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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Long Odds, by Harold Bindloss
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Long Odds
+
+
+Author: Harold Bindloss
+
+
+
+Release Date: March 1, 2012  [eBook #39019]
+Most recently updated: May 6, 2012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LONG ODDS***
+
+
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+
+
+[Illustration: "He watched her go down the stairway."--See page 279.]
+
+
+LONG ODDS
+
+by
+
+HAROLD BINDLOSS
+
+Author of "Alton of Somasco," "The Cattle-Baron's
+Daughter," "The Mistress of Bonaventure,"
+"Winston of The Prairie," "Delilah of
+The Snows," etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: SCIRE QVOD SCIENDVM]
+
+Boston
+Small, Maynard & Company
+1908
+
+Copyright, 1908, by
+Small, Maynard & Company
+(Incorporated)
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+ CHAPTER                                       PAGE
+       I  THOMAS ORMSGILL                         1
+      II  RESTITUTION                            16
+     III  HIS OWN PEOPLE                         29
+      IV  THE SUMMONS                            44
+       V  A DETERMINED MAN                       60
+      VI  DESMOND MAKES AN ADMISSION             73
+     VII  ORMSGILL KEEPS HIS WORD                86
+    VIII  THE BONDSWOMAN                         97
+      IX  ANITA BECOMES A RESPONSIBILITY        108
+       X  ORMSGILL ASKS A FAVOR                 118
+      XI  DESMOND VENTURES A HINT               129
+     XII  LISTER OFFERS SATISFACTION            141
+    XIII  HIS BENEFICENT INFLUENCE              152
+     XIV  HERRERO'S IMPRUDENCE                  165
+      XV  NARES COUNTS THE COST                 176
+     XVI  NEGRO DIPLOMACY                       189
+    XVII  THE AMBUSCADE                         201
+   XVIII  DOM CLEMENTE LOOKS ON                 213
+     XIX  THE DELAYED MESSAGE                   225
+      XX  DESMOND GOES ASHORE                   237
+     XXI  ON THE BEACH                          250
+    XXII  UNDER STRESS                          264
+   XXIII  THE SLACKENING OF RESTRAINT           280
+    XXIV  BENICIA MAKES A BARGAIN               294
+     XXV  DOMINGO APPEARS                       307
+    XXVI  THE DAY OF RECKONING                  320
+   XXVII  AN ERROR OF JUDGMENT                  332
+  XXVIII  THE CHEFE STANDS FAST                 344
+    XXIX  DOM CLEMENTE STRIKES                  356
+     XXX  ORMSGILL BEARS THE TEST               369
+    XXXI  ON HIS TRIAL                          381
+   XXXII  BENICIA UNDERTAKES AN OBLIGATION      392
+
+
+
+
+LONG ODDS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THOMAS ORMSGILL
+
+
+It was towards the middle of a sweltering afternoon when Commandant
+Dom Erminio roused himself to wakefulness as he lay in his Madeira
+chair on the veranda of Fort San Roque, which stands beside a muddy
+river of Western Africa. As a rule Dom Erminio slept all the
+afternoon, which was not astonishing, since there was very little else
+for him to do, and if there had been he would conscientiously have
+refrained from doing it as long as possible. It is also very probable
+that any other intelligent white man similarly circumstanced would
+have been glad to spend part, at least, of the weary day in merciful
+oblivion. San Roque is one of the hottest places in Africa, which is
+saying a good deal, and at night a sour white steam, heavy with the
+exhalations of putrefaction, rises from the muddy river. They usually
+bring the white man who breathes them fever of one or several kinds,
+while even if he endures them scatheless the steamy heat melts the
+vigor out of him, and the black dejection born of it and the monotony
+crushes his courage down. San Roque is scorched with pitiless
+sunshine during part of the year, but it is walled in by never-lifting
+shadow, for all round the dark forest creeps close up to it.
+
+On the afternoon in question the Commandant's rest was prematurely
+broken, because his dusky major-domo had not had the basket chair
+placed where it would remain in shadow, and a slanting shaft of
+sunlight struck hotly upon the sleeper's face. A dull throbbing sound
+also crept softly out of the heavy stillness, and it was a sound which
+usually promised at least an hour or two's distraction. Dom Erminio
+recognized it as the thud of canoe paddles, and sat upright in his
+chair looking about him drowsily, a little, haggard, yellow-faced man
+in white uniform, with claw-like hands whose fingers-ends were stained
+by tobacco. He lived remote from even such civilization as may be met
+with on the coast of Western Africa, with a handful of black soldiers
+and one white companion, distinctly on sufferance, since the fever and
+certain tribesmen who showed signs of resenting the white men's
+encroachments might at any time snuff him out. He was, however, of
+Iberian extraction, and it was characteristic of him that he did not
+concern himself greatly about the possibility of such a catastrophe or
+consider it worth while to take any steps to avert it which he might
+perhaps have done.
+
+As he glanced round he saw the straggling line of stockade which was
+falling down in places, for, being what he was, it had not occurred to
+him to mend it; the black soldiers' thatched quarters; and the
+ramshackle residency, which was built in part of wood and in part of
+well rammed mud. Beyond them rose the forest, black and mysterious,
+cleft by the river's dazzling pathway, and a faint look of
+anticipation crept into Dom Erminio's eyes as the thud of paddles grew
+louder. The river was one stage of the road to civilization, and he
+could not quite give up the hope that certain political friends in his
+own country would remember him some day. Then his look of interest
+died away, for it became evident from the beat of paddles that the
+occupants of the approaching canoe were traveling faster than any one
+in the Government service usually thought it worth while to do.
+Besides that, the Government's messengers were not addicted to
+traveling at all in the heat of the afternoon.
+
+"Ah," he said, with a wave of his unlighted cigarette which was
+vaguely expressive of resignation, "it is the Englishman Ormsgill or
+the American missionary. Perhaps, by a special misfortune, it may be
+both of them."
+
+His companion, who leaned upon the balustrade, nodded, for Englishmen
+and Americans are not held in great esteem in that country, nor are
+missionaries of any kind. They see too much, and some of them report
+it afterwards, which, when now and then the outer world pricks up its
+ears in transient interest or indignation, is apt to make trouble for
+everybody. Still, the Lieutenant Luiz was a lethargic man and a
+philosopher in his way, so he said nothing, though he waved the comely
+brown-skinned girl who had been sitting near him back into the house.
+There was, at least, no occasion to provide a weapon for the enemy,
+and Marietta had made several attempts to run away lately.
+
+Commandant Erminio smiled approvingly. "What one suspects does not
+count," he said. "In this land of the shadow one suspects everything
+and everybody. There are even envious and avaricious men on the coast
+down yonder who fling aspersions at me."
+
+If Lieutenant Luiz had been an Englishman he would probably have
+grinned, but he was too dignified a gentleman to do anything of that
+kind, though there was a faint twinkle in his languid dark eyes. Then
+a canoe swung into sight round a bend, and slid on towards the landing
+with wet paddles flashing dazzlingly. Four almost naked negroes swung
+them, but another man, who wore white duck and a wide gray hat also
+plied a dripping blade just clear of the awning astern, which was a
+very unusual thing in that region.
+
+"It is certainly the Englishman Ormsgill," said Dom Erminio. "That is
+a man the fever cannot kill, which is, perhaps, a pity." Then he waved
+his cigarette again. "Still, it is possible that Headman Domingo will
+settle with him some day."
+
+The canoe slid up to the pile-bound bank, and the two white men who
+got out strode towards the residency, which was characteristic, since
+on a day of that kind an Iberian would certainly have sauntered. The
+first of them was tall, and thinner even than most white men are who
+have had the flesh melted from them in tropical Africa. His face was
+hollow, though he was apparently only some thirty years of age, but
+it was the face of a strong-willed man, and there was a certain
+suggestion of optimism in it and his eyes, which was singularly
+unusual in the case of a man who had spent several years in that
+country. Even nature is malignant there, and man is steeped in lust
+and avarice and cruelty, but in spite of this Watson Nares was an
+optimist as well as an American medical missionary.
+
+He returned the Commandant's greeting, which was punctiliously
+courteous, and sitting down in the chair a negro brought for him,
+waited until his companion, who had turned to give an order to the
+canoe boys, came up. The latter was of average height, a strongly
+built man of about the missionary's age, with a brick red face, fair
+hair thinned by fever, and wrinkles about his gray eyes. They were
+steady, observant eyes, though a half-cynical, half-whimsical twinkle
+crept into them now and then, as it did when he glanced towards the
+Commandant. The latter would have clapped his shoulder, but he avoided
+the effusive greeting with a certain quiet tactfulness which was usual
+with him.
+
+"The padre and I are going back to the concession," he said in
+Portuguese. "If you have any hammock boys we would like to borrow
+them."
+
+The Commandant said that this was unfortunately not the case. Two of
+his carriers had dysentery, and another a guinea worm in his leg; and
+there was only the little twinkle in Ormsgill's eyes to show that he
+did not believe him.
+
+"Besides," said Lieutenant Luiz, "the country is not safe. There is a
+rumor that the Abbatava men are watching the lower road."
+
+Ormsgill laughed, though he fancied that Dom Erminio had flashed a
+quick glance at his subordinate before the latter spoke.
+
+"Still, I scarcely think the Abbatava people will trouble me, and in
+any case some of them would be sorry if they did," he said. "Well,
+since you have no carriers we will get on again. It is a long way to
+the concession, and Lamartine is very ill. I brought up the padre to
+see if he could do anything for him."
+
+Dom Erminio shrugged his shoulders. "It is a wasted effort, which is a
+thing to be regretted in this land, where an effort is difficult to
+make. Lamartine has been ill too often, and if he is ill again he will
+certainly die. As you have heard, the bushmen are in an unsettled
+state, and there are several sick men here. It is, perhaps, convenient
+that the Senor Nares should stay at San Roque."
+
+He made a little suggestive gesture which seemed to indicate that the
+road was unsafe, turning towards his subordinate as though for
+confirmation, but once more Ormsgill fancied there was a warning in
+his glance.
+
+"Of a surety!" said the Lieutenant Luiz. "Lamartine is probably not
+alive by now. Still, if the Senor Nares insists on going it is well
+that he should take the higher road."
+
+In the meantime the canoe boys had unrolled a canvas hammock and
+lashed it to its pole. Nares stood up as they approached the veranda
+stairway with the pole upon their wooly crowns.
+
+"I will come back and look at your sick," he said. "We have only the
+one hammock, Ormsgill."
+
+Ormsgill smiled. "There is nothing very wrong with my feet, and I
+haven't had a dose of fever for some time. It isn't your fault that
+you have one now."
+
+He made the two officers a little inclination as he took off his hat,
+and Nares, who shook hands with them, crawled into his hammock. He, at
+least, had the fever every two or three months or so. Then the boys
+struck up a marching song as they swung away with their burden into
+the steamy shadow, and the Commandant leaned on the balustrade
+listening with a little dry smile until the crackle of trampled
+undergrowth and sighing refrain died away.
+
+"When one desires to encourage such men it is generally wise to point
+out the difficulties," he said. "One would fancy that they were fond
+of them, especially the Senor Ormsgill, who is of the kind the customs
+of this world make rebels of."
+
+"And the other?" asked Lieutenant Luiz, who had, not without reason, a
+respect for the wisdom of his superior. He had found that it was, in
+some ways at least, warranted.
+
+The Commandant lighted his cigarette, and watched the first smoke
+wreath float straight up into the stagnant air. "He would be a martyr.
+It is a desire that is incomprehensible to you and me, but there are
+others besides him who seem to cherish it--and in this land of the
+devil opportunities of satisfying it are generally offered them."
+
+He looked at Lieutenant Luiz, and once more the latter's face relaxed
+into the nearest approach to a grin his sense of dignity allowed. One
+could have fancied there was an understanding of some kind between the
+men.
+
+In the meanwhile Nares' bearers were plodding down a two-foot trail
+walled in by thorny underbrush and festoons of as thorny creepers that
+flowed down in tangled luxuriance between the towering cottonwood
+trunks. There was dim shade all about them, and the atmosphere was
+like that of a Turkish bath, steamy and almost insufferably hot, only
+that there was in it something which checked instead of accelerated
+the cooling perspiration. Now and then the bearers gasped, and
+Ormsgill's face was flushed as he walked beside the hammock.
+
+"We should get through by to-morrow night if we take the lower road,"
+he said. "I believe that would be advisable, though I'm not quite sure
+of it. At least, it's the nearer one, and Lamartine was going down
+hill very fast when I left him. In fact, he sent two of the boys to
+the Mission for Father Tiebout. In one way, the thing's a trifle
+invidious, but, you see, Lamartine is of his persuasion."
+
+Nares smiled. "I'm to have the care of his body, and Father Tiebout of
+his soul. Well, we have fought as allies on those terms before, and I
+guess I don't mind."
+
+"You're quite sure? After all, in one way, the soul of Lamartine would
+be something of a trophy."
+
+The American looked up at him with a faint kindling in his eyes.
+"Tiebout has so many to his credit--and he could afford to spare me
+this one. Still, at least, I can heal the body, if I am called in in
+time."
+
+"Which is a good deal. Especially in a land where it is singularly
+difficult to believe that men have souls at all."
+
+Nares shook his head. "If I didn't feel quite so played out I'd take
+your challenge up," he said. "Guess we'll join issue on that point
+another time. You mentioned once or twice that Lamartine was very
+sick?"
+
+"There's about one chance in twenty we get there before he's dead.
+It's one of the reasons I'm taking the lower road. It's the nearest."
+
+It was characteristic that Ormsgill did not state that it was also one
+of the reasons he had traveled for four days and most of four nights
+under an enervating heat. Lamartine was an alien of dubious character,
+and in some respects distinctly uncongenial habits, but Ormsgill had
+not spared himself to give his comrade that one chance for his life.
+
+"Didn't Lieutenant Luiz' recommendation count?" asked Nares.
+
+"No," said Ormsgill, reflectively. "I don't think it did. At least,
+not as he meant it to, though I've been trying to worry out what he
+did mean exactly. One thing's certain. He wasn't prompted by any
+solicitude for our safety. You see, he might have been counting on my
+distrust of him, or my usual obstinacy, and wanted me to take the
+higher road after all. Or he may have been playing another game. I
+don't know. That's why we'll take the nearest way and not worry. When
+you're in doubt, it's generally wisest to do the obvious thing."
+
+Nares made a little drowsy gesture of concurrence. "Straight to the
+mark--and you get there now and then. At least, it can't be the wrong
+path--and if one doesn't finish the journey it's only a falling out by
+the way. A good many of us have done that in this country."
+
+Ormsgill said nothing. He had somewhere buried deep in him a vague,
+unformulated faith which, however, seldom found expression of any kind
+in words, and was tinged with a bitterness against all conventional
+creeds, which was not altogether astonishing in the case of a man who
+had lived as he had done in the dark land. Still, he had traveled four
+days and nights to bring his sick comrade the assistance he felt would
+arrive too late and now, when he dragged himself along dead weary
+through the steamy shade, he had reasons for surmising that there was
+peril somewhere down the winding trail.
+
+Nares was asleep when they passed the forking and held on by the lower
+road, and Ormsgill did not tell the boys that he had seen a huddled
+black figure lying a few yards back among the undergrowth. He did not
+even stop to look at it. Labor is in demand in that country, and when
+it is supplied by a dusky contractor who collects the raw material in
+the bush the unfortunate who sickens on the long march from the
+interior usually dies. Transport on the human head makes provisions
+costly in a devastated country, and it is not economy to feed a man
+who will bring one nothing in. A white man, as everybody knows, may
+not own or sell a slave in any part of Africa under European control,
+but he must have labor, and there are in practice ways of getting over
+the obvious difficulty. They are not ways which are discussed openly,
+and, so far as one can ascertain, are by no means satisfactory to the
+negro for whose benefit they are sometimes said to be devised. In
+this, and a few other matters, the negro's opinion is not, however,
+deferred to. It is his particular business to gather rubber for the
+white man and grow his cocoa, and the fact that he is not as a rule
+content to recognize this obligation is very seldom taken into
+consideration.
+
+It had been dark two hours, and the bearers could go no further
+without a rest, when Ormsgill camped on a ridge beneath tall tufted
+palms at least a hundred yards from the trail. There was a reason for
+this, and also for the fact that he allowed no fires to be made,
+though of all things the negro loves a cheerful blaze. The powers of
+evil are very real to him, which is by no means astonishing
+considering the land he lives in. The boys sat huddled about the empty
+hammock among the palms, while the two white men lay upon a waterproof
+ground sheet some fifty yards apart from them and nearer the trail.
+Ormsgill had had very little sleep during the last four nights, but
+he was very wide awake then, and a good magazine rifle, which had been
+smuggled through San Roque without the Commandant's notice, lay across
+his knees.
+
+He was listening intently, but could hear nothing except an occasional
+rustling among the creepers and the heavy splash of moisture on the
+leaves. Nor could he see very much, for though here and there a star
+shown down between the towering trunks, a sour white steam hung almost
+a man's height about the dripping undergrowth. Save for the splash of
+moisture it was so still that Nares, with imagination quickened by the
+tension the fever had laid upon his nerves, could almost fancy he
+could hear things growing. The growth, at least was characteristic of
+the country in that it was untrammeled, luxuriant, and destructive
+rather than beneficent. Orchids and parasites sucked the life blood
+from the trees, and throve upon their ruin; creepers strangled them
+and tore them down half-rotten. It was a mad, cruel struggle for
+existence, and Ormsgill, whose hot hands were clenched upon the rifle,
+clearly recognized that man must take his part in it. As a matter of
+fact, he was not averse to doing so. There was a vein of combativeness
+in him, and circumstances had hitherto usually forced him well to the
+front when there was trouble anywhere in his vicinity.
+
+What he and Nares talked about was of no particular consequence. They
+were men whose inner thoughts only became apparent now and then, and
+their conversation largely concerned the merits of certain Congolese
+cigars. By and by, however, Nares stopped abruptly, as a hand that
+evidently did not belong to his companion touched his arm, but it was
+characteristic of him that he did not start. He looked round instead,
+and saw an indistinct and shadowy figure rise out of the undergrowth.
+It pointed up the trail, and Ormsgill, who seemed to listen for a
+moment or two, nodded.
+
+"I really think Lieutenant Luiz meant us to take the other road," he
+said. "That must be Domingo bringing down another drove, and as it is
+evidently a big one it is just as well we didn't meet him on the
+trail. Domingo doesn't like either of us, and he has been getting
+truculent lately."
+
+Nares said nothing, and a faint patter of naked feet that grew
+steadily louder crept out of the silence. It was dragging and
+listless, the shuffle of weary and hopeless men; and it was evident
+that the hammock boy who sank down again into the undergrowth close
+beside Ormsgill was badly afraid. Five minutes later a shadowy figure
+appeared among the trees below them where the mist was thinner, grew a
+trifle plainer as it slipped across an opening and vanished again, but
+there were others behind, and for several minutes a row of half-seen
+men flitted by. Here and there one of them draped in white cotton
+carried a flintlock gun, but the rest were half-naked, and last of all
+a few plodded behind a lurching hammock. They went by without a sound
+but the confused patter of weary feet upon the quaggy trail, and left
+an impressive silence behind them when they plunged into the gloom
+again.
+
+Then Ormsgill smiled grimly as he tapped the breech of his rifle.
+
+"If homicide is ever justifiable it would have been to-night," he
+said. "One could hardly have missed that bulge in Domingo's hammock,
+and the longing to drive a bullet through it was almost too much for
+me."
+
+Nares made no attempt to rebuke him. "That man," he said, "is
+permitted to be--one must suppose as part of a great purpose. The
+mills of the gods grind slowly, but they do their work thoroughly."
+
+"It seems so," and Ormsgill laughed a little bitter laugh. "Anyway,
+the stones are wet with blood, and a good many of us have passed
+between them. One wonders now and then how long the downtrodden will
+endure that terrible grinding."
+
+"It is for a time only. Day and night the cry goes up in many
+tongues."
+
+"And the gods of the heathen cannot hear; and those of the white men
+may, it seems, be propitiated by masses in the cathedral and stained
+windows bought with cocoa and rubber dividends. Well, one must try to
+believe that Domingo's laborers enlisted for the purpose of being
+taught agriculture by the white men of their own free will. At least,
+that is the comfortable assurance usually furnished the civilized
+powers, and as they have their own little problems to grapple with
+they complacently shut one eye. I only wonder how many played-out
+niggers' throats Domingo has cut on the way. In the meanwhile,
+Lamartine is dying, and we may as well get on again."
