictured him as a tall, melancholy man, with a conical bald head and w

"he was always fat and f

terested in him at

to you on the balcony," an

d, stretching themselves in comfort on the long cane chairs, the

. Consequently we pay attention when it comes. W

ed the narrative a

would say, 'Oh, here's old Splay again,' as if-it seems incredible now-the matter was of no importance. It n

rell inter

performance of a play. On a third day he honoured the Private View of an Exhibition of Pictures. On a fourth he sat amongst the Di

ed back and r

But of Sir Chichester Splay-never anything at all. Yet he is there always, nothing can happen without his presence, a man without a shadow, a being without a history. To me, a simple soldier, he is admirable beyond words. For he has achieved the inconceivab

with every formality, and some day, when we have leisure, we shall send a deputation up the Nile to shoot a Mrs.

, after all, the value of Sir Chichester Splay to the Senga mess. It had seemed to him that Luttre

; and Luttrell stopped ab

ing, noon, and night; we work together; we play polo together-we can never get away from each other. And in consequence we get on each other's nerves, especially in the months of hot weather. Ill-temper comes to the top. We quarrel. Irrepara

e now," sa

lives, and the cost of troops from Khartum, and the careers of all of us are at stake. I think that I am right, and it is for me to say. They

n we are both in Londo

or open upon the hot, still night, the moon just beginning to gild the dark sky, and the two men standing together, neith

e other side of the hall. He turned towards his own

that messa

hat I wrote. The telegram came from Khartum. No doubt t