The Message

tion nor the modesty that often characterize men of action, he had barely begun to speak ere he fancied that his recital did not command a tenth part of the interest it warranted. Few talkers can w

ad fingers. He scrutinized his nails, and seemingly was much troubled because he had not called in at the manicurist's after lunch. Nev

urning his hands and exami

ically

cked softly as if to emphasize the peace

deductions, I take it?

red how far the Foreign Office cult would carry such an exquisite through a Bush campaign, with its wasting fever, its appalling monotony, its pathless wanderings midst fo

or me with them?" purred the ot

began Warden, almo

e regulations until three o'clock that morning. High on the wall, behind Warden's chair, were several long, narrow, mahog

but now you can talk to scale," he said, going bac

significance of Britain beyond the seas in the eyes of

u will find the town of Giré in the Yola District. You see it is just within the sphere of Brit

f yesterday," broke i

wall a closer scrutiny. A great many corrections had been made on it with pen and

of the Under Secretary; thencefo

e position of Oku so recently, I am half inclined to believe

ffice, at my request, has been trying to discover your whereabouts-trying in vain, I gather-or you would have mentioned the fact. I really wished to consult you with reference to this very topic. It

hat afternoon rather than wait till the morrow. Such preoccupation gave him time to recover. But he devoted no more

ever British authority shows signs of weakening. Therefore, I draw the worst auguries from the presence in Cowes of a clever and unscrupulous filibuster like Figuero, especially when he acts as bear–leader to three disaffected chiefs. Oku, as you know, is an insignificant place, but it has one supreme attribute that gives it among the negroes the importance of Mecca in the Mohammedan world. It is the center of African witchcr

give in

miles miles-"there was a quarrel between the up–country traders and the shippers at Lagos. The merchants in the interior tried to close the trad

for that. The authorities were powerless. Hunger coerced the natives, and financial loss brought the people on the coast to terms. And this took place where we were paramount! Heaven only knows what

on you, then?" said the

at pre

ntioned the calabash to the official. Though it bore curiously on the visit of the men of Oku to the Isle of Wight, he believed that such a far–fetched incident would weaken his statements. Since he was inclined at first to err so greatly in his estimate of the Under Secretary's

he rose to fold up the map. Warden took the hint, and was ab

von Rippenbach accompanied the Emperor in the v

y solely from paragra

Count has just returned from an explorin

chad from German West Africa, and Warden met the Under Secr

The Emperor is a busy man. He can only devote half an hour each year to affairs that affect the Niger. But, keep in touch. You may be wanted. I am exceedingly obliged to you. One learns so much from the men

by s

And his yacht, the Sans Souci, you have noted her main features, such as the exact n

ar I missed those precise details," laughed Warden. "I

o pass Port Said at a time when it was peculiarly important to the British fleet that the canal should remain open. She resembled a hundred other disreputable–looking craft of her class, but a lieutenant on the Cossac

th to that storehouse of secrets, and each was convinced that he alone could reveal the solemn tidings which might be the forerunner of modern Europe's Battle of Armageddon. And the Under Secretary was called on to hear every prophet! From such a standpoint the presence in England of a h

f colonies. Oddly enough, the bent plates of the dynamite–laden Sylph suggested a strange connection between the carved gourd and the strained position of affairs in the Cameroons. He had no manner of doubt that when the royal yacht crashed into a sunken wreck the previous da

might contrive with that as a beginning-and this," he added, when, in searching for a b

a–terre. His stock of cigars needed replenishing, and the weird document that had just made its presence felt reminded him that a Portuguese dictionary was lacking. A gl

herefore, he tel

l to–morrow. Keep yo

ond sentence, but he would have been the most surprised man in London could he

imed the attention of the luggage–room clerk at Waterloo when the portmanteau was unlocked. Warden

watching him, uttered

ried, "what sort of ho

th the negro's face on the upper part. Chance could hardly accomplish this movement. It was the designer's intent, brought about by concealed weights, and Warden instantly remembered that the

henomenal. He grew livid, and

'd ha' known old Hoof an' Horns was so near

cab. So preoccupied was he with other matters, he had not realized earlier that u

, but ultimately unearthed a serviceable volume at a second–hand shop in Charing Cross Road. By the ti

till an hour or more of daylight, so he began to decipher the unsolved section of the strange manuscript. It was a longer job than he anticipated. Arabic characters, being largely phonetic, do not give a literal rendering of Eu

s at tenses and other variants of root words, he comp

Moorish merchant. There we were sold as slaves. Three were dead within a month. We who were left, Tommaso Rodriguez, Manoel of Serpa and myself, were sent as presents over the caravan road to that cruel tyrant the black king of Benin. Rodriguez went mad, and was flayed alive for refusing to worship a heathen god. This message is written on his skin. Manoel of Serpa was drowned in the river which these monsters term 'Mother of Waters,' while I, though my life is preserved by reason of my skill in carving, am utterly bereft of hope in this world while filled with fear of God's justice in the next. Christian, you who read these words, for which I have devised a cunning receptacle that may long survive me, if you would help an erring brother to regain salvation, go yourself, or send some trusty person, to the above–named town of Rabat. I hid ther

the same fashion as on the counter of the luggage–room at Waterloo, appeared to be watching him. Now, no man of strong nervous power likes to feel startled, and that the stealthy menace in those evil eyes was startling he did not attempt to deny. He had not noticed previously that-no matter what the angle-so long as the eyes were visible they seemed to look fixedly at the beholder. Thinking that the waning light was deceptive, he sprang up an

him to address a carven mask, "if you looked that way at poor Domenico Garcia it is not surprising that he sho

ce of those evil

ge

e encyclopedia showed that the seaport town of Rabat, in Morocco, was famous for its ruined monuments. But now, pondering each sentence, he became alive to their tremendous significance. Their very simplicity was the best witness to the underlying tragedy. A man who dismissed the massacre on board the Santo Espirito with the curt statement that he "helped in the slaying of all the ship's company," was not likely to use unnecessary adjectives. "Six out of fifty–four" was also a summary magnificent in its brevity. Garcia reached the sheer apex of the direct narra

words, could yet indulge his mordant wit by writing: "I am many marches from Rabat but few from death,

his dead comrade, the record of those terrible years. He could limn the hollow cheeks, the wasted frame, the fever–light in the dark eyes, and the melancholy smile that must have lifted the cloud of suffering for a little while when the concluding lines wer

g" as a means of preservation-perhaps of securing a certain measure of good treatment. No doubt the King of Benin, sitting on the state stool in front of his palace of mats and wattle, was greatly flattered by the portrait. He would appreciate its realism while missing its subtle irony. In the circle of subordinate ch

en at first. Modern Benin was far enough removed from Oku and the upper

oof of the loss of the Santo Espirito. He believed that any one who visited the tomb of Hassan beyond the walls of Rabat would find

e calabash, now hardly visible in the ever–increasing darkness. But the cruel eyes

it is healthier than on the coast. Yes, you man–devil!" he added, leaping excitedly to his feet as a new and discomforting thought possessed him. "You did mischief

s a ruby of great price to be won, and masses to be said in the Cathedral of the Patriarch at Lisbon. Could he refuse to fulfil the terms of that pathetic bequest? He had nearly six months of unexpired furlough at disposal, and the Under Se

and back would probably be very expensive. Certainly that ruby would look very well on the white throat of Evelyn Da

en a thunderous double rat–tat shook the outer door of the flat, and Warden was prepared, for one thrilling instant, to fight a legion of ghosts and demons if need be. Then his scattered wits told him that His Maj

ef and to

nd friend left for London 6.30. Tho