+
+He called to the hammock boys, who still seemed afraid, and in another
+five minutes the little party was once more floundering onwards
+through the silence of the steamy bush.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+RESTITUTION
+
+
+Darkness had closed down suddenly on the forest, but it was hotter
+than ever in the primitively furnished general room of Lamartine's
+house, where the lamp further raised the already almost insupportable
+temperature. There was also a deep, impressive silence in the bush
+that shut the rickety dwelling in, though now and then the sound of a
+big drop splashing upon a quivering leaf came in through the open
+window with startling distinctness. Lamartine, the French trader, was
+dead, and had been buried that afternoon, as was customary, within an
+hour or two after the breath has left his body. His career, like that
+of most men in his business, had not been a very exemplary one, but he
+had, at least, now and then shown that he possessed certain somewhat
+fantastic and elementary notions of ethics, which he was in the habit
+of alluding to as his code of honor. It was, as Father Tiebout, who
+had once or twice given him spiritual advice when he was very sick of
+fever, admitted, a rather indifferent one, but very few white men in
+that country had any code at all, and, as the good padre said, it was
+possible that too much would not be expected from any one who had
+lived in that forest long.
+
+In any case, Lamartine had gone to answer for the deeds that he had
+done, and the three men who had buried him and had constituted
+themselves his executors sat about his little table with the
+perspiration dripping from them. There was Nares, gaunt and
+hollow-faced, weak from fever and worn with watching; Father Tiebout,
+the Belgian priest, little, and also haggard; and Ormsgill, the
+gray-eyed, brown-faced Englishman, who sat looking at them with set
+lips and furrowed forehead. Their creeds were widely different, but
+men acquire a certain wide toleration in the land of the shadow, where
+it is exceedingly difficult to believe in any thing beyond the
+omnipotence of evil.
+
+It was, perhaps, characteristic that it was the priest who tore up
+certain papers Ormsgill had selected from the pile upon the table.
+
+"I do not think that anything would be gained by allowing them to come
+under the notice of the authorities," he said. "I am not sure that
+they might not consider they invalidated the trifling bequest to the
+Mission, which with good management should enable us to rescue a few
+more of the heathen."
+
+"A very few!" and Ormsgill smiled. "The market's stiff now Domingo has
+practically a monopoly as purveyor. Converts will be dearer. One
+understands that you buy most of yours."
+
+Father Tiebout's eyes twinkled good-humoredly. "One must use the means
+available, and it is, at least, something if we can save their bodies.
+But to proceed, our companion will agree with me that repentance must
+be followed by restitution or reparation. In the case of the friend we
+have buried one must take the will for the deed, and the will was
+there. Restitution may also be efficacious if it is vicarious. As you
+know, it was the thought of the woman from the interior that most
+troubled Lamartine."
+
+Ormsgill glanced at Nares, for both had heard some, at least, of the
+dying man's words on that subject, but for a time the American looked
+straight in front of him. Then he turned to Ormsgill.
+
+"He seemed to expect you to make that restitution for him. Tell us
+what you know. Most of it will not be news to Father Tiebout, but I
+haven't his advantages."
+
+"The affair is easily understood. Lamartine bought the girl from the
+man who ran the labor supply business before Domingo. She was
+decidedly good-looking, a pretty warm brown in color, and had the most
+intelligent eyes I've ever seen in an African. The curious thing is
+that I believe Lamartine was genuinely fond of her. In any case, he
+was furious when one of the boys laid what looked like very conclusive
+evidence of her unfaithfulness before him. He meant to administer the
+usual penalty."
+
+Father Tiebout made a little gesture. "Ah," he said, "these things
+happen. One can only protest."
+
+"Well," said Ormsgill dryly, "as you know, they didn't in this case. I
+nearly broke his wrist, but I took the pistol from him. You see, I
+rather believed in the girl's innocence. Lamartine compromised the
+thing by handing her on to Herrero--though he would take no money for
+her. He had, as he was rather fond of mentioning, his code of honor.
+There was a trying scene when Herrero sent for her. The girl flung
+herself down and clung to Lamartine's knees. It seemed she was fond of
+the man, and didn't want to go away, which was, as it happens, wise of
+her. Though she was probably not aware of this, Herrero trains the
+women who take his fancy with the whip."
+
+He stopped a moment and glared at Nares. "I have no doubt the padre
+knows the rest. Lamartine found out not long ago that the boy had
+lied, and remembered a little too late that Herrero would in all
+probability beat the girl to death in one of his outbreaks. He made
+him a very tempting offer if he would send her back, but Herrero
+apparently wanted to keep her, and while negotiations were in progress
+Lamartine fell sick. I naturally don't know what he told the padre,
+but he once or twice assured me that if he knew she could be sent back
+safe to her people in the bush he would die more contentedly. In fact,
+improbable as it may seem in this country, the thing was worrying him
+badly."
+
+It was significant that Nares, who was something of an optimist,
+appeared by his expression to consider the fact that such a thing
+should have troubled Lamartine very improbable indeed, but Father
+Tiebout smiled contemplatively. His profession gave him, as had been
+suggested, advantages which Nares did not enjoy, and he was a wise man
+in his way.
+
+"Lamartine," he said, "desired to make restitution--but to do it in
+his own person was not permitted him."
+
+Then he turned, and sat still with his eyes fixed on Ormsgill, as
+though waiting. It was, in fact, an occupation he was accustomed to,
+for one who would see the result of his efforts must as a rule wait a
+long while in Africa.
+
+Ormsgill met his gaze thoughtfully, with steady gray eyes, and it was
+a moment or two before he spoke.
+
+"Whether a vicarious reparation will be of any benefit to the soul of
+Lamartine I naturally do not know," he said. "It is enough for me that
+he and the padre seemed to fancy it might be, and, as it happens, I
+owe Lamartine a good deal. This is why I practically promised to
+undertake his responsibility. I am not sure that either of you know I
+first arrived in this Colony trimming coal among the niggers in a
+steamer's stokehold."
+
+Father Tiebout made a little gesture with his hands which seemed to
+imply that there was very little he was not acquainted with, and
+Ormsgill went on--
+
+"Still, I do not think you know I was quietly compelled to abandon the
+service of a British Colony for a fault I never committed. My friends
+at home very naturally turned against me. I had brought them
+discredit--and it did not matter greatly whether I was guilty. How I
+made a living afterwards along this coast does not concern you; but I
+went down in one sense as far as a white man may, and the struggle has
+left a mark that will never quite come out on me. Still, I met with
+kindness from other outcasts and benighted heathen, as one usually
+does from the outcast and the trodden on, and, when I was flung ashore
+after nearly pounding the life out of a brutal second engineer,
+Lamartine, who had gone down to the coast on business, held out a hand
+to me. As I said, I feel that I owe him a little."
+
+He stopped for a moment with a little grim smile. "Herrero has gone
+South somewhere, taking the girl with him, but if she is alive I think
+I can promise that he will give her up. After that it would not be so
+very difficult to send her back to where she comes from in the bush."
+
+"For the repose of the soul of Lamartine!" and Nares glanced at Father
+Tiebout, with a challenge in his eyes.
+
+The little priest's gesture seemed to imply that he declined to be
+drawn into a controversy, and it was Ormsgill who answered the
+American.
+
+"To discharge a debt--among other reasons--and as a protest. I have
+been driven to exhaustion myself more than once. Have you any hope at
+all to offer these African people, I mean in this world, padre?"
+
+Father Tiebout smiled. "Yes," he said simply. "One does what one can,
+and waits patiently. How long, I do not know, but slowly or suddenly,
+in our time, or in the time of these people's children, the change
+will come."
+
+He looked at Nares, the man of action, who bore with waiting ill, and
+he, flushed with fever, laid a hand that was clenched hard upon the
+table.
+
+"You expect them to endure to the second generation. I tell you that
+they are forging spears in the interior now. A little more, and they
+will come down and wipe out every bush mission and garrison, and can
+we blame them, who stand by and tolerate the abominable traffic in
+black men's souls and bodies? There was more excuse for the old-time
+slavery. Horrible as it would be, one could almost welcome the
+catastrophe which would force the outside world to recognize what
+white men are doing here."
+
+There were, perhaps, men in the outside world who knew it already, and
+could suggest no remedy. After all, labor is essential to the
+prosperity of any African colony, and while in some which are ruled as
+justly as circumstances permit the negro is offered wages for his
+services, and can go home with his earnings when he likes, there are
+others where more drastic measures are adopted. There the labor
+purveyor collects the white man's servants in the bush, and it is not
+the business of the Administration to inquire whether they are
+prisoners of war or have been sold by their friends. They are bound
+down to toil for a term of years, and if they die off during it few
+troublesome questions are asked. The African climate is an unhealthy
+one, as everybody knows.
+
+In the meanwhile neither of Nares' companions said anything for a
+space. They were thinking of the same thing, each in his own way,
+while the dense steamy blackness of the African night shut them in.
+Ormsgill, who had been driven until the sweat of anguished effort
+dripped from him, wondered vaguely what a man with brains and nerve
+and money might do on the negroes' behalf in spite of the opposition
+of a corrupt administration. The priest was also wondering how much
+he could accomplish with Lamartine's bequest, very little of which
+would, however, in all probability, be allowed to remain in his
+hands, though he knew that it would in any case not go very far,
+for he was one who recognized that the new beneficent order must be
+evolved slowly, here a little and there a little, with other men to
+carry out what he had begun. Father Tiebout seldom rode a tilt at
+impossibilities, as Nares and Ormsgill occasionally did. He was a wise
+man, and knew the world too well. At last Nares made a little gesture
+of weariness.
+
+"Well, the thing may happen, but that hardly concerns us in the
+meanwhile, and our work here is done. I wonder if you remember that
+you haven't read the letters Father Tiebout brought up, Ormsgill?"
+
+Ormsgill had, as it happened, quite forgotten them. He had arrived
+worn out with a long and hasty journey, and Nares and he had then kept
+close watch beside his comrade's bed. When at last their watch was
+over there was still much to be done, and now for the first time he
+had leisure to open the packet the priest had handed him. He took out
+a stiff blue envelope with an English postmark, and gazed at it heavy
+eyed and vacantly before he broke the cover. Then he slowly
+straightened himself in his chair, and incredulity gave place to
+bewilderment as he read the letter he shook out. Lamartine's death had
+left him an outcast and one obnoxious to constituted authority again.
+Five minutes ago he had not known what his next step would be, but the
+stiff legal writing held out before him dazzling possibilities. Then
+he laid down the letter, and turned to his companions with a curious
+little laugh.
+
+"The thing is almost incredible," he said. "A man who I was told would
+never forgive the discredit I brought upon the family has died in
+England and left me what looks very like a fortune. The other letters
+may bear upon it. You'll excuse me."
+
+They watched him in silence for ten minutes, and there was a faint
+flush in his bronzed face when he quietly rose and took out a
+photograph from a little tin box.
+
+"Padre," he said, "you are the wisest man I know, and, though
+distinctions are invidious, Nares is, I think, the honestest. That is
+why I am going to put a case before you. Well, I had a good
+upbringing, and I think my English friends expected something from me
+before I was flung out of the British service and became a pariah.
+After that I never troubled them again, which was no doubt a cause of
+satisfaction to everybody. There was, however, a thing I had to do
+which was not easy, and this picture should make it clear to you. It
+was arranged that we should be married when I had brought my laurels
+home from Africa."
+
+He handed Nares the photograph. "When I was made a scapegoat I gave
+her back her liberty. It is now intimated that she has not so far
+profited by it."
+
+Nares bent over the portrait of a young and very comely English girl,
+and saw only the fresh, innocent face, and the smiling eyes. Then he
+handed it to the little haggard priest, who had a deeper
+understanding, and saw a good deal more than that.
+
+"It is a beautiful face," he said when Father Tiebout had gazed at it
+steadily, but the latter said nothing, and turned towards Ormsgill, as
+though still ready to give him his attention, which he seemed to
+understand.
+
+"It is more than four years since I saw her, and I have spent them
+with the outcasts," he said. "You can realize what effect that has
+upon one, padre. The stamp this country sets on the white man is plain
+on you, but you have not lived here as I have been forced to do. Well,
+I think the woman is still the same, and I have greatly changed. I do
+not know my duty."
+
+Father Tiebout sat silent for at least a minute, looking reflectively
+at the man before him. Ormsgill was young still, but his lean face was
+furrowed, and there was a suggestiveness in the lines on it. He had
+seen death and pestilence, human nature stripped naked, and
+unmentionable cruelty; and the priest was quite aware that one cannot
+live with the outcast, in Africa, and remain unchanged. Then he looked
+at the photograph again, for he knew that the four years had also had
+their effect upon the woman.
+
+"Ah," he said, "we all grow, some towards the beneficent light, and
+some in the blighting shadow. The training and the pruning we are
+subjected to also has its effect. Her people?"
+
+"I almost think you would consider them children of this world," said
+Ormsgill dryly.
+
+"And you have been left a good deal of money?"
+
+Ormsgill told him what the amount was, and once more the priest said
+nothing for awhile. Quiet and unobtrusive as he was, he never forgot
+that he was one of the vanguard of the Church militant, and was ready
+to use with skill any weapon that was offered him. It was also
+necessary to thrust hard now and then, and he knew that in his hands
+the man who had lived with the outcast and the oppressed would prove a
+reliable blade. Ormsgill, as he recognized, had capacities. Still, his
+counsel had been asked, and he would answer honestly, knowing that he
+could afford to do it if his knowledge of human nature, and the girl's
+face, had not deceived him. After all, he fancied, whatever he said
+the result would be the same, and he was playing a skillful game of
+which the stakes were black men's bodies, and, perhaps, human souls.
+
+"With a sum like that there is so much that one could do," he said.
+"With discretion--you understand--here and there a little. Domingo put
+down, women dying at their tasks redeemed and enfolded in the shelter
+of the Mission, men with brutal masters set at liberty, and
+concessions where they are driven to death suppressed. One could also
+bring about a reckoning with corrupt authority. When admonition is of
+no service one may try the scourge."
+
+He saw the little glint in Ormsgill's eyes, and made a deprecatory
+gesture with his hands. "Still, you have asked for counsel, and you
+have another duty. With us marriage is not a social contract, and the
+promise that precedes it is almost as sacred. You are pledged to this
+Englishwoman if she has not released you, and that you are changed
+will not matter if she loves you. It is your duty to go back to her."
+
+Nares looked up and nodded. "Of course!" he said. "You must go."
+
+Ormsgill's forehead was furrowed, and the perspiration stood in beads
+on it. The love that had driven him out to win his spurs in the land
+of shadow still in some degree, at least, remained with him; but he
+was conscious of the change in him which the girl with her upbringing
+might well shrink from. He had lived with the outcasts until he had
+become one of them, a hater of conventional formulas and shams, while
+there had crept into his nature a trace of the somberness of the dark
+land. What, he wondered, would the sunny-tempered English girl he had
+left make of such a man. Still, as the priest had said, his duty was
+clear, and, what was perhaps more, his inclination marched with it. He
+straightened himself suddenly with a little resolute jerk of his
+shoulders.
+
+"I will start for the coast to-morrow, and go to Grand Canary," he
+said. "As it happens, she is there now with her people. Still, before
+I go, padre, I will arrange with the casa Sarraminho to hand you the
+equivalent of L200 sterling. With that you can buy the liberty of the
+woman Lamartine gave Herrero, and use what is left over as you and
+Nares think fit. If Herrero will not part with her, or you find the
+thing too difficult, I will come back for a while and undertake it
+myself. After all, it is my affair. I owe it to Lamartine."
+
+Then he took the little photograph and replaced it in the tin box,
+after which he walked quietly past them and out of the room while,
+when they heard him go down the veranda stairway, Father Tiebout
+looked at his companion with a curious smile.
+
+"Four years!" he said. "It is a space in a woman's lifetime, and every
+year leaves its mark on us. It is decreed that we must grow, but we do
+not all grow the same."
+
+In the meanwhile Ormsgill stood in the little compound with the sour
+white steam drifting past him. The forest rose out of it, a great
+black wall, and its hot, damp smell was in his nostrils. It was a
+heady savor, for something that goes with the smell of the wilderness
+sinks deep into the hearts of those who once allow it to enter, and is
+always afterwards a cause of disquietude and restlessness to some of
+them. Ormsgill had had his endurance and all the courage he was born
+with taxed to the uttermost in that steamy shade, but now when he was
+about to leave it he found the smell of its tall white lilies and the
+acrid odors of corruption stirring and shaking him. At last, with a
+little jerk of his shoulders, which was a trick he had acquired from
+Lamartine, he turned and went back to the lighted room again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+HIS OWN PEOPLE
+
+
+The velvet dusk that crept up from the eastwards was held in check by
+the brightening flood of moonlight on the sea when Ormsgill leaned on
+the balustrade of the veranda outside the _Hotel Catalina_ in Grand
+Canary. Close in front of him the long Atlantic swell broke upon the
+hammered beach with a drowsy rumbling, and flung a pungent freshness
+into the listless air, for the Trade breeze had fallen dead away. The
+fringe of surf ran southwards beside the dim white road to where the
+lights of Las Palmas blinked and twinkled in the shadow the great
+black peaks flung out upon the sparkling sea.
+
+Ormsgill, who had turned from its contemplation at the sound of a
+voice he recognized, had, however, no longer any eyes for the
+prospect. He had arrived on an African mail-boat two hours earlier,
+and had somehow missed the girl whose voice had sent a little thrill
+through him. She had, it seemed, gone in through one of the long,
+lighted windows instead of by the door, but the horse she had just
+dismounted from was still standing with another, which carried a man's
+saddle, just below the veranda. Ormsgill could see that it was one of
+the sorry beasts the Spaniards hire to Englishmen, but it was also
+jaded and white with lather.
+
+"These English have no consideration," said the peon who held its
+bridle, to a comrade. "This horse is old, but when I brought it here
+it was not more than a very little lame. Now it is certain I cannot
+hire it to anybody to-morrow. They were at Arucas, which for a horse
+of this kind is a long way, but they came home by the barranco and
+across the sand heaps at the gallop. The Senorita must not be late for
+dinner. _Vaya!_ it is a cruelty."
+
+The matter was, perhaps, not a great one in itself, but it had a
+somewhat unpleasant effect upon Ormsgill, who knew that the Iberian is
+not as a rule squeamish about any cruelty that the lust of gain
+renders it necessary to inflict upon his beast. The horse, as he could
+see, had certainly been ridden hard, and was very lame. The thing
+jarred on him, and as he leaned on the veranda waiting until the
+message he had left to announce his arrival should be delivered, a
+scene he had looked upon in the dark land forced itself upon his
+recollection. It was a line of jaded men staggering under the burdens
+on their heads through an apparently interminable sea of scorched and
+dusty grass. There was little water in that country at the season, and
+they dragged themselves along, grimed with the fibrous dust, in
+torments of thirst, with limbs that were reddened by the stabbing of
+the flinty grass stems. Then rousing himself he drove the suggestive
+vision from his brain and entered the hall of the big hotel.
+
+It blazed with light, there was music somewhere, and already
+conventionally attired men and elaborately dressed women were
+descending the stairway, and appearing by twos and threes from the
+corridors. They were for the most part Englishmen and women, but
+Ormsgill was a little astonished to feel that instead of arousing
+sympathy their voices and bearing jarred on him. Their conversation
+appeared to have no point in it, and their smiles were meaningless.
+They seemed shallow and artificial, and he had lived at high pressure,
+face to face with grim realities, in the land of the shadow. He stood
+a little apart, quietly regarding them, a lonely figure in plain white
+duck with a lined brown face, until a burly man in the conventional
+black and white strode up to him.
+
+"I'm uncommonly glad to see you, Tom," he said. "Ada will be down in a
+minute. I left her and her mother almost too startled to understand
+that you had arrived. The man you gave your message to had just
+brought it in. You should have let us know what boat you were sailing
+by. But I mustn't keep you talking. You have just time to change your
+things."
+
+Ormsgill shook hands with him, but was conscious of a lack of
+enthusiasm as he did it that irritated him. He had once considered
+Major Chillingham a very good fellow, but now there seemed to be
+something wanting in his characteristic bluff geniality. Ormsgill
+could not tell what it was, but he felt the lack of it.
+
+"I suppose there is," he said with a smile. "Still, you see, I haven't
+anything to change into. In fact, my present outfit is a considerably
+smarter one than the get-up I have been accustomed to dining in."
+
+Chillingham's gaze was at first expressive of blank astonishment, and
+there was a sardonic gleam in Ormsgill's eyes. "You must try to
+remember that I've got out of the way of wearing evening clothes. I
+think I'd made it clear that I have been down in the depths the past
+four years."
+
+His companion's red face flushed a trifle, but he laughed. "Well," he
+said, "that's one of the things we needn't talk about, and I'm not
+sure that everybody would be so ready to mention it." Then he drew
+back a trifle. "Tom, you're greatly changed."
+
+Ormsgill nodded. "Yes," he said, "I dare say I am. In several ways the
+thing's not unnatural."
+
+After that Chillingham discoursed about English affairs, and though it
+appeared to cost him a slight effort Ormsgill made no attempt to help
+him. He stood still, perfectly at his ease, but for all that conscious
+that he was an anachronism in such surroundings, while the men and
+women who smiled or nodded to his companion as they came into the hall
+cast curious glances at him. This duck-clad man with the lined face
+and steady eyes was clearly not of their world, which was, in the case
+of most of them, an essentially frivolous one.
+
+At last he turned, and strode forward impulsively as the girl he
+waited for came down the stairway in a filmy dress of lace-like
+texture that rustled softly as it flowed about her. She was
+brown-haired and brown-eyed, warm in coloring, and her face, which was
+as comely as ever, had a certain hint of disdain in it. That, however,
+did not strike Ormsgill then, for she flushed a little at the sight
+of him, and laid a slim white hand in his.
+
+"Tom," she said, "I am very glad, but why didn't you cable? Still, you
+must tell me afterwards. We are stopping the others, and mother is
+waiting to speak to you."
+
+Ormsgill was conscious of a faint relief as he turned to the tall lady
+who stood beside the girl, imposing and formal in somber garments. The
+meeting he had looked forward to with longing, and at the same time a
+vague apprehension, was over. He had, he felt, been reinstated,
+permitted to resume his former footing, and the manner of the elder
+lady, which was quietly gracious, conveyed the same impression. Then
+Mrs. Ratcliffe sent her brother, the Major, on to see that places were
+kept for them together, and Ormsgill was thankful that the dinner
+which was waiting would render any confidential conversation out of
+the question for the next hour. He wanted time to adjust himself to
+the changed conditions, for a man can not cut himself adrift from all
+that he has been accustomed to and then resume his former life just as
+he left it, especially if he has dwelt with the outcast in the
+meanwhile.
+
+A chair had been placed for him between Ada Ratcliffe and her mother,
+while Major Chillingham sat almost opposite him across the long table.
+The glow of light, glitter of glass and silver, scent of flowers and
+perfumes, and hum of voices had a curious effect on him after the
+silence of the shadowy forest and the primitive fashion in which he
+had lived with Lamartine, and some minutes had passed before he
+turned to the girl at his side.
+
+"I was a little astonished to hear that you were in Las Palmas," he
+said.
+
+Ada Ratcliffe looked at him with a smile, and a slight lifting of her
+brows. She was perfectly composed, and in one way he was glad of that,
+though he vaguely felt that her attitude was not quite what he had
+expected.
+
+"Astonished only?" she said. "As you would have had to change steamers
+here and wait a few days it would probably have taken you two weeks
+more to join us in England. At least, so the Major said."
+
+Ormsgill felt he had deserved this, for he had recognized the inanity
+of the observation when he made it. It was evident that his companion
+had recognized it, too. Still, it is difficult to express oneself
+feelingly to order.
+
+"I should have said delighted," he ventured.
+
+The girl smiled again, and he felt that he had chosen an injudicious
+word. "In any case, it isn't in the least astonishing that we are
+here. It is becoming a recognized thing to come out to Las Palmas in
+the winter, and I believe it is a good deal cheaper than Egypt or
+Algeria. That is, of course, a consideration."
+
+"It certainly is," broke in the lady at her side. "When they are
+always finding a new way to tax us in, and incomes persist in going
+down. Tom is fortunate. It will scarcely be necessary for him to
+trouble himself very much about such considerations."
+
+Ormsgill for the first time noticed the signs of care in Mrs.
+Ratcliffe's face, and the wrinkles about her eyes. Neither had, he
+fancied, been there when he had last seen her in England nearly five
+years earlier, but the change in her was as nothing compared to that
+in her daughter. Ada Ratcliffe was no longer a fresh and somewhat
+simple-minded English girl. She was a self-possessed and dignified
+woman of the world, but what else she might be he could not at the
+moment tell. He blamed himself for the desire to ascertain it, since
+he felt it was more fitting that he should accept her without question
+as the embodiment of all that was adorable. Still, he could not do it.
+The four years he had spent apart from her had given him too keen an
+insight.
+
+"Well," he said, "there are people who believe that the possession of
+even a very small fortune is something of a responsibility."
+
+"That," said Mrs. Ratcliffe, "is a mistake nowadays. There are so many
+excellent organized charities ready to undertake one's duties for one.
+They are in a position to discharge them so much more efficiently."
+
+Ormsgill did not reply to this, though there was a faint sardonic
+twinkle in his eyes. He was not, as a rule, addicted to passing on a
+responsibility, but he remembered then that he had handed a little
+Belgian priest L200 to carry out a duty that had been laid on him. The
+fact that he had done so vaguely troubled him. Mrs. Ratcliffe,
+however, went on again.
+
+"One of the disadvantages of living here is the number of invalids one
+is thrown into contact with," she said. "I find it depressing. You
+will notice the woman in the singularly unbecoming black dress yonder.
+She insists on drinking thick cocoa with a spoon at dinner."
+
+One could have fancied that she felt this breach of custom to be an
+enormity, and Ormsgill wondered afterwards what malignant impulse
+suddenly possessed him. Still, the worthy lady's coldly even voice and
+formal manner jarred upon him, while the pleasure of meeting the girl
+he had thought of for four long years was much less than he felt it
+should have been. He resented the fact, and most men's tempers grow a
+trifle sharp in tropical Africa.
+
+"Well," he said dryly, "one understands that it is nourishing, and,
+after all, we are to some extent cannibals."
+
+"Cannibals?" said Mrs. Ratcliffe with a swift suspicious glance which
+seemed to suggest that she was wondering whether the African climate
+had been too much for him.
+
+"Yes," said Ormsgill, "cocoa, or, at least, that grown in parts of
+Africa where the choicest comes from, could almost be considered human
+flesh and blood. Any way, both are expended lavishly to produce it. I
+fancy you will bear me out in this, Senor?"
+
+He looked at the little, olive-faced gentleman in plain white duck who
+sat not far away across the table. He had grave dark eyes with a
+little glint in them, and slim yellow hands with brown tips to some of
+the fingers, and was just then twisting a cigarette between them.
+Ormsgill surmised that it cost him an effort to refrain from lighting
+it, since men usually smoke between the courses of a dinner in his
+country. There was a certain likeness between him and the Commandant
+of San Roque, sufficient at least, to indicate that they were of the
+same nationality, but the man at the table in the _Catalina_ had been
+cast in a finer mold, and there was upon him the unmistakable stamp of
+authority.
+
+"One is assured that what is done is necessary," he said in slow
+deliberate English. "I am, however, not a commercialist."
+
+"You, of course, believe those assurances?"
+
+The little white-clad gentleman smiled in a somewhat curious fashion.
+"A wise man believes what is told him--while it is expedient. Some
+day, perhaps, the time comes when it is no longer so."
+
+"And then?"
+
+A faint, suggestive glint replaced the smile in the keen dark eyes.
+"Then he acts on what he thinks himself. Though I can not remember
+when, it seems to me, senhor, that I have had the pleasure of meeting
+you before."
+
+"You have," said Ormsgill dryly. "It was one very hot morning in the
+rainy season, and you were sitting at breakfast outside a tent beneath
+a great rock. Two files of infantry accompanied me."
+
+"I recollect perfectly. Still, as it happens, I had just finished
+breakfast, which was, I think, in some respects fortunate. One is
+rather apt to proceed summarily before it--in the rainy season."
+
+Ormsgill laughed, and the girl who sat beside the man he had spoken
+to flashed a swift glance at him. She was dressed in some thin, soft
+fabric, of a pale gold tint, and the firm, round modeling of the
+figure it clung about proclaimed her a native of the Iberian
+peninsula, the Peninsula, as those who are born there love to call it.
+Still, there was no tinge of olive in her face, which, like her arms
+and shoulders, was of the whiteness of ivory. Her eyes, which had a
+faint scintillation in them, were of a violet black, and her hair of
+the tint of ebony, though it was lustrous, too. She, however, said
+nothing, and Major Chillingham, who seemed to feel himself neglected,
+broke in.
+
+"I'm afraid you were at your old tricks again, Tom," he said. "What
+had you been up to then?"
+
+"Interfering with two or three black soldiers, who resented it. They
+were trying to burn up a native hut with a couple of wounded niggers
+inside it. I believe there was a woman inside it, too."
+
+Chillingham shook his head reproachfully. "One can't help these things
+now and then, and I don't know where you got your notions from," he
+said. "It certainly wasn't from your father. He was a credit to the
+service, and a sensible man. You can only expect trouble when you kick
+against authority."
+
+Ormsgill looked at Ada Ratcliffe, but there was only a faint
+suggestion of impatience in her face. Then, without exactly knowing
+why, he glanced across the table, and caught the little gleam of
+sardonic amusement in the other girl's violet eyes. She, at least, it
+seemed, had comprehension, and that vaguely displeased him, since he
+had expected it from the woman he had come back to marry, instead of
+a stranger. Then the man with the olive face looked up again.
+
+"You have it in contemplation to go back to Africa?"
+
+"No," said Ormsgill, who felt that Mrs. Ratcliffe was listening. "At
+least, I scarcely think it will be necessary."
+
+"Ah," said the other, with a little dry smile, "It is, one might,
+perhaps, suggest, not advisable. There are several men who do not bear
+you any great good will in that country."
+
+Ormsgill laughed. "One," he said, "is forced to do a good many things
+which do not seem advisable yonder, and I have one or two very
+excellent friends."
+
+Then he turned to Ada Ratcliffe, and discoursed with her and her
+mother on subjects he found it difficult to take much interest in,
+which was a fresh surprise to him, for he had considered them subjects
+of importance before he left England. The effort he made to display a
+becoming attention was not apparent, but it was a slight relief to two
+of the party when the dinner was over. Another hour had, however,
+passed before he had the girl to himself, and they sauntered down
+through the dusty garden and along the dim white road until they
+reached a little mole that ran out into the harbor. The moon had just
+dipped behind the black peaks, and they sat down in the soft darkness
+on a ledge of stone, and listened for a while to the rumble of the
+long Atlantic swell that edged to the strip of shadowy coast with a
+fringe of spouting foam. Both felt there was a good deal to be said,
+but the commencement was difficult, and it was significant that the
+man gazed westwards--towards Africa--across the dusky heaven, until he
+looked round when his companion spoke to him.
+
+"Tom," she said quietly, "you have not come back the same as when you
+went away."
+
+"I believe I haven't," and Ormsgill's voice was gentle. "My dear, you
+must bear with me awhile. You see, there are so many things I have
+lost touch with, and it will take me a little time to pick it up
+again. Still, if you will wait and humor me, I will try."
+
+He turned, and glanced towards a great block of hotel buildings that
+cut harsh and square against the soft blueness of the night not far
+away. The long rows of open windows blazed, and the music that came
+out from them reached the two who sat listening through the deep-toned
+rumble of the surf. It was evident that an entertainment of some kind
+was going on, but Ormsgill found the signs of it vaguely disquieting.
+
+"One feels that building shouldn't be there," he said. "They should
+have placed it in the city. It's too new and aggressive where it is,
+and the ways of the folks who stay in it are almost as out of place."
+
+He stopped a moment with a little laugh. "I expect I'm talking
+nonsense, and it's really not so very long since that kind of thing
+used to appeal to me. After all, there must be a certain amount of
+satisfaction to be got out of purposeless flirtation, cards, dining,
+and dancing."
+
+It was not very dark, and, when he looked round, the shapely form of
+his companion was silhouetted blackly against the sky on the step
+above him. There was something vaguely suggestive of an impatience
+that was, perhaps, excusable in her attitude.
+
+"Oh," she said, "there is not a great deal. I admit that, but one must
+live as the others do, and have these things to pass the time. You
+know there is nothing to be gained by making oneself singular."
+
+Ormsgill smiled, though once more the smell of the wilderness, the
+odors of lilies and spices, and the sourness of corruption, was in his
+nostrils. Men grappled for dear life with stern and occasionally
+appalling realities there, and he was one in whom the love of conflict
+had been born.
+
+"No," he said, "I suppose there isn't. At least, it usually involves
+one in trouble, and, as you say, one must have something to pass the
+time away. Still, Ada, for a while you will try to put up with my
+little impatiences and idiosyncrasies. No doubt I shall fit myself to
+my surroundings by and by."
+
+Ada Ratcliffe had a face that was almost beautiful, and a slim,
+delicately modeled form in keeping with it, but perhaps they had been
+given her as makeweights and a counterbalance for the lack of more
+important things. At times, when her own interests were concerned, she
+could show herself almost clever but she fell short of average
+intelligence just then, when a sympathetic word or a sign of
+comprehension would have bound the man to her.
+
+Leaning a little towards him she laid her hand on the sleeve of his
+duck jacket. "I would like you to do it soon," she said. "Tom, to
+please me, you won't come in to dinner dressed this way again."
+
+There was a suggestion of harshness in Ormsgill's laugh, but he
+checked himself. "Of course not, if you don't wish it. If there is a
+tailor in Las Palmas I will try to set that right to-morrow. Now we
+will talk of something else. You want to live in England?"
+
+It appeared that Ada did, and she was disposed to talk at length upon
+that topic. She also drew closer to him, and while the man's arm
+rested on her shoulder discussed the house he was to buy in the
+country, and how far his means, which were, after all, not very large,
+would permit the renting of another in town each season. He listened
+gravely, and saw that there were no aspirations in the scheme. Their
+lives were evidently to be spent in a round of conventional
+frivolities, and all the time he heard the boom of the restless sea,
+and the smell of the wilderness, pungent and heady, grew stronger in
+his nostrils. Then he closed a hand tighter on the shoulder of the
+girl, in a fashion that suggested he felt the need of something to
+hold fast by, as perhaps he did.
+
+"There is one point we have to keep in view, for the thing may be
+remembered against me still," he said. "I was turned out of the
+service of a British Colony."
+
+"Ah," said the girl, "I felt it cruelly at the time, but, after all,
+it happened more than four years ago--and not very many people heard
+of it."
+
+Ormsgill sat still a minute, and his grasp grew a trifle slacker on
+her arm. "I told you I didn't do the thing they accused me of," he
+said.
+
+"Of course! Still, everybody believed you did, and that was almost as
+hard to bear. The great thing is that it was quite a long while ago.
+Tom," and she turned to him quickly, "I believe you are smiling."
+
+"I almost think I was," said Ormsgill. "Still, I don't know why I
+should do so. Well, I understand we are to stay here a month or two,
+and we will have everything arranged before we go back to England."
+
+It was half an hour later when his companion rose. "The time is
+slipping by," she said. "There is to be some singing, and one or two
+of the people we have met lately are coming round to-night. I must go
+in and talk to them. These things are in a way one's duty. One has to
+do one's part."
+
+Ormsgill made no protest. He rose and walked quietly back with her to
+the hotel, but his face was a trifle grave, and he was troubled by
+vague misgivings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE SUMMONS
+
+
+The month Ormsgill spent at Las Palmas was a time of some anxiety to
+Mrs. Ratcliffe. He had, as she complained to her brother, no sense of
+the responsibility that devolved upon a man of his means, and was
+addicted to making friends with all kinds of impossible people, grimy
+English coaling clerks, and the skippers of Spanish schooners, and,
+what was more objectionable, now and then bringing them to the hotel.
+He expressed his regret when she pointed out the undesirability of
+such proceedings, but, for all that, made no very perceptible change
+in his conduct.
+
+Major Chillingham as a rule listened gravely, and said very little,
+for his sister was one who seldom welcomed advice from anybody, and
+though not a brilliant man he was by no means a fool. On the last
+occasion he, however, showed a little impatience.
+
+"Well," he said, "he seems to have got hold of a few first-class
+people, too. There is that Ayutante fellow on the Governor's staff,
+and the Senhor Figuera, the little, quiet man with the yellow hands,
+is evidently a person of some consequence in his own country. You
+can't mistake the stamp of authority. After all, it's no doubt just
+as well he and the girl have gone. Tom seemed on excellent terms with
+them."
+
+Mrs. Ratcliffe looked indignant. "A Portuguese with a powdered face,
+and no notion of what is fitting!"
+
+"An uncommonly good-looking one," and the Major grinned. "A woman with
+brains enough to get the thing she sets her mind on, too, and I have
+rather a fancy that she was pleased with Tom. Still, that's not the
+question, and anyway she's back again in Africa. Now, if you'll take
+advice from me you'll keep a light hand on him, and not touch the
+curb. If you do he's quite capable of making a bolt of it."
+
+"That," said the lady, "would be so disgraceful as to be
+inconceivable--when Ada has waited more than four years for him."
+
+Her brother's eyes twinkled. "In one way, I suppose she did. Still, of
+course, Urmston didn't get the Colonial appointment he expected, and,
+one has to be candid, young Hatherly seemed proof against the
+blandishments you wasted on him."
+
+"A marriageable daughter is a heavy responsibility," said Mrs.
+Ratcliffe with a sigh.
+
+"No doubt," said the Major. "That is precisely why I recommended the
+judicious handling of Tom Ormsgill. If he hasn't quite as much as you
+would like, it's enough to keep them comfortably, and in several ways
+he's worth the other two put together. The man's straight, and quiet.
+In fact, I'm not sure I wouldn't prefer him with a few more
+gentlemanly dissipations. They act as a safety valve occasionally."
+
+His sister raised her hands in protest, and Chillingham withdrew with
+a chuckle, but she was rather more gracious to Ormsgill than usual
+that day, and during the next one accompanied him with her daughter
+and one or two acquaintances in a launch he had borrowed to look at
+the wreck of a steamer which had gone ashore a night or two earlier.
+The unfortunate vessel afforded a somewhat impressive spectacle as she
+lay grinding on the reef with the long yeasty seas washing over her,
+and the little party spent some time watching her from the launch
+which swung with the steep, green swell.
+
+It was, however, very hot and dazzling bright, and no protests were
+made when Ormsgill, who it seemed knew all about steam launches,
+leaned forward from the helm and started the engines. The little
+propeller thudded, and they slid away with a long, smooth lurch across
+the slopes of glittering water that were here and there flecked with
+foam, for the beach they skirted lies open to the heave of the
+Atlantic. The Trade breeze fanned their faces pleasantly, and Ada
+Ratcliffe sat almost contented for the time being at Ormsgill's side.
+It was refreshing that hot day, to listen to the swish of sliding
+brine, and there was a certain exhilaration in the swift smooth
+motion, while she realized that the man she was to marry appeared to
+greater advantage than he did as a rule in the drawing room of the big
+hotel.
+
+He was never awkward, or ill at ease, but she had noticed--and
+resented--the air of aloofness he sometimes wore when he listened to
+her companions' pointless badinage and vapid conversation. Now as he
+sat with a lean brown hand on the tiller controlling the little
+hissing craft he seemed curiously at home. There was also, as
+generally happened when he was occupied, a suggestion of reserved
+force in his face and attitude. He was, she realized, a man one could
+have confidence in when there were difficult things to be done. This
+however, brought her presently a vague dissatisfaction, for she felt
+there were certain aspects of his character which had never been
+revealed to her, and she was faintly conscious of the antagonism to
+and shrinking from what one cannot quite understand which is not
+infrequently a characteristic of people with imperfectly developed
+minds.
+
+The fresh Trade breeze which blew down out of the harbor from the
+black Isleta hill was, however, evidently much less pleasant to the
+Spanish peons who toiled at the ponderous sweeps of an empty coal
+lighter the launch was rapidly drawing level with. She was floating
+high above the flaming swell, and the perspiration dripped from the
+men's grimy faces as they labored, two of them at each of the huge
+oars. Indeed Ormsgill could see the swollen veins stand out on their
+wet foreheads, and the overtaxed muscles swell on their half-covered
+chests and naked arms, for the barge was of some forty tons, and it
+was very heavy work pulling her against the wind. She had evidently
+been to a Spanish steamer lying well out beyond the mole, and there
+was, as he noticed, no tug available to tow her back again, while the
+sea foamed whitely on a reef close astern of her. It was only by a
+strenuous effort that the men were propelling the big clumsy craft
+clear of the reef, and there were signs that they could not keep it up
+much longer.
+
+He glanced at the little group of daintily attired, soft-handed men
+and women on board the launch, to whom the stress of physical labor
+was an unknown thing, and then looked back towards the coal-grimed
+toilers on the lighter. As yet they worked on stubbornly, with tense
+furrowed faces, under a scorching sun, taxing to the uttermost every
+muscle in their bodies, but it seemed to him that the lighter was no
+further from the reef. He flung an arm up, and hailed them, for he had
+acquired a working acquaintance with several Latin languages on the
+fever coast.
+
+"You can't clear that point," he said. "Have you no anchor?"
+
+"No, senor," cried one of the peons breathlessly. "The tug should have
+come for us, but she is taking the water boat to the English steamer."
+
+Ormsgill turned to his companions. "You won't mind if I pull them in?
+They're almost worn out, and it will not detain us more than ten
+minutes."
+
+One of the men made a little gesture of concurrence which had a hint
+of good-humored toleration in it, but Mrs. Ratcliffe appeared
+displeased, and Ada flushed a trifle. One could have fancied she did
+not wish the man who belonged to her to display his little
+idiosyncrasies before her friends.
+
+"One understands that all Spaniards avoid exertion when they can," she
+said. "Perhaps a little hard work wouldn't hurt them very much."
+
+There was a slight change in Ormsgill's expression. "I fancy the men
+can do no more."
+
+Then he waved his hand to the peons. "Get your hawser ready."
+
+He was alongside the lighter in another minute, but she rolled wildly
+above the launch, big and empty, and the sea broke whitely about her,
+for now the men had ceased rowing she was drifting towards the reef.
+The hawser was also dripping and smeared with coal dust when Ormsgill,
+who seemed to understand such matters, hauled it in, and while the sea
+splashed on board the launch, streams of gritty brine ran from it over
+everything. Then he stirred the little furnace with an iron bar before
+he pulled over the starting lever, and a rush of sparks and thin hot
+smoke poured down upon his companions as the little craft went full
+speed ahead. Ada, perhaps half-consciously, drew herself a little
+farther away from him. There was coal grit on his wet duck jacket, and
+he had handled hawser and furnace rubble like one accustomed to them,
+in fact as a fireman or a sailor would have done. That was a thing
+which did not please her, and she wondered if the others had noticed
+it. It became evident that one of them had.
+
+"You did that rather smartly," he said.
+
+Ormsgill's smile was a trifle dry. "I have," he said, "done much the
+same thing before professionally."
+
+There was a struggle for the next few minutes. Launch and lighter had
+drifted into shoal water while they made the hawser fast, and the
+swell had piled itself up and was breaking whitely. The little launch
+plunged through it with flame at her funnel and a spray-cloud blowing
+from her bows, and as she hauled the big lighter out yard by yard a
+little glint crept into Ormsgill's eyes. Ada Ratcliffe almost resented
+it, for he had never looked like that at any of the social functions
+she had insisted on his taking a part in, but her forbearance was
+further taxed when they crept slowly beneath the side of a big white
+steam yacht. A little cluster of men and daintily dressed women sat
+beneath the awning on her deck, and one or two of them were people her
+mother had taken pains to cultivate an acquaintance with.
+
+One man leaned upon her rail and looked down with a little smile.
+"Have you been going into the coal business, Fernside?" he said.
+"Considering the figure they charged Desmond it ought to be a
+profitable one."
+
+The man in the launch he addressed laughed, and Ormsgill towed the
+lighter on until at last he cast the tow rope off, and a very grimy
+peon stood upon her deck. He took off his big, shapeless hat, and as
+he swung, cut in black against the dazzling sea, there was in his
+poise a lithe gracefulness and a certain elaborate courtesy.
+
+"Senor," he said, "our thanks are yours, and everything else that
+belongs to us. May the saints watch over you, and send you a friend if
+ever your task is too heavy and the breakers are close beneath your
+lee."
+
+Ormsgill took off his hat gravely, as equal to equal, but he smiled a
+little as the launch swept on.
+
+"Well," he said, "after all, I may need one some day."
+
+They were back in the hotel in another half-hour, and Mrs. Ratcliffe
+took him to task as they sat on the shady veranda. Ormsgill lay back
+in his big Madeira chair, with half-closed eyes, and listened
+dutifully. He felt he could afford it, for the few minutes of tense
+uncertainty when he had hauled the lighter out of the grasp of the
+breakers had been curiously pleasant to him.
+
+"There was, of course, no harm in the thing itself," she said at last.
+
+"No," said Ormsgill with an air of deep reflection, "I almost think
+that to save a fellow creature who is badly worn out an effort he is
+scarcely fit to make isn't really very wrong. Still, the men were
+certainly very dirty--I suppose that is the point?"
+
+The lady, who looked very stiff and formal in the black she persisted
+in wearing, favored him with a searching glance, but there was only
+grave inquiry in his steady eyes.
+
+"The point is that things which may be commendable in themselves are
+not always--appropriate," she said.
+
+"Expedient--isn't it?" suggested Ormsgill languidly.
+
+"Expedient," said Mrs. Ratcliffe with a little flush in her face.
+"In this world one has to be guided by circumstances, and must
+endeavor to fit oneself to that station in life to which one has
+been--appointed."
+
+"I suppose so," said Ormsgill. "The trouble is that I really don't
+know what particular station I have been appointed to. I was thrown
+out of the Colonial service, you see, and afterwards drove a steam
+launch for a very dissolute mahogany trader. Then I floated the same
+kind of trees down another river with the niggers, and followed a few
+other somewhat unusual occupations. In fact, I've been in so many
+stations that it's almost bewildering."
+
+His companion got away from the point. She did not like having the
+fact that he had been, as he expressed it, thrown out of the Colonial
+service forced upon her recollection.
+
+"One has, at least, to consider one's friends," she said. "We are on
+rather good terms with two or three of the people who came out with
+Mr. Desmond, whom I have not met yet, in the _Palestrina_. In fact,
+Ada is a little anxious that you should make their acquaintance. You
+will probably come across them in England."
+
+"Well," said Ormsgill cheerfully, "I really don't think Dick Desmond
+would mind if I took up coal heaving as an amusement. He isn't a
+particularly conventional man himself."
+
+"You know him?"
+
+"Oh, yes. I know him tolerably well."
+
+"Then didn't you consider it your duty to go off and call upon him?"
+
+"I suppose it was," said Ormsgill meditatively. "Still, as a rule, I
+rather like my friends to call on me. I've no doubt that Dick will do
+it presently. He only arrived here yesterday, as you know. The people
+he brought out came on from Teneriffe, I think. Somebody told me the
+_Palestrina_ lay a week there with something wrong with her engines."
+
+Mrs. Ratcliffe smiled approvingly at last. "Yes," she said, "in one
+way the course you mention is usually preferable. It places one on a
+surer footing."
+
+Then she discussed other subjects, and supplied him with a good deal
+of excellent advice to which he listened patiently, though he was
+sensible of a certain weariness and there was a little dry smile in
+his eyes when she went away. As it happened, Desmond, who owned the
+_Palestrina_, came ashore that evening and was received by Mrs.
+Ratcliffe very graciously. The two men had also a good deal to say to
+each other, and the meeting was not without its results to both of
+them.
+
+It was late the following afternoon when a little yellow-funneled
+mail-boat with poop and forecastle painted white steamed into the
+harbor with awnings spread, and an hour or two later a waiter handed
+Ormsgill a letter. His face grew intent as he read it, and the curious
+little glint that Ada Ratcliffe had noticed when he towed the coal
+lighter clear of the surf crept back into his eyes. It was also
+significant that, although she and her mother were sitting near him on
+the veranda, he appeared oblivious of them when he rose and stepped
+back through an open window into the hotel. Five minutes later they
+saw him stride through the garden and down the long white road.
+
+"I think he is going to the little mole," said Ada. "I don't know why
+he does so, but when anything seems to ruffle him he generally goes
+there."
+
+Then she flashed a quick questioning glance at her mother. "That
+letter was from Africa. I saw the stamp on it."
+
+Mrs. Ratcliffe shook her head. "I don't think there is any reason why
+you should disturb yourself," she said. "After all, one has to excuse
+a good deal in the case of men who live in the tropics, and though the
+ways Tom has evidently acquired there now and then jar on me I venture
+to believe he will grow out of them and become a credit to you with
+judicious management. It would, perhaps, be wiser not to mention that
+letter, my dear."
+
+Ada said nothing, though she was a trifle uneasy. She had seen the
+sudden intentness of Ormsgill's face, and was far from sure that he
+would submit to management of any kind. Nobody acquainted with her
+considered her a clever woman, but, after all, her intelligence was
+keener than her mother's.
+
+In the meanwhile Ormsgill sat down on the steps of the little mole. It
+was pleasantly cool there, and he had already found the rush and
+rumble of frothing brine tranquilizing, though he was scarcely
+conscious of it as he took out the letter and read it again. It was
+from the missionary Nares.
+
+"Father Tiebout has just come in very shaky with fever," he read. "It
+appears that Herrero, who will not let her go, has gone back towards
+the interior with the woman Lamartine gave him, and has been
+systematically ill-using her. There is another matter to mention.
+Soon after you went Domingo seized the opportunity of raiding
+Lamartine's station, and took all the boys away while we were
+arranging to send them home as you asked us to do. It will, in view of
+the feeling against us, be difficult or impossible to bring the thing
+home to him, but I understand from Father Tiebout that you engaged the
+boys for Lamartine and pledged your word to send them home when the
+time agreed upon expired. Father Tiebout merely asked me to tell you.
+He said that if you recognized any responsibility in the matter you
+would not shrink from it."
+
+Ormsgill crumpled up the letter and sat very still, gazing into the
+dimness that was creeping up from Africa across the sea. The message
+was terse, and though the writing was that of Nares he saw the wisdom
+of Father Tiebout in it. Nares when he was moved spoke at length and
+plainly, but the little priest had a way of making other folks do what
+he wanted, as it were, of their own accord, and without his prompting
+them.
+
+It grew rapidly darker, but Ormsgill did not notice it. The deep
+rumble of the surf was in his ears, and the restlessness of the sea
+crept in on him. He had heard that thunderous booming on sweltering
+African beaches, and had watched the filmy spray-cloud float far
+inland athwart the dingy mangroves, and a curious gravity crept into
+his eyes as he gazed at the Eastern haze beyond which lay the shadowy
+land. Life was intense and primitive there, and his sojourn in the big
+hotel had left him with a growing weariness. Then there was the debt
+he owed Lamartine, and the promise he had made, and he wondered
+vaguely what Ada Ratcliffe would say when he told her he was going
+back again. She would protest, but, for all that, he fancied she would
+not feel his absence very much, though there were times when her
+manner to him had been characterized by a certain tenderness. As he
+thought of it he sighed.
+
+By and by a boat from the white steam yacht slid up to the foot of the
+steps, and a man who ascended them started when he came upon Ormsgill.
+He was tall and long-limbed, and his voice rang pleasantly.
+
+"What in the name of wonder are you doing here alone?" he asked.
+
+"I think I'm worrying, Dick," said Ormsgill. "The fact is, I'm going
+back yonder."
+
+Desmond looked hard at him--but it was already almost dark. "Well," he
+said, "we're rather old friends. Would it be too much if I asked you
+why?"
+
+"Sit down," said Ormsgill. "I'll try to tell you."
+
+He did so concisely and quietly, and Desmond made a little sign of
+comprehension. "Well," he said, "if you feel yourself under an
+obligation to that Frenchman I'm not sure it isn't just as binding now
+he's dead."
+
+"I was on my beam-ends, without a dollar in my pocket, when he held
+out his hand to me. Of course, neither of us know much about these
+questions, and, as a matter of fact, it's scarcely likely that
+Lamartine did, but he seemed to believe what the padre told him, and
+there's no doubt it was a load off his mind when he understood I'd
+have the woman set at liberty."
+
+Desmond sat silent for a minute. Then he said, "There are two points
+that occur to me. Since you are willing to supply the money, can't the
+priest and the missionary arrange the thing?"
+
+"Nares says they can't. After all, they're there on sufferance, and
+every official keeps a jealous eye on them. You couldn't expect them
+to throw away all they've done for several years, and that's very much
+what it would amount to if they were run out of the Colony."
+
+"Then suppose you bought the woman back, and got those boys set free?
+From what I've heard about the country somebody else would probably
+lay hands on them again. Since the Frenchman has broken them in they'd
+be desirable property."
+
+"That's one of the things I'm worrying over," said Ormsgill
+reflectively. "I had thought of running them up the coast and turning
+them loose in British Nigeria. They'd be reasonably well treated, and
+get wages at the factories there. Still, I'd have some trouble in
+getting them out of the country, especially as I'm not greatly tempted
+to buy the boys. If I was it's quite likely that Domingo, who is not a
+friend of mine, wouldn't let me have them. You see, I'd have to get
+papers at the port, though there are plenty of lonely beaches where
+one could get a surf-boat off. I had a notion of trying to pick up a
+schooner at Sierra Leone or Lagos."
+
+Again Desmond said nothing for a few moments. Then he laughed. "Well,"
+he said, "there's the _Palestrina_, and when we shake her up she can
+do her fourteen knots. You can have her for a shooting expedition at a
+pound a month. Now don't raise any--nonsensical objections. I'm about
+sick of loafing. The thing would be a relief to me."
+
+"There's your father," said Ormsgill suggestively.
+
+"Just so! There's also the whole estimable family, who have made up
+their minds I'm to go into Parliament whether I'm willing or not.
+Well, it seems to me that if I'm to have a hand in governing my
+country it will be an education to see how they mismanage things in
+other ones."
+
+Then the scion of a political family who could talk like a fireman,
+and frequently did so, laughed again. "If I get into trouble over it
+it will be a big advertisement. Besides, it's two years since I had a
+frolic of any kind. Been nursing the constituency, taking a benevolent
+interest in everything from women's rights to village cricket clubs,
+and I'm coming with you to rake up brimstone now. After all, though
+I've had no opportunity of displaying my abilities in that direction
+lately, it's one of the few things I really excel in."
+
+Ormsgill was far from sure that this was what he desired, but he knew
+his man, and that, for all his apparent inconsequence, he was one who
+when the pinch came could be relied upon. Then Desmond's effervescence
+usually vanished, and gave place to a cold determined quietness that
+had carried him through a good many difficulties. This was fortunate,
+since he was addicted to involving himself in them rather frequently.
+
+"Well," said Ormsgill, "I'll be glad to have you, but it's rather a
+big thing. I think they're expecting you at the hotel. We'll talk of
+it again."
+
+He rose, and as they went back together Desmond said reflectively. "I
+suppose you understand that it's scarcely likely your prospective
+mother-in-law will be pleased with you?"
+
+"I wasn't aware that you knew her until you came across her here,"
+said Ormsgill.
+
+"I didn't. My cousins do. Perhaps you won't mind my saying that they
+seem a little sorry for you. From what they have said about Mrs.
+Ratcliffe it seems to me that you may have trouble in convincing her
+of the disinterestedness of your intentions."
+
+Ormsgill felt that this was very probable, though he said nothing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A DETERMINED MAN
+
+
+It was the following afternoon when Ormsgill stood on the wide veranda
+outside Mrs. Ratcliffe's room. That lady sat somewhat stiffly facing
+him in a big basket chair, while her daughter lay close by in one of
+canvas with her eyes also fixed upon the man languidly. She was
+dressed in white, and looked very cool and dainty, though her face was
+almost expressionless. In fact, her attitude was characterized by a
+certain well-bred serenity which is seldom without its effect when it
+is an essential part of the person who exhibits it, though a passable
+imitation of it may be cultivated.
+
+Then one sometimes wonders what may lie behind it, though an attempt
+to ascertain is not always advisable. In some cases there is nothing,
+and in others things which it is wiser to leave unseen.
+
+Ormsgill had, as it happened, been busy that morning with an English
+lawyer whom he had met at the hotel, and had taken him over to the
+office of the Vice-Consul, who signed a document the lawyer drew out.
+He had also made other preparations for a journey, but he had sent the
+priest no word that he was going back to Africa. This, he felt, was
+not necessary, since Father Tiebout would expect him. He leaned
+bareheaded against the rails, with the furrows showing plainly on his
+bronzed face, while the Trade breeze, which was fresh that afternoon,
+swept the cool veranda and piled the long Atlantic swell rumbling on
+the beach. He could see the spray fly high and white, and the dust
+whirl down the glaring road that led to the Spanish city, and once
+more he felt his blood stir in harmony with the throb of restless life
+in the frothing sea. Still, the task before him was difficult, and he
+set about it diffidently.
+
+It was, as he realized, a very lame story and one open to serious
+misconception that fell from his lips. He could, of course, say
+nothing in favor of Lamartine's mode of life, though it was by no
+means an unusual one, and he had to mention it. The subject was a
+somewhat delicate one in itself, but it was not that alone which
+brought a faint flush to his face. Mrs. Ratcliffe's pose grew
+perceptibly primmer as he proceeded, and he recognized that any
+confidence she might have had in him was being severely shaken. Still,
+he had not expected her to understand, and he glanced at her daughter
+with a certain anxiety. The girl's languid indifference was less
+marked now, for there was a spot of color in her cheek, and her lips
+were set disdainfully. Ormsgill closed one lean hand a trifle, for
+these things had their significance, and he had expected that she, at
+least, would have found his assurance sufficient.
+
+"I think you will agree with me that I must go," he said.
+
+Mrs. Ratcliffe's tone was sharp and she looked at him steadily.
+
+"I'm afraid I don't," she said. "The man was on your own showing an
+altogether depraved person."
+
+"No," said Ormsgill dryly. "I should be sorry to admit as much. But if
+he had been, would that have rendered a promise to him less binding?"
+
+"Yes," said the elder lady sturdily. "If he really felt any remorse at
+all--of which I am very dubious--he brought it upon himself. One
+cannot do wrong without bearing the consequences. Still, I do not
+suppose it was penitence. It was more probably pagan fear of death.
+The man, you admit, was under priestly influence. Of course, if he had
+been brought up differently----"
+
+Ormsgill could not help a little smile. "He would have considered
+repentance sufficient, and left the woman to bear the consequences?
+Somehow I have a hazy notion that restitution is insisted on. But if
+we dismiss that subject there are still the boys. You see, I pledged
+myself to send them home again."
+
+Ada Ratcliffe looked up, and her expression was quietly disdainful.
+"Half-naked, thick-lipped niggers. Would it hurt them very much to
+work a little and become a trifle civilized? One understands that
+there is no actual slavery in any part of Africa under European
+control."
+
+Ormsgill winced, and it was, perhaps, only natural that Mrs. Ratcliffe
+should not understand why he did so. Then his face grew a trifle hard,
+but he answered quietly.
+
+"I have no doubt there are folks who would tell you so, but there is,
+at least, something very like it in one or two colonies," he said.
+"Still, that is not quite the point."
+
+The girl laughed. "I am a little afraid there is no point at all."
+
+She rose languidly, and the way she did so suggested collusion, though
+Ormsgill had not noticed that her mother made her any sign. She swept
+past him with a swish of filmy fabric, and he turned to the elder
+lady, who made a little gesture of resignation.
+
+"It seems," she said, "you are determined to go, and in that case
+there is something to be said. As you are bent on exposing yourself to
+the hazards of a climate I have heard described as deadly, one has to
+consider--eventualities."
+
+"Exactly!" and Ormsgill found it difficult to repress a sardonic
+smile. "I have endeavored to provide against them in the one way
+possible to me. An hour ago I handed Major Chillingham a document
+which will place Ada in possession of a considerable proportion of my
+property in six months from my death. The absence of any word from me
+for that period is to be considered as proof of it. I have no
+relatives with any claim on me, and I think I am only carrying out an
+obligation."
+
+"You are very generous," and his companion's tone was expressive of
+sincere satisfaction. "Though it is, of course, painful, one is
+reluctantly compelled to take these things into consideration."
+
+She said rather more to the same effect, and the man's face, which was
+a trifle hard when she went away, suggested that some, at least, of
+her observations had jarred on him. He was also somewhat astonished
+to find Ada waiting for him when he strolled moodily into the big
+drawing-room.
+
+"Tom," she said, "you won't go back there, after all. I don't want you
+to."
+
+There was a tinge of color in her cheeks and a tense appeal in her
+eyes, and for a moment Ormsgill was almost tempted to forget his
+promise and break his word. It seemed that she did care, though he had
+scarcely fancied that she would feel the parting with him very much a
+little while ago, and something suggested that she was apprehensive,
+too. He stood very still, and she saw him slowly close one of his
+hands.
+
+"My dear," he said, "I have to go."
+
+The girl looked at him steadily a moment, and then made a little
+hopeless gesture of resignation.
+
+"In that case I should gain nothing by attempting to urge you," she
+said with a curious quietness. "Still, Tom, you will write to me when
+you can."
+
+Ormsgill was stirred, as well as a trifle astonished. She had seldom
+shown him very much tenderness, and he had said nothing that might
+lead her to believe that he was undertaking a somewhat dangerous thing
+or that the country was especially unhealthy. Still, he could not help
+feeling that she was afraid of something. Then, as it happened, they
+heard her mother speaking to somebody in the corridor, and making him
+a little sign she slipped out softly. Ormsgill sat where he was,
+wondering why she had done so, until a rustle of dresses suggested
+that she and the people she had apparently spoken to had moved away.
+Then he went out, and met Desmond in front of the hotel.
+
+"Been having it out with Mrs. Ratcliffe?" he said. "I saw you on the
+veranda. Found it rather difficult? I couldn't stand that old woman."
+
+"It was not exactly pleasant," said Ormsgill, dryly.
+
+Desmond grinned. "Told her what you were going back for--and she
+didn't believe a word of it? As a matter of fact, you could hardly
+expect her to. Still, you needn't be unduly anxious. It wouldn't
+matter very much what you did out there. She might be horrified when
+she heard of it, but she wouldn't let you go."
+
+The blood rose to Ormsgill's face. He fancied his companion was right
+in this, but it suggested another thought, and it appeared impossible
+that the girl's views should coincide with her mother's. It was
+painful to feel that she might have placed an unfavorable construction
+upon his narrative, but that she should believe him a libertine and
+still be willing to marry him because he was rich was a thing he
+shrank with horror from admitting. He was aware that women now and
+then made such marriages, but although he did not as a rule expect too
+much of human nature, he looked for a good deal from the woman he
+meant to make his wife. He could not quite disguise the fact that
+there were aspects of her character which did not altogether please
+him.
+
+"Well," he said grimly, "we will talk about something else. You are
+still determined on going with me?"
+
+"Of course," said Desmond.
+
+Ormsgill took him into his room, and by and by unrolled a chart upon
+the table.
+
+"There's shelter off this beach in about six fathoms under the point,"
+he said. "She will roll rather wildly, but the holding's excellent,
+and a surf-boat could get off most days in the week. As some of the
+mail-boat skippers will probably see you and mention it, you will call
+and report yourself to the Commandant and the customs on your way down
+the coast. Bring one or two of them off to dinner and inquire about
+the sport to be had. As a matter of fact, there is something to shoot
+a few days' march back from the beach, and there is no reason why you
+shouldn't go after it."
+
+"You haven't said very much about yourself," observed his companion.
+
+"I'm going direct by mail-boat. There is to be no apparent connection
+between us. If you are at the beach by the date I mentioned and wait
+there fourteen days, it will be sufficient. If I don't join you by
+that time something will have gone radically wrong."
+
+"Then," said Desmond cheerfully, "I'll fit the whole crowd out down to
+the firemen with elephant guns and rifles, and go ashore to fetch you,
+if we have to sack every bush fort in the country."
+
+Ormsgill only laughed, and going out together they swung themselves on
+a passing steam tram and were whirled away to the steamship offices in
+the Spanish city through a blinding cloud of dust.
+
+Two days later Ormsgill boarded a yellow-funneled steamer, which crept
+out of harbor presently with the Portuguese flag at the fore, and
+faded into a streak of hull and a smoke trail low down on the dazzling
+sea. From the veranda of the hotel, Ada Ratcliffe watched it slowly
+melt, with her lips tight set and a curious look in her eyes, until
+when the blue expanse was once more empty she rose with a little sigh.
+There was, of course, nothing to be gained by sitting there
+disconsolate, and she had to array herself becomingly for an excursion
+to a village among the black volcanic hills. She also took a prominent
+part in it very gracefully, while a quiet brown-faced man leaned on a
+little wildly-rolling steamer's rail, looking southwest across the
+dazzling white-flecked combers towards the shadowy land.
+
+He reached it in due time, and one afternoon two or three days after
+he arrived at a little decadent city, sat talking to the olive-faced
+gentleman he had met at the Las Palmas hotel. The latter now wore a
+very tight white uniform, and a rather high and cumbrous kepi lay on
+the chair at his side. He was singularly spare in figure; his face,
+which was a trifle worn and hollow, was in no way suggestive of
+physical virility, and the brown-tipped fingers of the hand which
+rested on his knee very much resembled claws; but, as Major
+Chillingham had noticed, he wore the unmistakable stamp of high
+authority.
+
+"Ah," he said in Portuguese, "you are not as most of your countrymen,
+and seem to understand that haste is not always advisable--especially
+in this land."
+
+Ormsgill smiled a little as he gazed down on the straggling city. The
+room he and his companion sat in had no front to it. A row of slender
+pillars with crude whitewashed arches between them served instead, and
+he could look out on the curiously jumbled buildings below. Some were
+of wood and had red iron roofs and broad verandas, others of stone, or
+what appeared to be blocks of sun-baked mud, and these were mostly
+glaringly whitewashed and roofed with tiles, though a few were flat
+topped. Some stood in clusters, but as a rule there were wide spaces,
+strewn with ruins and rubbish, between them. Scarcely a sound rose
+from any of them. Here and there a white-clad figure reclined in a big
+chair on a veranda, and odd clusters of negroes, some loosely draped
+in raw colors, and some half-naked, slept in the shadow. Everything
+was so still that one could have fancied the place was peopled by the
+dead. Beyond the long strip of land across the harbor the glaring
+levels of the Atlantic stretched away, and the hot air quivered with
+the dull insistent roar and rumble of the surf.
+
+"It is certainly as I suggested," said the little olive-faced
+gentleman. "You have been here three days, and I do not even know what
+you expect from me yet."
+
+"It is very little. A concession of exploitation in the country
+inland."
+
+"In which district?"
+
+Ormsgill mentioned it, and his companion looked at him with a little
+smile. "The request can be granted, but I gave you good advice once
+before, and I venture to offer it again. This Africa is not a healthy
+country, and it is not, I think, advisable that you should stay here,
+especially up yonder in the bush. There are gentlemen of some
+importance there whom you have offended, and we are, it seems, not all
+forgiving. It is, perhaps, a fact to be deprecated, but one to be
+counted on."
+
+"One has occasionally to do a thing that doesn't seem advisable," said
+Ormsgill reflectively.
+
+"In this case the reasons cannot be financial. I heard of your good
+fortune in Las Palmas."
+
+Ormsgill was not pleased at this, but he laughed. "A little money is
+not always a fortune. Perhaps it would be permissible for me to
+express my pleasure that your administrative genius has been
+recognized?"
+
+Dom Clemente made him a little grave inclination. "I hold authority,
+but the man who does so seldom sleeps on roses, especially in this
+country. Well, you still want the concession of exploitation, though
+the region you mention is not a productive one?"
+
+"There are articles of commerce which come down that way from the
+interior."
+
+Dom Clemente looked at him steadily. "Ah," he said, "if one could tell
+what went on there. Still, as you say, there are things we have need
+of that come down from the interior."
+
+Ormsgill's face was expressionless, though he was not pleased to see a
+little smile creep into his companion's eyes, but just then another
+man of very dusky color came up the outside stairway with a big
+clanking sword strapped on to him, and Dom Clemente rose.
+
+"I make my excuses, but the permit will be ready to-morrow," he said.
+"In the meanwhile my daughter, who is in the patio, would thank you
+for several courtesies at Las Palmas."
+
+Ormsgill turned away, and went down to the little pink-washed patio
+which was filled with straggling flowers and was, at least,
+comparatively cool. The girl who lay in a big chair did not rise, but
+signed to him to take another near her side, and then looked up at him
+with big violet eyes. It did not occur to Ormsgill that there was any
+significance in the fact that the only two chairs in the patio should
+be close together, but it struck him that Benicia Figuera was a very
+well-favored young woman, and very much in harmony with her
+surroundings. Colorless as her face was, there was a scintillation in
+her eyes, and a depth of hue in her somewhat full red lips, which with
+the sweeping lines of her lightly-draped, rounded form suggested that
+there was in her a full measure of the warm and vivid life of the
+tropics. Her voice was low and quiet, and her English passable.
+
+"I believe my father has been giving you good advice," she said.
+
+"Why should you think that?" asked Ormsgill, lightly.
+
+His companion's gesture might have meant anything. "You feel the
+advice is excellent, but you do not mean to take it? It is not a thing
+you often do. In one way I am sorry."
+
+Ormsgill laughed. "Might one ask why you should take so much interest
+in an obstinate stranger?"
+
+The girl moved her hands, which were white and very shapely, in a
+fashion which seemed to imply a protest. Ormsgill noticed that they
+had also the appearance of capable hands, and he fancied that their
+grasp could be tenacious.
+
+"Ah," she said, "there were little courtesies shown us at Las Palmas,
+things that made our stay there pleasanter, and I think there was,
+perhaps, no great reason why you should have done them for my father."
+Then her eyes twinkled. "I am not sure that all your friends were very
+pleased with you."
+
+Ormsgill did not smile this time. He recollected now that Ada
+Ratcliffe had been distinctly less gracious and her mother more formal
+than usual after one or two of the trifling courtesies he had shown
+Dom Clemente and the girl, but it had not occurred to him to put the
+two things together.
+
+"I wonder," he said reflectively "how you come to speak such excellent
+English."
+
+The girl laughed.
+
+"My mother's name was O'Donnel, though she was rather more Portuguese
+than I am. She was born in the Peninsula. It seems I have gone back
+two or three generations. They assured me of it once in Wicklow.
+Still, all that does not interest you. You are going into the
+interior."
+
+Ormsgill said he was, and the girl appeared thoughtful for a moment or
+two.
+
+"Then one might again advise you to be careful. There are, at least,
+two men who do not wish you well. One of them is a certain Commandant,
+and the other the trader Herrero."
+
+"I wonder if you could tell me where the trader Herrero is?"
+
+"If I can I will send you word to-morrow."
+
+Ormsgill thanked her and took his leave ceremoniously, but he was a
+little annoyed to find that his thoughts would wander back to the cool
+patio as he strolled through the dazzling, sun-scorched town. He felt
+it would have been pleasant to stay there a little in the shadow, and
+that Benicia Figuera would not have resented it. There was something
+vaguely attractive about her, and she had Irish eyes in which he had
+seen a hint of the reckless inconsequent courage of that people. This,
+he reflected, did not concern him, and dismissing all further thought
+of her he went about his business. Still, when the concession was sent
+to him next morning the negro who brought it also handed him a little
+note. It had no signature, and merely contained the name of a certain
+village on the fringe of the hills that cut off the coast levels from
+the island plateaux.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+DESMOND MAKES AN ADMISSION
+
+
+Two months had slipped by since Ormsgill and his carefully chosen
+carriers had vanished into the steamy bush which climbs the slopes of
+the inland plateaux, when the _Palestrina_ steamed in towards the
+straggling, sun-scorched town. She came on at half-speed, gleaming
+ivory white, in a blaze of brightness, with a man strapped outside her
+bridge swinging the heavy lead, until Desmond, who swept the shore
+line with his glasses, raised his hand. Then the propeller whirled
+hard astern and she stopped amidst a roar of running chain. Next the
+awnings were stretched across her aft, and after a beautiful white gig
+sank down her side, a trimly uniformed crew pulled Desmond ashore to
+interview the men in authority.
+
+He found them courteous. Though that is not a coast which English
+yachts frequent, one had called there not very long before, and they
+had a pleasant recollection of the hospitality they had enjoyed on
+board her. Besides, it was very soon evident that this red-faced
+yachtsman was not one of the troublesome Englishmen who demand
+information about social and political matters which do not concern
+them. Desmond took the authorities off to dinner, and showed them his
+sporting rifles and one or two letters given him by gentlemen of
+their own nationality whom he had similarly entertained at Funchal
+Madeira. His young companion with the heavy sea-bronzed face was even
+more ingenuous, and there was no doubt that the wine and cigars were
+excellent.
+
+Strangers with any means were also singularly scarce in that town, and
+its rulers finding Desmond friendly made much of him, and supplied him
+freely with the information he required respecting the localities
+where one might still come across big game. He was, in fact, a social
+success, and contrived to spend a fortnight there very pleasantly.
+Still, there was one of his new friends who considered it advisable to
+take certain precautions, which came indirectly to the knowledge of
+the latter's daughter.
+
+It also happened that Desmond's companion, Lister, who went ashore
+alone now and then, enjoyed himself in his own fashion. He was a young
+man whose tastes and idiosyncrasies had caused his friends at home
+some anxiety, and they had for certain reasons prevailed upon Desmond
+to take him to sea for a few months out of harm's way. Lister
+submitted unwillingly, but he discovered that even that sweltering
+African town had pleasures to offer him, and determined on making the
+most of them.
+
+It was a very hot evening when he sat in the patio of a little
+flat-topped house which bore a legend outside announcing that it was a
+_caffee_. A full moon hung above the city and flooded half the little
+square round which the building rose with silvery light. The summit of
+the white walls cut sharply against the cloudless blue, and the land
+breeze flowed in through a low archway heavy with heat and smells. Now
+and then the roar of the Atlantic surf swelled in volume and rolled
+across the roofs in a deep-toned rumbling. Lister, however, naturally
+noticed very little of this.
+
+He lay in a Madeira chair near a little table upon which stood several
+flasks of wine and glasses, as well as a bundle of cigarettes. A lamp
+hung above him, and his light white clothing displayed the fleshiness
+of his big, loosely-hung frame. His face was a trifle flushed, and
+there was a suggestive gleam in his eyes when he glanced towards the
+unglazed square of lighted window behind which a comely damsel of
+somewhat dusky skin was singing to a mandolin, but the occasional
+bursts of hoarse laughter made it evident that the lady had other
+companions, and there was then a little but rather painful punctured
+wound in one of Lister's hands. She had made it that afternoon with a
+slender silver-headed strip of steel which she wore in her dusky hair,
+and Lister could take a hint when it was plain enough.
+
+As it happened, a partial acquaintance with one or two Latin languages
+had been drilled into him in preparation for a certain branch of his
+country's service to which prejudiced persons had eventually denied
+him admission, and he had afterwards acquired sundry scraps of
+Portuguese in Madeiran wine-shops. As the result of this, his
+companions understood part, at least, of what he said. Two of them who
+had very yellow hands and somewhat crisp black hair were shaking dice
+upon the table, while a third lay quietly in a basket lounge watching
+the Englishman with keen dark eyes. The latter threw a piece of paper
+money down on the table.
+
+"It's against me," he said. "I'll double on the same odds you don't
+shake as high again. Pass your friend the wine, Dom Domingo."
+
+The quiet man made this a trifle plainer, and thrust the wine flask
+across the table, but Lister did not notice that one of the others
+looked at him as if for permission or instructions before he flung the
+dice back into the box.
+
+"One who knows the game would not give quite such odds," he said in
+passable French. "It is the cards you play on board the steamer?"
+
+"No," said Lister, who had consumed a good deal of wine, "not often. I
+wish we did. It would pass the time while we lie waiting off your
+blazing beaches."
+
+"Ah," said the little man, "you wait for somebody, then?"
+
+Lister's little start was quite perceptible, but he grinned. "You
+can't go inland without taking somebody who knows the way. I think I
+told you we were going up country to kill big game."
+
+"But certainly!" and the other spread out his hands. "This is,
+however, not the season when one usually sets out on such a journey.
+It would be wiser to make it in a month or two. For good heads you
+must also go inland a long way. You start from--?"
+
+"The Bahia Santiago," but Lister recollected next moment, and looked
+at his companion truculently with half-closed eyes. "It seems to me
+you have a good many questions to ask. Besides, you stop the game."
+
+The little man waved his hand deprecatingly, and answered one of the
+others' inquiring glance with a just perceptible motion of his head.
+
+"Your pardon, senor," he said. "It was good advice I gave you about
+the odds."
+
+He rose and slowly sauntered across the patio, but Lister did not
+notice that he stopped in the black shadow of the archway. Neither did
+the other men, one of whom shook the dice again.
+
+"Ah!" he said. "The luck is once more against you."
+
+Lister poured himself out another glass of wine. He was feeling a
+trifle drowsy, and the patio was very hot, but he wished to rouse
+himself enough to watch one of the player's thick-fingered yellow
+hands. Then flinging down another piece of paper money he reached out
+and took the box himself. His lips had shut tight, and though his face
+had flushed more deeply his eyes were keen.
+
+They threw twice more while the other man, who appeared to relinquish
+his share in the proceedings, good-humoredly looked on, and then
+Lister leaned forward suddenly and seized the yellow hand. The box
+fell with a clatter, and Lister clutched one of the little spotted
+cubes that rolled out upon the table. Then the player's companion
+swung out his right arm with a flick of his sleeve, and Lister caught
+the gleam of steel. Loosely hung and a trifle slouching as he was, he
+was big, and had, at least, no lack of animal courage. He said
+nothing, but he flung the man whose hand he held backward upon the
+table, which overturned in front of his companion, and snatching a
+heavy wine flask from one close by, swung it by the neck.
+
+The man with the knife was a moment recovering his footing, and then
+he moved forward, half-crouching, with a cat-like gait. The veins rose
+swollen on Lister's forehead, but he stood still, and his big red hand
+tightened savagely on the neck of the heavy vessel, which held a quart
+or two. The tinkle of the mandolin had ceased abruptly, and for a few
+moments there was not a sound in the little patio. Then there was a
+sharp command, and the man with the knife slunk backward, as a figure
+moved quietly out of the shadow beneath the archway. It was the man
+who had questioned Lister, and he laid his hand upon the flask the
+latter held.
+
+"With permission I will take it from you," he said. "It is, I think,
+convenient that you go back to your steamer."
+
+Lister fancied that he was right, and when three or four men who had
+now come out from the lighted room made way for them he followed his
+companion out through the archway. The latter called to a man in
+dilapidated white uniform, and they proceeded together to where a boat
+was waiting. They put Lister on board her, and stood still a minute or
+two watching while a couple of negroes rowed him off to the
+_Palestrina_. Then one of them laughed.
+
+"There are many fools in this world but one has perhaps no cause to
+pity them," he said. "It is as a rule their friends they bring to
+grief."
+
+Twenty minutes later he called at Dom Clemente's residence, and was
+not exactly pleased when he was shown into the presence of Benicia
+Figuera.
+
+"My father is on board the yacht. You have come about the Englishman
+you have been watching?" she said.
+
+The man made a little deprecatory gesture. "It is not permissible to
+contradict the senorita."
+
+Benicia laughed. "It would not be worth while, my friend. You will
+leave your message."
+
+"It is a report for Dom Clemente," and again the man spread out his
+hands. One could have fancied he felt it necessary to excuse himself
+for such an answer.
+
+"Then," said the girl, "it is, as I think you know, quite safe with
+me."
+
+There was no smile in her eyes this time, and her companion thought
+rapidly. Then, after another gesture which expressed resignation, he
+spoke for some three or four minutes until the girl checked him with a
+sign.
+
+"If Dom Clemente has any questions to ask he will send for you," she
+said. "If not, you must not trouble him about the matter. I think you
+understand?"
+
+It was evident that the man did so, for he went out with a respectful
+gesture of comprehension, and then turned and shook a yellow fist at
+the door which closed behind him. He could foresee that to do as he
+was bidden might involve him in difficulties, but Benicia Figuera was
+something of a power in that country, and he knew it was seldom
+advisable to thwart her. She, as it happened, sat still thinking for a
+time, and as the result of it when Desmond's gig went ashore next
+morning a negro handed one of her crew a little note. That afternoon
+Desmond dressed himself with somewhat unusual care before he was rowed
+ashore, and on being ushered into a white house by a uniformed negro
+was not altogether astonished to find Benicia Figuera waiting for him
+alone in a big cool room. He had met her in Las Palmas, and she smiled
+at him graciously as she pointed to a little table where wine and
+cigarettes were laid out.
+
+"They are at your disposal. Here one smokes at all times and
+everywhere," she said.
+
+Desmond sat down some distance away from her, for as he said
+afterwards, she was astonishingly pretty as well as most artistically
+got up, and he was on his guard.
+
+"I almost fancy it is advisable that I should keep my head just now,
+and it already promises to be sufficiently difficult," he said with a
+twinkle in his eyes. "Dom Clemente is presumably not at home. That is
+why you sent for me?"
+
+Now the compliments men offer a lady in the Iberian Peninsula are as a
+rule artistically involved, but the girl laughed.
+
+"He will not be back until this evening, but the excellent Senora
+Castro in whose charge I am is now sitting on the veranda," she said.
+"You need not put your armor on, my friend. It would be useless
+anyway."
+
+"Yes," said the man reflectively, "I almost think it would be."
+
+"And my intentions are friendly."
+
+Desmond spread his hands out as the men of her own nationality did.
+"The assurance is a relief to me, but I should feel easier if you told
+me what you wanted. After all, it could not have been merely the
+pleasure of seeing me."
+
+Benicia nodded approvingly. His keenness and good-humored candor
+appealed to her. It was also in some respects a pleasure to meet a man
+who could come straight to the point. Her Portuguese friends usually
+spent an unreasonable time going around it.
+
+"Well," she said, leaning forward and looking at him with eyes which
+he afterwards told Ormsgill were worth risking a fortune for, "I will
+tell you what I know, and I leave you to decide how far it is
+desirable for you to be frank with me. In the first place, you are not
+going inland to shoot big game. You are going to wait at the Bahia
+Santiago for somebody."
+
+Desmond's face grew a trifle red. "If I had Lister here I think I
+should feel tempted to twist his neck for him."
+
+The girl laughed. "It would be an interesting spectacle. I suppose you
+know that last night he broke a man's wrist?"
+
+"I did not," said Desmond dryly. "When he amuses himself in that way
+he seldom tells me--but, to be quite frank, I've almost had enough of
+him. It's rather a pity the other fellow didn't break his head.
+Still, perhaps, that's a little outside the question."
+
+"The question is--who are you going to wait for at the Bahia
+Santiago?"
+
+"Ah," said Desmond, "I almost think you know."
+
+Benicia smiled. "It is, of course, Mr. Ormsgill. He is a friend of
+yours. Now, as you can recognize, it is in my power or that of my
+father to involve you in a good many difficulties. I wish to know what
+Ormsgill went inland for. It was certainly not on a commercial
+venture."
+
+Desmond thought hard for the next half-minute. He was a man who could
+face a responsibility, and it was quite clear to him that Miss Figuera
+already knew quite enough to ruin his comrade's project if she thought
+fit to do so. Still, he felt that she would not think fit. He did not
+know how she conveyed this impression, or even if she meant to convey
+it, for Benicia Figuera was a lady of some importance in that country,
+and, as he reflected, no doubt recognized the fact. She sat
+impassively still, with her dark eyes fixed on him, and there was a
+certain hint of imperiousness in her manner, until he suddenly made
+his mind up.
+
+"Well," he said, "I will try to tell you, though there are, I think,
+people who would scarcely understand the thing."
+
+He spoke for some ten minutes, and Benicia sat silent a while when at
+last he stopped abruptly. Then she made a little gesture of
+comprehension.
+
+"Yes," she said simply, "I think your friend is one of the few men who
+could be expected to do such things." Then she laughed. "The girl he
+is to marry, the one I saw in Las Palmas, is naturally very vexed with
+him?"
+
+"That," said Desmond gravely, "is a subject I scarcely feel warranted
+in going into. Besides, as a matter of fact, I don't know. There is,
+however, another point I am a little anxious about."
+
+"The course I am likely to take?" and Benicia rose. "Well, it is
+scarcely likely to be to your disadvantage, and I think you are wise
+in telling me. Still, as you see, I do not bind myself to anything."
+
+Desmond stood up in turn, and made her a little grave inclination. "I
+leave it in your hands with confidence. After all, that is the only
+course open to me."
+
+"Yes," said Benicia, "I believe it is. Still, you seem to have no
+great fear of me betraying you."
+
+"I certainly haven't," said Desmond. "I don't know why."
+
+His companion laughed, and held out her hand to him, and in a few more
+minutes Desmond was striding down the hot street towards the beach.
+When he reached the boat he turned a moment and looked back towards
+the big white house.
+
+"It looks very much as if I'd made a fool of myself, and spoiled the
+whole thing, but I don't think I have," he said.
+
+It was two or three hours later, and darkness had suddenly closed down
+on the sweltering town, when the scream of a whistle broke through the
+drowsy roar of the surf as a mail-boat ringed with blinking lights
+crept up to the anchorage. Then Desmond sent for Lister, and drew him
+into the room beneath the bridge.
+
+"There doesn't appear to be anything very much for that boat, and
+she'll probably clear for the north to-morrow," he said. "You had
+better get your things together."
+
+Lister gazed at him with astonishment in his heavy face. "I don't
+quite understand you," he said.
+
+"The thing's perfectly simple. You're going north in her. In one or
+two respects I'm sorry I have to turn you out, but, to be quite
+straight, you're not the kind of man I want beside me now. You're too
+fond of company, and have a--inconvenient habit of talking in your
+cups."
+
+Lister flushed. "I presume you are referring to my conversation with
+that slinking yellow-handed fellow I came across last night? He was a
+little inquisitive, but I didn't tell him anything."
+
+"No," said Desmond dryly, "I don't suppose you did. It's often the
+points a man of your capacity doesn't mention one deduces the most
+from. He generally makes it evident that he's working away from them.
+That, however, wouldn't strike you, and any way it doesn't affect the
+case. I'm sorry I can't offer to accommodate you on board the
+_Palestrina_ any longer. I told your folks I'd keep an eye on you, but
+it's becoming too big a responsibility."
+
+Lister gazed at him almost incredulously. "Of course, I'll have to go
+if you really mean it. Still, I would like to point out that in some
+respects you're not exactly a model yourself."
+
+"That," said Desmond dryly, "is a fact I'm naturally quite aware of. I
+like a frolic now and then as well as most other men, but I've sense
+enough not to indulge in it when I'm out on business. The trouble is
+that what you have done you will very probably do again, and that
+wouldn't suit either me or Ormsgill. I'm afraid you'll have to take
+the boat north to-morrow."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ORMSGILL KEEPS HIS WORD
+
+
+Forest and compound were wrapped in obscurity, and the night was
+almost insufferably hot, when Nares, who had arrived there during the
+afternoon, sat in a room of the Mission of Our Lady of Pity. The
+little, heavily thatched dwelling stood with the mud-built church and
+rows of adherents' huts on the shadowy frontier of the debatable land
+whose dusky inhabitants were then plotting a grim retribution for
+their wrongs, and on the night in question black, impenetrable
+darkness shut it in. Though the smell of wood smoke was still in the
+steamy air, the cooking-fires had died out an hour ago, and there was
+no sound from any of the clustering huts. Nares, who sat, gaunt and
+worn in face, by an open window, could not see one of them. Still, he
+was looking out into the compound, and his attitude suggested
+expectancy. One could have fancied that he was listening for
+something.
+
+"My boys heard in the last village we stopped at that there was
+another party coming up behind us, and it's quite likely that there
+is," he said. "The bushmen are generally right in these things. I've
+seen a whole village clear out half a day before a section or two of
+troops arrived, though it's hard to understand how they could possibly
+have known."
+
+Father Tiebout, who lay in a canvas chair with the perspiration
+trickling down his forehead, smiled. "There are many other things
+beyond our comprehension in this country," he said, with a trace of
+dryness. "We have our senses and our reason. The negro has them, too,
+but he has something more--shall we call it the blind instinct of
+self-preservation? It is, at least, certain that it is now and then
+necessary to him. So you did not come by San Roque or the new
+outpost?"
+
+"I did not. Still, how did you deduce it?"
+
+The priest spread out his hands. "It is simple. One does not find an
+inhabited village within easy reach of a fort, my friend. The cause
+for that is obvious. You are listening for the other party?"
+
+"Anyway, I was wondering whose it could be."
+
+Father Tiebout smiled. "If there is a white man with the boys it is
+Thomas Ormsgill. I have been expecting him the last week. He will be
+here within the next two--if he is alive."
+
+He spoke with a quiet certainty, as though the matter admitted of no
+doubt, and Nares added,
+
+"Yes," he said, "that is a man who keeps his promise, but you could
+give him another week. One knows when the mail-boats arrive, but there
+might be difficulties when he got ashore. Anybody who wishes to go
+inland is apt to meet with a good many, especially if he isn't looked
+upon with favor by the Administration."
+
+Father Tiebout said nothing further. It was almost too hot to talk,
+though the silence that brooded over the little gap in the forest was
+unpleasantly impressive. It would not be broken until the moon rose
+and the beasts awoke. There were also times when Nares, who was not a
+nervous man, felt a curious instinctive shrinking from the blackness
+of the bush. It was too suggestive. One wondered what it hid, for that
+is a land where the Powers of Darkness are apparently omnipotent. It
+is filled with rapine and murder, and pestilence stalks through it
+unchecked.
+
+At last a faint sighing refrain stole out of the silence, sank into
+it, and rose again, and Nares glanced at his companion, for he
+recognized that a band of carriers were marching towards the mission
+and singing to keep their courage up.
+
+"I think you're right. They're coast boys," Father Tiebout said.
+
+It was some ten minutes later when there was a patter of naked feet in
+the compound, and a clamor from the huts. Then a white man walked
+somewhat wearily up the veranda stairway into the feeble stream of
+light. It was characteristic that Nares was the first to shake hands
+with him, while Father Tiebout waited with a little quiet smile.
+Ormsgill turned towards the latter.
+
+"Have you a hut I can put the boys in? That's all they want," he said.
+"They're fed. We stopped to light our fires at sunset."
+
+The greeting was not an effusive one in view of the difficulties and
+privations of the journey, but neither of Ormsgill's companions had
+expected anything of that kind from him. It was also noticeable that
+there was none of the confusion and bustle that usually follows the
+arrival of a band of carriers. This was a man who went about all he
+did quietly, and was willing to save his host inconvenience. The
+priest went with him to a hut, and the boys were disposed of in five
+minutes, and when they came back Ormsgill dropped into a chair.
+
+"Well," he said, "I'm here. Caught the first boat after I got your
+letter. I think it was your letter, padre, though Nares signed it."
+
+"At least," said Father Tiebout, "we both foresaw the result of it.
+But you have had a long march. Is there anything I can offer you?"
+
+"A little cup of your black coffee," said Ormsgill.
+
+Nares laughed softly. "He's a priest, as well as a Belgian. I believe
+they teach them self-restraint," he added. "Still, when I saw you
+walking up that stairway I felt I could have forgiven him if he had
+flung his arms about your neck."
+
+"You see I had expected him," and Father Tiebout set about lighting a
+spirit lamp.
+
+"With a little contrivance one can burn rum in it," he added. "There
+are times when I wish it was a furnace."
+
+Ormsgill smiled and shook his head. "You and other well meaning
+persons occasionally go the wrong way to work, padre," he said. "Would
+you pile up the Hamburg gin merchants' profits, or encourage the folks
+here to build new sugar factories? You can't stop the trade in
+question while the soil is fruitful and the African is what he is."
+
+"What the white man has made him," said Father Tiebout.
+
+"I believe the nigger knew how to produce tolerably heady liquors and
+indulged in them before the white man brought his first gin case in,"
+said Ormsgill reflectively. "In any case, Lamartine was a trader,
+which is, after all, a slightly less disastrous profession to the
+niggers here than a government officer, and I did what I could for
+him. From your point of view I've no doubt I acquired a certain
+responsibility. Could you do anything useful with L200 or L300
+sterling, padre?"
+
+"Ah," said the little priest, "one cannot buy absolution."
+
+Nares smiled. It was seldom he let slip an opportunity of inveigling
+Father Tiebout into a good-humored discussion on a point of this kind.
+"I fancied it was only we others who held that view," he said. Then he
+turned to Ormsgill. "He is forgetting, or, perhaps, breaking loose
+from his traditions. After all, one does break away in Africa. It is
+possible it was intended that one should do so."
+
+"Still," persisted Ormsgill, "with L300 sterling one could, no doubt,
+do something."
+
+Father Tiebout, who ignored Nares' observations, tinkered with his
+lamp before he turned to Ormsgill with a little light in his eyes.
+"Taking the value of a man's body at just what it is just now one
+could, perhaps, win twenty human souls. Of these three or four could
+be sent back into the darkness when we were sure of them. Ah," and
+there was a little thrill in his voice, "if one had only two or three
+to continue the sowing with."
+
+"In this land," said Ormsgill, "the reaper is Death. Their comrades
+would certainly sell them to somebody or spear them in the bush. The
+priests of the Powers of Darkness would see they did it."
+
+"Where that seed is once sown there must be a propagation. One can
+burn the plant with fire or cut it down, but it springs from the root
+again, or a grain or two with the germ of life indestructible in it
+remains. Flung far by scorching winds or swept by bitter floods, one
+of those grains finds a resting place where the soil is fertile. Here
+a little and there a little, that crop is always spreading."
+
+Ormsgill turned to Nares. "You could do something with the sum alluded
+to?"
+
+Nares shook his head, and there was a shadow of pain in his lean face.
+"I am not fixed as Father Tiebout is," he said. "His faith is the
+official one. They dare not steal his followers from him. Besides, I
+have never bought the body of a man. Sometimes I heal them, and if
+they are grateful they are driven away from me." He broke off for a
+moment with a curious little laugh. "I am an empty voice in the
+darkness that very few dare listen to. Still, I will take a case of
+London packed drugs from you."
+
+The Belgian spread his thin hands out. "Four villages snatched from
+the pestilence! It was his care that saved them. How many men's bodies
+he has healed he can not tell you, but I think that a careful count is
+kept of all of them."
+
+"Well," said Ormsgill quietly, "there is L600 to your joint credit in
+Lisbon. You should get the bank advices when the next mail comes in.
+You can apportion it between you."
+
+Nares stood up with a flush in his worn face, and spoke awkwardly, but
+Father Tiebout sat very still. A little glow crept into his eyes, and
+he said a few words in the Latin tongue. Then Ormsgill thrust his
+chair back noisily and moved towards the lamp.
+
+"I almost think that coffee should be ready," he said.
+
+Father Tiebout served it out, and when the cups were laid aside Nares
+looked at Ormsgill with a little smile.
+
+"You have not been long away, but one could fancy you were glad to get
+back again," he said.
+
+Ormsgill's face hardened. "In some respects I am. The folks I belonged
+to were not the same. My views seemed to pain them. It cost them an
+effort to bear with me. Still, that was perhaps no more than natural.
+One loses touch with the things he has been used to in this country."
+
+"Sometimes," said Father Tiebout, "one grows out of it, and that is a
+little different. Our friend yonder once went home, too, but now I
+think he will stay here altogether, as I shall do, unless I am sent
+elsewhere."
+
+Nares smiled. "The padre is right, as usual. I went home--and the
+folks I had longed for 'most broke my heart between them. It seemed
+that I was a failure, and that hurt me. They wanted results, the tale
+of souls, and I hadn't one that I was sure of to offer as a trophy.
+One, they said, could heal men's bodies in America. As you say, one
+falls out of line in Africa."
+
+There was a wistfulness which he could not quite repress in his voice,
+and Ormsgill nodded sympathetically.
+
+"Oh," he said, "I know. It hurts hard for awhile. We are most of us
+the cast-offs and the mutineers here. Still, in one respect, I
+sometimes think Father Tiebout's people are wiser. They don't ask for
+results."
+
+The little priest once more spread his hands out. "The results," he
+said, "will appear some day, but that is not our concern. It is
+sufficient that a man should do the work that is set out for him. And
+now we will be practical. Have you any news of Herrero?"
+
+"He is a hundred miles north of us in Ugalla's country, and I am going
+on there. You will have to find me a few more carriers. It was Miss
+Figuera told me."
+
+"Perhaps one can expect a little now Dom Clemente is in authority. He
+is honest as men go in Africa, and at least he is a soldier. Well, you
+shall have the carriers in a week or so."
+
+Ormsgill laughed. "I want them to-morrow. There is a good deal to do.
+I have the boys Domingo stole to trace when I have bought the woman
+back from Herrero."
+
+"Bought!" said Father Tiebout with a twinkle in his eyes. "If Herrero
+is not willing to sell?"
+
+"Then," said Ormsgill dryly, "I shall have considerable pleasure in
+making him."
+
+He stretched himself wearily with a little yawn. "And now we will talk
+about other matters."
+
+It was an hour later when he retired to rest and, hot as it was, sank
+into sound sleep within ten minutes, but although he rose early and
+roused the little priest to somewhat unusual activity, several days
+had passed before his new carriers were collected and ready to march.
+They were sturdy, half-naked pagans, and appeared astonished when he
+gave them instructions in a few words of the bush tongue and bore with
+their slow comprehension instead of applying the stick to their dusky
+skin, which was what they had somewhat naturally expected from a white
+man.
+
+He shook hands with Nares and Father Tiebout in the sloppy compound
+early one morning when the mists were streaming from the dripping
+forest, and looked at the little priest with a twinkle in his eyes.
+
+"I haven't asked you how you got those boys," he said. "Still, it must
+have cost you something to secure the good will of whoever had the
+privilege of supplying them."
+
+He turned to Nares as if to invite his opinion, which was
+unhesitatingly offered him. The latter, at least, would make no
+compromise.
+
+"It certainly did," he said. "I am glad you did not ask me to hire you
+the boys. The system under which he obtained them is an iniquity."
+
+Father Tiebout smiled. "The object, I think, was a pious one. One has
+to use the means available."
+
+"Anyway," said Ormsgill, "the responsibility and the cost is mine."
+
+The priest shook his head. "At least, you can take this gift from me,"
+he said. "It is not much, but one does with pleasure what he can."
+
+It was offered in such a fashion that Ormsgill could only make his
+grateful acknowledgments, though he had grounds for surmising that the
+gift would cost the giver months of stringent self-denial, and there
+was already very little sign of luxury at the Mission. Then he called
+to his carriers, who swung out of the compound with their burdens in
+single file, slipping and splashing in the mire. The two men he had
+left behind stood watching them until the last strip of fluttering
+cotton had vanished into the misty forest when Father Tiebout looked
+at his companion with a little smile.
+
+"One could consider the venture our friend has undertaken a folly, but
+still I think he will succeed," he said. "One could almost fancy that
+the Powers above us hold the men who attempt such follies in their
+special keeping."
+
+Nares, as it happened, had been almost uncomfortably stirred during
+the last ten minutes, but he was Puritan to the backbone, and usually
+endeavored, at least, to prevent what he felt carrying him away. He
+was also as a rule ready to join issue with the little priest on any
+point that afforded him an opportunity.
+
+"There is a difficulty," he said. "I'm not sure he would admit the
+existence of all the Powers you believe in. There are so many of them.
+One would fancy that faith was necessary."
+
+Father Tiebout smiled at him again. "Ah," he said, "they who know
+everything have doubtless a wide charity."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE BONDSWOMAN
+
+
+A small fire burned on the edge of the ravine, flinging out pale red
+flashes and an intolerable smoke, for the wood was green and wet. It
+had been raining heavily, and the whole forest that rolled down the
+slopes of the plateau was filled with a thick white steam. Filmy wisps
+of it drifted out of the darkness which hid the towering trunks, and
+streamed by the girl who crouched beside the fire cooking her white
+lord's evening meal. She was comely, though her face and uncovered
+arms were of a warm brown. A wide strip of white cotton fell from one
+shoulder, and half revealed the slenderness of her shapely form. It
+also covered certain significant discolored bruises on the soft brown
+skin. The look in her eyes just then, perhaps, accounted for them, for
+it vaguely suggested intelligence, and a protest against her fate, in
+place of the hopeless apathy which, after all, saves the native of
+that country a great deal of trouble. He has been taught drastically
+that any objection he might reasonably make would certainly be futile
+and very apt to produce unwished-for results.
+
+A wall of dripping forest rose above the fire, but behind the girl the
+ground sloped sharply to the brink of a swollen river which rose in
+the plateaux of the interior, and a little, tattered tent was pitched
+on the edge of the declivity. In front of it two somewhat ragged white
+men lay listlessly upon a strip of waterproof ground sheeting. They
+were worn with travel and a long day's labor, for they had been
+engaged since sunrise in raft building and ferrying their equipment
+and trade goods across the river, and, as it happened, had lost most
+of their provisions in the process. They were of widely different
+birth and character, and cordially disliked each other, though they
+had both first seen the light in Africa and community of interest held
+them together.
+
+Gavin was tall and lean and hard, with an expressionless bronzed face,
+the son of an English ostrich farmer who had married a Boer woman. He
+had come into that country on foot with one other survivor of the
+party he had started with after a difference of opinion with the Boer
+administration. The others had died with their oxen during their two
+years' wandering in the wilderness. His companion Herrero passed for a
+Portuguese, though his hair would curl and his lips were a trifle
+thick. He was spare in form, and his face was of a muddy yellow with
+the stamp of sensuality and cruelty in it. He had also been drinking
+freely, though that is not as a rule a Latin vice, and was still very
+wet from his labors in the river. He had lower legs like broomsticks,
+and his torn, drenched trousers clung tightly about his protuberant
+knees.
+
+"One could fancy that we have been bewitched," he said. "Trouble has
+followed us all the journey. There was a native woman who looked at
+us as we left San Roque, and she made a sign."
+
+Gavin laughed contemptuously. "The loads," he said, "were too heavy.
+It is not economical to overdrive these cattle. One must remember the
+trek-ox's back."
+
+Herrero blinked at the forest with something that suggested
+apprehension in his eyes, and it was not difficult to fancy that it
+and all it held was hostile to the white man. It seemed to crowd in
+upon him menacingly as the fire leapt up, vague, black, and
+impenetrable, an abode of unformulated terror and everlasting shadow.
+
+"I have brought up the same loads with fewer boys before," he said.
+"They did not fall lame or die, as some of these have done. It is
+known that there is black witchcraft in this bush. There are white men
+who have gone into it and did not come out again."
+
+"They were probably easier with their carriers than is advisable," and
+Gavin smiled grimly as he dropped a big hand on a cartridge in his
+bandolier. "This is a certain witchcraft cure. Still, you have to make
+your mind up. We can not go on, and take all the trade goods, without
+provisions."
+
+His companion raised one shoulder in protest against the trouble fate
+had heaped upon them, for the trade goods were worth a good deal in
+the country that lay before them.
+
+"It takes almost as much to keep a man in strength whether he marches
+light or loaded," he said. "It would ruin me if we left any more
+behind. Boys are scarce just now. One could, perhaps, get provisions
+in another week's march."
+
+"The boys can not make it," and it was evident that Gavin was
+languidly contemptuous of his comrade's indecision. "You must leave a
+few here or you will lose half of them on the way."
+
+He, at least, could face a crisis resolutely, but it was clear that
+he, too, regarded the carriers as chattels that had a commercial value
+only, for he was quite aware that, since that was one of the sterile
+belts, those who were left behind would in all probability die. The
+men whose fate they were discussing lay among the wet undergrowth
+apart from them, and Herrero, who appeared to be glancing towards
+them, raised himself a trifle suddenly.
+
+"Something moves. There in the bush," he said.
+
+"One of the boys," said Gavin, who saw nothing, though his eyes were
+keen. "Lie down. You have been taking more cognac than is wise
+lately."
+
+Herrero shrugged his shoulders. "There is always something in the
+bush. It comes and goes when the boys are asleep," he said. "It is not
+pleasant that one should see it."
+
+Gavin scarcely smiled. He was growing a trifle impatient with his
+comrade, who could not recognize when it was necessary to make a
+sacrifice, and he was ready for his meal. By and by Herrero called to
+the girl, who filled a calabash from the iron cooking pot hung above
+the fire, and laid it down in front of him with two basins. The trader
+lifted a portion of the savory preparation in a wooden spoon and
+smelled it.
+
+"The pepper is insufficient. How often must one tell you that?" he
+said, and rising laid a yellow hand upon her arm.
+
+The girl shrank back from him, but he followed her, still holding her
+arm, and nipped it deeply between the nails of his thumb and
+forefinger. He did it slowly, and with a certain relish, while his
+face contracted into a malicious grin. For a moment a fierce light
+leapt into the girl's eyes, but the torturing grip grew sharper, and
+it faded again. The man dropped his hand when at last she broke into a
+little cry, and stooping for the calabash she went back towards the
+fire. Gavin, who had looked on with an expressionless face, turned to
+his comrade.
+
+"If you do that too often I think you will be sorry, my friend," he
+said. "She will cut your throat for you some day."
+
+"No," said Herrero, "it is not a thing that is likely to happen if one
+uses the stick sufficiently."
+
+His companion smiled in a curious fashion, but said nothing. His
+mother's people had long ruled the native with a heavy hand, and he
+had no hesitation in admitting that leniency is seldom advisable.
+Still, he recognized that in spite of his apathetic patience one may
+now and then drive the negro over hard, so that when life becomes
+intolerable he somewhat logically grows reckless and turns upon his
+oppressors in his desperation, which was a thing that Herrero
+apparently did not understand.
+
+In the meanwhile the girl crouched silently by the fire, stirring the
+blistering peppers into the cooking pot, a huddled figure robed in
+white with meekly bent head and the marks of the white man's brutality
+upon her dusky body. Every line of the limp figure was suggestive of
+hopelessness. She might have posed for a statue of Africa in bondage.
+Still, as it happened, she and the boys who lay apart among the
+dripping undergrowth glanced now and then towards the forest with
+apathetic curiosity. Gavin's ears were good, but, after all, he had
+not depended upon his hearing for life and liberty, as the others had
+often done, and their keenness of perception was not in him. They knew
+that strangers were approaching stealthily through the bush. Indeed,
+they knew that one had flitted about the camp for some little while,
+but they said nothing. It was the white man's business, and nothing
+that was likely to result from it could matter much to them.
+
+The fire blazed up a little, but, save for its snapping and the roar
+of the swollen river, there was silence in the camp, until Gavin rose
+to one knee with a little exclamation. He had heard nothing, but at
+last his trained senses had given him a sub-conscious warning that
+there was something approaching. Just then the girl stirred the fire,
+and the uncertain radiance flickered upon the towering trunks. It
+drove an elusive track of brightness back into the shadow, and Herrero
+scrambled to his feet as a man strode into the light.
+
+He stopped and stood near the fire, dressed in thorn-rent duck, with
+the wet dripping from him and a little grim smile in his face, and it
+was significant that although he had nothing in his hands Gavin
+reached out for the heavy rifle that lay near his side. Strangers
+are usually received with caution in that part of Africa, and he
+recognized the man. As it happened, the girl by the fire recognized
+him, too, and ran forward with a little cry. After all, he had been
+kind to her while she lived with Lamartine, and it may have been that
+some vague hope of deliverance sprang up in her mind, for she stopped
+again and crouched in mute appeal close at his side. Ormsgill laid a
+hand reassuringly upon her brown shoulder.
+
+[Illustration: "Ormsgill laid a hand reassuringly upon her brown
+shoulder."--See page 103.]
+
+He had not spoken a word yet, and there was silence for a moment or
+two while the firelight flared up. It showed Gavin watching him
+motionless with the rifle that glinted now and then on his knee,
+Herrero standing with closed hands and an unpleasant scowl on his
+yellow face, and the boys clustering waist-deep in the underbrush.
+Then the trader spoke.
+
+"What do you want?" he said.
+
+"This woman," said Ormsgill simply. "I am willing to buy her from
+you."
+
+Herrero laughed maliciously. "She is not for sale. You should not have
+let her slip through your fingers. It is possible you could have made
+terms with Lamartine."
+
+Ormsgill disregarded the gibe. Indeed, it was one he had expected.
+
+"That," he said, "is not quite the point. Besides, one could hardly
+fancy that you are quite correct. Everything is for sale in this part
+of Africa. It is only a question of the figure. You have not heard my
+offer."
+
+"In this case it would not be a great temptation," and Herrero's grin
+was plainer. "The girl is now and then mutinous, and that lends the
+affair a certain piquancy. When she has been taught submission I shall
+probably grow tired of her and will give her to you. Until then the
+breaking of her in will afford me pleasure. In fact, as I have never
+been defied by a native yet I feel that to fail in this case would be
+a stain on my self-respect."
+
+"I almost think my offer would cover that," said Ormsgill dryly. "It
+seems to me your self-respect has been sold once or twice before."
+
+Herrero disregarded him, though his face grew a trifle flushed.
+"Anita," he said, "come here."
+
+The girl rose when Ormsgill let his hand drop from her shoulder, and
+gazed at him appealingly. Then as he made no sign she turned away with
+a little hopeless gesture, moved forward a few paces, and stopped
+again when the trader reached out for a withe that lay on the ground
+sheet not far from where he stood.
+
+"It would," he said with a vindictive smile, "have saved her trouble
+if you had stayed away."
+
+"Stop," said Ormsgill sharply, and striding forward stood looking at
+him. "You have shown how far you would go, which was in one way most
+unwise of you since you have made it a duty to take the girl from you.
+What is more to the purpose, it will certainly be done. There are two
+ways of obtaining anything in this country. One is to buy it, and the
+other to fight for it. I am willing to use either."
+
+Herrero who saw the glint in his eyes, backed away from him, and
+flashed a warning glance at Gavin, who turned to Ormsgill quietly.
+
+"I am," he said in English, "willing to stand by, and see fair play,
+since it does not seem to be altogether a question of business. Still,
+if it seems likely that you will deprive me of my comrade's services I
+shall probably feel compelled to take a hand in. He has a few good
+points though they're not particularly evident, and I can't altogether
+afford to lose him."
+
+Herrero, who glanced round the camp, waved his hand towards the boys.
+"I will call them to beat you back into the bush."
+
+Ormsgill raised his voice, and there was a sharp crackling of
+undergrowth, while here and there a dusky figure materialized out of
+the shadow.
+
+"As you see, they have guns," he said.
+
+Gavin smiled and tapped his rifle. "Still, they can't shoot as I can.
+Hadn't you better send them away again, and if you have any offer to
+make Mr. Herrero get on with it? One naturally expected something of
+this kind."
+
+Ormsgill made a little gesture with his hand, and the men sank into
+the gloom again.
+
+"Well," he said, "for the last week I have been trailing you, and as I
+did not know how long I might be coming up with you, I have plenty of
+provisions. Yours, it is evident from one or two things I noticed, are
+running out, and you can't get through the sterile belt without a
+supply. It was rather a pity the San Roque people burned the village
+where you expected to get some. I'm open to hand you over all the
+loads I can spare in return for the girl Anita."
+
+"How many loads?"
+
+Ormsgill told him, and Gavin nodded, "It is a reasonable offer," he
+said. "I will engage that our friend makes terms with you. Bring in
+the provisions, and you shall have the girl."
+
+Herrero protested savagely until his companion dryly pointed that
+since his objections had no weight he was wasting his breath. Then
+Ormsgill turned away into the bush, and came back with a line of
+half-naked carrier boys who laid down the loads they carried before
+the tent. After that he touched the girl's shoulder, and pointed to
+the hammock two of the boys lowered.
+
+"You are going back to your own village," he said.
+
+The girl gazed at him a moment in evident astonishment, and then waved
+her little brown hands.
+
+"I have none," she said. "It was burned several moons ago."
+
+It was evident that this was something Ormsgill had not expected, and
+was troubled at, and Gavin, who watched him, smiled.
+
+"If she belongs to the Lutanga people, as one would fancy from her
+looks, what she says is very likely correct," he said. "One of the
+plateau tribes came down not long ago and wiped several villages out.
+Domingo told me, and from what he said the tribe in question is
+certainly not one I'd care about handing over a woman to. She would
+probably have to put up with a good deal of unpleasantness if she
+went back there. Besides, it seems to me that what you had in view
+would scarcely be flattering to the lady. It isn't altogether what she
+would expect from her rescuer."
+
+Ormsgill had already an unpleasant suspicion of the latter fact, for
+woman's favor is not sought but purchased or commanded in most parts
+of Africa. Still, he once more pointed to the hammock, and walked
+behind it without a word when the bearers hove the pole to their wooly
+crowns.
+
+Then as they flitted into the shadowy bush Gavin turned to Herrero
+with a little laugh. "There are a few men like him, men with views
+that bring them trouble," he said. "My father was one. He threw away a
+big farm on account of them. He would not make obeisance to his new
+masters when his nation turned its back on him. That, however, is a
+thing one could scarcely expect you to understand."
+
+Then he called one of the boys and sent him to the fire. "And now we
+will have supper. After all, I'm not very sorry you lost that girl, my
+friend."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+ANITA BECOMES A RESPONSIBILITY
+
+
+It was two weeks later when Ormsgill reached the Mission with his
+boys, footsore, ragged, and worn with travel. He had avoided Anita's
+hammock as far as possible on the way, and it was with a certain
+relief he saw her safely installed in one of the dusky adherents'
+huts. Then he arrayed himself in whole, clean clothes, and when he had
+eaten sat on the shadowy veranda talking with his host, a somewhat
+ludicrous figure since Father Tiebout's garments were several sizes
+too small for him. It was then the hottest part of the afternoon. The
+perspiration trickled down their faces, and the little priest blinked
+when he met the blazing sunlight with dazzled eyes.
+
+They spoke in disjointed sentences, sometimes mixing words of three
+languages, but it was significant that although neither expressed
+himself with clearness his companion seldom failed in comprehension,
+for priest and rash adventurer were in curious sympathy. Both of them
+had borne heat, and fever, and bodily pain, and proved their courage
+in a land where the white man often sinks into limp dejection. Each
+had also in his own way done what he could for the oppressed, and had,
+perhaps, accomplished a little here and there. It was, however,
+inevitable that their conversation should turn upon the girl Anita.
+
+"I had not heard of the raid up yonder," said the priest. "I am not
+sure that I am sorry. After all, one hears enough. Still, it no doubt
+took place. Herrero's companion would have no motive for deceiving
+you. The question is what is to be done with the woman. To be frank,
+she cannot stay here."
+
+"Why?" and Ormsgill's face grew a trifle grave, for Anita was rapidly
+becoming a cause of anxiety to him.
+
+His companion made a little gesture. "She would prove an apple of
+discord; she is too pretty. One must not expect too much of human
+nature, and one wife alone is permitted. There is not now a boy she
+could marry. In the second place, Herrero would probably attempt to
+seize her here."
+
+It occurred to Ormsgill that Anita might not be anxious or even
+willing to marry anybody. In fact, he felt it would be an almost
+astonishing thing if she was. Still, he realized with a vague
+uneasiness that it is, after all, very often difficult to foresee the
+course a woman would adopt.
+
+"Then," he said, "I don't know what can be done with her."
+
+"You are not one who would leave a task half finished?"
+
+"At least, I cannot turn this woman adrift."
+
+Father Tiebout wrinkled his brows. "There is, I think, only one place
+where she would be safe, and that is on the coast. There are also
+friends of mine who could be trusted to take good care of her in the
+city, and she could be sent down from the San Thome Mission. It is,
+however, a long journey."
+
+"If it is necessary," said Ormsgill, "I must make it."
+
+His companion's little gesture seemed to indicate that he believed it
+was, and Ormsgill dismissed the subject with a smile.
+
+"In that case I will start again to-morrow," he said.
+
+He set out in the early morning, taking two letters from Father
+Tiebout, one for the man who directed the San Thome Mission, and one
+to be sent on from there to certain friends of his host's on the
+coast, and it was two days later when he lay a little apart from his
+carriers in a glade in the bush. Blazing sunshine beat down into it.
+There was an overpowering heat, and a deep stillness pervaded the
+encircling forest, for the beasts had slunk into their darkest lairs
+in the burning afternoon. The snapping of the fire made it the more
+perceptible, and Ormsgill could see the blue smoke curl up above a
+belt of grass behind which the boys were cooking a meal. Anita, who
+was with them, would, he knew, bring him his portion, and in the
+meanwhile he felt it was advisable to keep away from her. She had
+talked very little with him during the last two days, but that was his
+fault, and he fancied that she failed to understand his reticence. In
+fact, the signs of favor she had once or twice shown him had rendered
+him a little uncomfortable.
+
+For all that, his face relaxed into a little dry smile as he wondered
+what the very formal Mrs. Ratcliffe would think of that journey. He
+remembered that he had always been more or less of a trial to his
+conventional friends even before he had been dismissed from his
+country's service for an offense he had not committed, but he was one
+of the men who do not greatly trouble themselves about being
+misunderstood. It is a misfortune which those who undertake anything
+worth doing have usually to bear with.
+
+He was, however, a little drowsy, for they had started at sunrise and
+marched a long way since then. There was only one hammock, which
+somewhat to the carriers' astonishment Anita had occupied, for this
+was distinctly at variance with the customs of a country in which
+nobody concerns himself about the comfort of a native woman. It would
+also be an hour before the boys went on again, and he stretched
+himself out among the grass wearily, but, for all that, with a little
+sigh of content. He had found the restraints of civilization galling,
+and the untrammeled life of the wilderness appealed to him. The need
+of constant vigilance, and the recognition of the hazards he had
+exposed himself to, had a bracing effect. It roused the combativeness
+that was in his nature, and left him intent, strung up, and resolute.
+The task he had saddled himself with had become more engrossing since
+it promised to be difficult.
+
+He did not think he slept, for he was conscious of the pungent smell
+of the wood smoke all the time, but at last he roused himself to
+attention suddenly, and looked about him with dazzled eyes. He could
+see the faint blue vapor hanging about the trunks, and hear the boys'
+low voices, but except for that the bush was very still. Yet he was
+certainly leaning on one elbow with every sense strung up, and he knew
+that there must be some cause for it. What had roused him he could not
+tell, but he had, perhaps, lived long enough in that land to acquire a
+little of the bushman's unreasoning recognition of an approaching
+peril. There was, he knew, something that menaced him not far away.
+
+For a moment or two his heart beat faster than usual, and the
+perspiration trickled down his set face, and then laying a restraint
+upon himself he rose a trifle higher, and swept his eyes steadily
+round the glade. There was one spot where it seemed to him that the
+outer leaves of a screen of creepers moved. He did not waste a moment
+in watching them, but letting his arm fall under him rolled over
+amidst the grass which covered him, for it was evidently advisable to
+take precautions promptly. Just as the crackling stems closed about
+him there was a pale flash and a detonation, and a puff of smoke
+floated out from the creepers.
+
+Ormsgill was on his feet in another moment, and running his hardest
+plunged into them, but when he had smashed through the tangled, thorny
+stems there was nobody there, and except for the clamor of the boys
+the bush was very still. Still, this was very much what he had
+expected, and looking round he saw the print of naked toes and a knee
+in the damp soil before his eyes rested on the brass shell of a spent
+cartridge. He picked it up and turned it over in his hand,
+recognizing it as one made for a heavy, single-shot rifle of old
+fashioned type, which had its significance for him. He fancied his
+would-be assassin had been lent the rifle by a white man who in all
+probability knew what he meant to do with it. Then he glanced at the
+cartridge again, and noticed a slight outward bending of its rim.
+There was a portentous little glint in his eyes as he slipped it into
+his pocket.
+
+"Some day I may come across the man who owns that rifle," he said.
+
+He stood still for another few moments, grim in face, with his jacket
+rent, and a little trickle of blood running from one hand which a
+thorn had gashed. Every nerve in him tingled with fierce anger, but he
+knew that the man who runs counter to established customs has usually
+more than misconception to face in Africa, especially if he
+sympathizes with the oppressed, and he was one who could wait. Then
+the boys came floundering through the undergrowth, one or two with
+heavy matchets, and one or two with long flintlock guns, but Ormsgill,
+who recognized that pursuit would certainly prove futile even if they
+were willing to undertake it, drove them back to the fire again.
+
+"We will start when I have eaten," was all he said.
+
+Anita brought him his meal, and stood watching him curiously while he
+ate, but Ormsgill said nothing, and in half an hour they went on again
+and spent the rest of that day and a number of others floundering
+amidst and hacking a way through tangled creepers in the dim shadow of
+the bush. It was a relief to all of them when at last the thatched
+roofs of San Thome Mission rose out of a little opening into which the
+dazzling sunlight shone. Ormsgill was received by an emaciated priest
+with a dead white face and the intolerant eyes of a fanatic, who
+supplied him and the boys with a very frugal meal and took Anita away
+from him. Then he read Father Tiebout's letters, and after he had done
+so sat with Ormsgill on the veranda.
+
+"Father Tiebout vouches for you--and your purpose," he said, watching
+his companion with doubt in his eyes.
+
+"If he had not done so I should probably not have been welcome?" said
+Ormsgill, smiling.
+
+The priest made a little gesture which seemed to imply that he did not
+intend to discuss that point. "The girl would be safe with the people
+he mentions. They are good Catholics."
+
+"I am not sure that is quite sufficient in itself," said Ormsgill
+reflectively. "Still, Father Tiebout would scarcely have suggested
+sending her to them unless he had felt reasonably certain that they
+would show her kindness."
+
+His companion's face hardened. "They are people of blameless lives.
+There are, perhaps, two or three such in that city. You could count
+upon the woman receiving kindness from them, but one would have you
+quite clear about the fact that my recommendation is necessary. It is,
+of course, in my power to withhold it, and if it is given you will
+undertake not to claim the woman again?"
+
+Ormsgill looked at him with a little smile. "I have no wish to claim
+her, though I have only that assurance to offer you, and I must tell
+you that I am going to the coast. There are, however, one or two
+conditions. She must be treated well, and paid for her services."
+
+"That would be arranged. It is convenient that she should understand
+what would be required of her. I will send for her."
+
+Ormsgill made a sign of concurrence, and in another five minutes Anita
+stood before them, slight and lithe in form, and very comely, but with
+apprehension and anxiety in her brown face. The priest spoke to her
+concisely in a coldly even voice, and it was evident that the course
+he mentioned was one she had no wish to take. Then he turned from her
+to Ormsgill as she stretched out her hands with a little gesture of
+appeal towards the latter.
+
+"It is your will that I should go away and live with these people?"
+she said.
+
+Ormsgill knew that the priest was watching him, and that there was
+only one answer, but he shrank from uttering it. The girl's eyes were
+beseeching, and she looked curiously forlorn. She was a castaway
+without kindred or country, one who had lived the untrammeled life of
+the bush, and he feared that she would find the restraints of the city
+intolerably galling.
+
+"It is," he said gravely.
+
+The girl stood very still a moment or two looking at him, and Ormsgill
+felt the blood creep into his face. He was, in all probability, the
+only man who had ever shown her kindness, and he recognized that she
+too had misunderstood his motives and regarded him as rather more than
+her rescuer. Then as he made no sign she flung out her hands again,
+hopelessly this time, and slowly straightened herself.
+
+"I go," she said simply and turned away from them.
+
+Ormsgill watched her cross the compound, a forlorn object, with the
+white cotton robe that flowed about her gleaming in the dazzling
+sunlight, and then turn for a moment in the shadowy entrance of a
+palm-thatched hut. He was stirred with a vague compassion, but putting
+a firm restraint upon himself he sat still, and the girl turning
+suddenly once more vanished into the dark gap. It also happened that
+he never met her again.
+
+"One's powers are limited, Father. After all, there is not much one
+can do for another," he said.
+
+The priest looked hard at him, and then made a little grave gesture.
+"It is something if one can ease for a moment another's burden. I
+have, it seems, to ask your pardon for a misconception that was,
+perhaps, not altogether an unnatural one, Senor."
+
+Ormsgill saw little more of him during the day, and started for the
+coast early next morning. He had only accomplished half his purpose,
+and that in some respects the easier half, but it was necessary for
+him to procure further supplies and communicate with Desmond. Before
+he started, however, he sent home most of the boys Father Tiebout had
+obtained for him, keeping only two or three of them, for these and
+the others he had brought up with him could, he fancied, be relied
+upon. They were thick-lipped, wooly-haired heathen, stupid in all
+matters beyond their acquaintance, but after the first few weeks they
+had, at least, done his bidding unquestioningly.
+
+This quiet white man with the lined face had never used the stick on
+one of them, and did not, so far as they were aware, even carry a
+pistol. When they slept at a bush village or obtained provisions there
+he made the headman a due return before he went away, which was not
+the invariable custom of other white men they had traveled with. In
+fact, they looked upon him as somewhat of an anachronism in that
+country, but since the one attempt a few of them had made to disregard
+his authority had signally failed they obeyed him, and little by
+little became sensible of a curious confidence in him. What he said he
+did, and, what was rather more to the purpose, when he told them that
+a certain course was expected from them they usually adopted it, even
+when it was far from coinciding with their wishes.
+
+There are a few men of Ormsgill's kind and one or two women who have
+made adventurous journeys in the shadowy land unarmed, and carried
+away with them the dusky tribesmen's good will, while others have
+found it necessary to march with a band of hired swashbucklers and
+mark their trail with burnt villages and cartridge shells. As usual, a
+good deal depended upon how they set about it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+ORMSGILL ASKS A FAVOR
+
+
+A silver lamp burned on the little table where two diminutive cups of
+bitter coffee were set out, but its indifferent light was scarcely
+needed in the open-fronted upper room of Dom Clemente's house. A full
+moon hung above the Atlantic, and the clear radiance that rested on
+the glittering harbor streamed in between the fretted arches and
+slender pillars. Throughout tropical Africa all there is of grace and
+beauty in man's handiwork bears the stamp of the unchanging East, and
+one finds something faintly suggestive of the art of olden days where
+the eye rests with pleasure on any of its sweltering towns, which is,
+however, not often the case. It is incontrovertible that most of the
+towns are characterized by native squalor and that some of them are
+unpleasantly filthy, but, after all, filth and squalor are usual in
+the East, and serve by contrast to enhance the elusive beauty of its
+cities.
+
+It was almost cool that evening, and Ormsgill, looking down between
+the slim pillars across the white walls and flat roofs, though some
+were ridged and tiled, towards the blaze of moonlight on the harbor,
+was well content to be where he was after his journey through the
+steamy bush and across the sun-scorched littoral. He had arrived that
+afternoon, and had spent the last hour with Benicia Figuera, who had
+shown herself gracious to him. She lay not far away from him in a big
+Madeira chair, loosely draped in diaphanous white attire which
+enhanced the violet depths of her eyes and the duskiness of her hair,
+and her face showed in the moonlight the clear pallor of ivory.
+Ormsgill fancied that her attendant the Senora Castro sat in the room
+behind them from which a soft light streamed out through quaintly
+patterned wooden lattices, though he had seen nothing of the latter
+lady since the comida had been cleared away.
+
+He had said very little about his journey, though he intended to tell
+Dom Clemente rather more, but he presently became conscious that
+Benicia was regarding him with a little smile. He also noticed, and
+was somewhat annoyed with himself for thinking of it, that she had
+lips like the crimson pulp of the pomegranate, the grandadilla which
+figures in the imagery of the Iberian Peninsula as well as in that of
+parts of Africa, where it is seldom grown. Ormsgill was quite aware of
+this, and it had its associations of Eastern mysticism and sensuality,
+for he was a man of education and the outcasts he had lived with had
+not all been of low degree. Among them there had been a certain
+green-turbaned Moslem who had taught him things unknown to his kind at
+home. He felt that it was advisable to put a restraint upon himself.
+
+"You are not sorry you have come back to us?" said Benicia.
+
+Ormsgill was by no means sorry, and permitted himself to admit as
+much. He had accomplished part, at least, of his purpose
+successfully, and that in itself had a tranquilizing effect on him,
+while after the weary marches through tall grass and tangled bush
+under scorching heat it was distinctly pleasant to sit there cleanly
+clad, in the cool air with such a companion. Benicia, it almost
+seemed, guessed his thoughts, for she laughed softly.
+
+"It is comforting to feel that one has done what he has undertaken,"
+she said. "Still, you were, at least, not alone by those campfires in
+the bush."
+
+Ormsgill flushed a little, though he contrived not to start. He had
+naturally not considered it necessary to tell Miss Figuera anything
+about Anita.
+
+"No," he said simply. "I don't know how you could have heard about it,
+but I was not alone."
+
+It was characteristic of him that he offered no explanation, and was
+content to leave what he had done open to misconception. In fact, he
+had a vague but unpleasant feeling that the latter course might be the
+wiser one. Benicia turned her dark eyes full upon him, and there was a
+faint sparkle in the depths of them.
+
+"My friend, I hear of almost everything," she said. "As it happens, I
+know what you went up into the bush for."
+
+"Well," said Ormsgill reflectively, "perhaps, I should not be
+surprised at that. It was only natural that I should be watched."
+
+He met her gaze without wavering, and, though he was not aware of
+this, his eyes had a question in them. It was one he could not have
+asked directly even if he had wished, but remembering that Anita was
+to live in that city he took a bold course.
+
+"I wonder if one could venture to mention that your interest in the
+woman I brought down from the bush would go a long way?" he said. "It
+is, I think, deserved, and in case of any difficulty would ensure her
+being left in quietness here, though, perhaps, the favor is too much
+to expect."
+
+"No," said the girl, "not when you make the request. Frankly, in the
+case of others I should have found what I have heard incredible. It
+suggests the Knight of La Mancha. Are there many in your country who
+would do such things?"
+
+Ormsgill felt his face grow a trifle hot. After all, Benicia Figuera
+was, in that land, at least, a great lady, and he remembered that his
+own people had doubted him. He laughed somewhat bitterly.
+
+"If I remember correctly, the famous cavalier was more or less crazy,"
+he said.
+
+The girl turned a trifle in her chair, and he saw a little gleam
+kindle in her dark eyes.
+
+"Ah," she said, "perhaps it is a pity there are so many who are wholly
+sensible."
+
+She sat very close to him, dressed in filmy white which flowed in
+sweeping lines about a form of the statuesque modeling that is one of
+the characteristics of the women of The Peninsula, but it was
+something in her eyes which held Ormsgill's attention. They were Irish
+eyes, with the inconsequent daring of the Celt in them, though she had
+also the lips of the Iberian, full and red and passionate. The hot
+blood of the South was in her, and, though she never forgot wholly
+who and what she was, and there was a certain elusive stateliness in
+her pose, it was clear to the man that she was one who could on
+occasion fling petty prudence to the winds and ride as reckless a tilt
+at conventionalities and cramping customs as he had done. Such a woman
+he felt would not expect to be safeguarded by a man, but would bear
+the stress of the conflict with him, if she loved him, not because his
+quarrel might be an honorable one but because it was his. Then she
+made him a little grave inclination.
+
+"I venture to make you my compliments, Senor Ormsgill," she said.
+
+The man set his lips for a moment, and she saw it with a little thrill
+of triumph. It was borne in upon her that she desired the love of this
+quiet Englishman who for a whimsical idea had undertaken such a task.
+She also felt that she could take it, for she had seen the woman he
+was pledged to, and knew, if he did not, that he would never be
+satisfied with her. Then she suddenly remembered her pride, and
+quietly straightened herself again. Ormsgill sat still looking at her,
+and though the signs of restraint were plain on his lined face, she
+saw a curious little glint creep into his eyes. Still, she felt that
+he did not know it was there.
+
+"What shall I say?" he asked. "I don't think there are many people who
+would see anything commendable in what I have done. In fact, those who
+heard about it would probably consider it a piece of futile rashness,
+and it is very likely that they would be right. After all, the
+restraints of the city may become intolerable to the girl."
+
+"Then why did you undertake it?"
+
+Ormsgill laughed, though there was a faint ring in his voice, for he
+saw that she had not asked out of idle curiosity. "I don't exactly
+know. For one thing, I had made a promise, but to be candid I think
+there were other reasons. You see, I have borne the burden myself. I
+have been plundered of my earnings, driven to exhaustion, and have
+fought against long odds for my life. It left me with a bitterness
+against any custom which makes the grinding of the helpless possible.
+One can't help a natural longing to strike back now and then."
+
+Benicia nodded. It was not surprising that there was a certain vein of
+vindictiveness in her, which rendered it easy for her to sympathize
+with him, and once more the man noticed that where Ada Ratcliffe would
+in all probability have listened with half-disdainful impatience she
+showed comprehension.
+
+"Still," she said, "in a struggle of this kind you have so much
+against you. After all, you are only one man."
+
+"I almost think there are a few more of us even in Africa and, as
+Father Tiebout says, it is, perhaps, possible that one man may be
+permitted to do--something--here and there."
+
+He spoke with a grave simplicity which curiously stirred the girl. It
+is possible that the sorrows of the oppressed did not in themselves
+greatly interest her, for she had certainly never borne the burden,
+but the attitude of this quiet man who, it seemed, had taken up their
+cause, and was ready to ride a tilt against the powers that be,
+appealed to her. She had, at least, courage and imagination, and there
+was Irish blood in her.
+
+"Ah," she said, "the fight is an unequal one, but though there will be
+so many against you I think you have also a few good friends--as well
+as the Senor Desmond."
+
+Ormsgill started. Her knowledge of his affairs was disconcerting, but
+he forgot his annoyance at it when she leaned forward a trifle looking
+at him. Her mere physical beauty had its effect on him, and the soft
+moonlight and her clinging white draperies enhanced and etherealized
+it, but it was not that which set his heart beating a trifle faster
+and sent a faint thrill through him. It was once more her eyes he
+looked at, and what he saw there made it clear that the reckless,
+all-daring something that was in her nature was wholly in sympathy
+with him. He also understood that she had asked him to count her as
+one of his friends. His manner was, however, a little quieter than
+usual.
+
+"It is a matter of gratification to me to feel that I have," he said.
+"Still, what do you know about Desmond?"
+
+Benicia laughed. "Not a great deal, but I can guess rather more.
+Still, I do not think you need fear that I will betray you. In the
+meantime I venture to believe that this is another of your friends."
+
+She rose and turned towards the door as her father came in. He shook
+hands with Ormsgill, and then taking off his kepi drew forward a
+chair. Benicia said nothing further, but went out and left them
+together. Dom Clemente lighted a cigarette before he turned to his
+guest with a little dry smile.
+
+"Trade," he said, "is not brisk up yonder?"
+
+"I do not know if it is or not," said Ormsgill simply.
+
+"Then, perhaps, you have accomplished the purpose that took you
+there?"
+
+"A part of it. Because I have ventured to ask your daughter's interest
+in a native woman I brought down I will tell you what it was."
+
+He did so, and the olive-faced soldier nodded. "I think you have done
+wisely in making me your confidant," he said. "At least, the woman
+will be safe here. It is also possible that I shall have a few words
+to speak to our friend Herrero some day." Then his tone grew a trifle
+sharper. "I have heard that there are rifles in the hands of some of
+the bushmen up yonder."
+
+Ormsgill took a cartridge from his pocket and pointed to the dint in
+the rim. "One might consider this as a proof of it. You will notice
+the caliber, and I fancy I should recognize the rifle it was fired out
+of. In that case the man who carries it will have an account to render
+me."
+
+"Ah," said the little soldier quietly, "it is a confirmation of
+several things I have heard of lately. I think I mentioned that the
+bush was not a desirable place for you to wander in. Still, you are
+probably going back there again?"
+
+"I believe I am."
+
+His companion looked at him with a little smile. "It is what one would
+expect from you. One may, perhaps, venture to recall the circumstances
+under which I first met you. Two soldiers brought you before me--and,
+as it happened, I had, fortunately, finished breakfast. You made
+certain damaging admissions with a candor which, though it might have
+had a different effect a little earlier, saved you a good deal of
+unpleasantness. I said here is an unwise man whose word can be
+depended on. You know what the people of this city say of me?"
+
+"That you are a great soldier."
+
+Dom Clemente's eyes twinkled. "Also that like the rest I am willing to
+abuse my office if it will line my pockets. The latter, it seems, is
+the purpose which influences me in the unpopular things I do. I make
+no protestations, but after all it is possible that I may have another
+one. In any case, I have received you into my house, and admitted a
+certain indebtedness to you. In return, I ask for your usual
+frankness. You have heard of a native rising up yonder?"
+
+The question was sharp and incisive, and Ormsgill nodded.
+
+"To be precise," he said, "I heard of two."
+
+"Then we will have your views about the first one. It is not what one
+could call spontaneous?"
+
+"At least, it is scarcely likely to take place without a little
+judicious encouragement. The results, it is expected, would be
+repression and reprisal. It seems that a lenient native policy does
+not please everybody."
+
+This time Dom Clemente nodded with the twinkle a trifle plainer in his
+eyes. "There are, one may admit, certain trading gentlemen in this
+city who do not like it, but I will tell you a secret," he said.
+"There are also a few well meaning people of some influence in my
+country who can not be brought to believe that commercial interests
+should count for everything. They seem to consider one has a certain
+responsibility towards the negro. I do not say how far my views
+coincide with theirs. That may become apparent some day. But the
+second rising?"
+
+"Will, at least, be genuine, and, I almost fancy, formidable. It is a
+little curious that the people who are most interested in the other do
+not seem to foresee it. It may break upon them before they are quite
+ready with the bogus one."
+
+Dom Clemente smoked out his cigarette before he answered, and then he
+waved one of his hands.
+
+"Now and then," he said, "things happen that way. Perhaps, the Powers
+who direct our little comedy can smile on occasion. At least, we
+frequently afford them the opportunity. It is certain that there is no
+fool like the over-cunning man. But we will talk of something else. In
+the meantime, and while you stay here, you will consider this house of
+mine your home, and those in it your friends and servants."
+
+"Thanks," said Ormsgill. "And when I go away?"
+
+His host made a little gesture. "Then it will depend upon where you go
+and what you do. We may be friends still, or our ideas of what is
+expected from us may render that impossible. Perhaps, it is
+unfortunate when one has any ideas upon that point at all. Still, that
+is a subject one must leave to the priests and those who reckon our
+work up afterwards. Being simply a soldier, I do not know."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+DESMOND VENTURES A HINT
+
+
+It was blowing hard, and the deluge which had blotted out the dingy
+daylight and beaten flat the white spouting along the hammered beach
+had just ceased suddenly when Desmond lay upon a settee at the head of
+the _Palestrina_'s companion stairway. Though the long, sandy point to
+the north of her afforded a partial shelter, she was rolling savagely
+with a half-steam ready and two anchors down. Desmond had wedged
+himself fast with his feet against the balustrade, but he found it
+somewhat difficult to remain where he was, and the little room was
+uncomfortably hot, though one door and the lee ports were open. The
+two that looked forward were swept by spray that beat on them like a
+shot, and overhead funnel-guy and wire rigging screamed in wild
+arpeggios under the impact of the muggy gale.
+
+The _Palestrina_'s owner was, however, used to that. It rains and
+blows somewhat hard on that coast at certain seasons, and he had lain
+there several weeks growling at the heat and the weather, for he was
+also one of the men who can keep a promise. Just then he had an
+unlighted pipe and a letter which he had received from Las Palmas a
+month earlier in one hand. It was from an Englishman he had brought
+out to Grand Canary, and though its contents did not directly concern
+him he had given it a good deal of thought once or twice already. His
+forehead grew a trifle furrowed as he opened it again.
+
+"We have been wondering what Lister came back for, and the general
+notion is that you had had enough of him," said his friend. "In any
+case, he seems quite content with Las Palmas, and the British colony
+are watching his proceedings with quiet interest. After cleaning out
+several Spaniards at the casino he has apparently devoted himself to
+Miss Ratcliffe's service. It is not evident that he receives a great
+deal of encouragement from the lady herself, but her mother is
+ostentatiously gracious to him. She may have a purpose in this."
+
+Desmond crumpled the letter in one hand. "Crosbie always was
+a--tattler, but it's more than possible that he's right," he said.
+Then he sighed. "And I put Lister on board the mail-boat and sent him
+there! If I'd only known what the result would be I'd have drowned
+him."
+
+He lay still for another few moments filling his pipe, and then flung
+the tobacco pouch across the room, for a sojourn off those beaches
+would probably try the temper of most white men, and the Hibernian
+nature now and then came uppermost in him.
+
+"Damp," he said. "Reeking, dripping, putrid, like everything else on
+this forlorn coast! It would be a boon to humanity if somebody bought
+the besotted continent and scuttled it."
+
+He rose to his feet as a man in bedraggled white uniform appeared in
+the doorway.
+
+"You were speaking, sir?" he said.
+
+"I was," said Desmond. "I suggested that it was a pity somebody
+couldn't torpedo this benighted continent. Any word from the men you
+sent ashore?"
+
+"They've signaled from the rise," said the _Palestrina_'s mate. "No
+sign of him yet. I don't expect them off until to-morrow. The surf's
+running steep." Desmond made a gesture of concurrence as he glanced at
+the filmy spray-cloud that drove like smoke up the wet and glistening
+beach. It was flung aloft by a wild white welter of crumbling seas,
+and he realized that the boat's crew who had gone ashore could not
+rejoin the _Palestrina_ before the morning, at least. They went every
+day to watch for a lumbering ox team or a band of carriers plodding
+seaward across the littoral, and it seemed they had once more signaled
+that there was no sign of either. Then he moved towards the door
+bareheaded, with only an unbuttoned duck jacket over his thin singlet,
+and the mate ventured a deprecatory protest.
+
+"She's throwing it over her in sheets forward," he said.
+
+Desmond disregarded him, and staggering clear of the deck-house stood
+with feet spread well apart gazing at the stretch of leaden sea while,
+as the _Palestrina_'s bows went up, the spray that whirled in over her
+weather rail wet him to the skin. He saw the livid tops of the combers
+that rolled by the point and heard the jarring cables ring, and then
+turned his eyes shorewards and gazed across the waste of misty
+littoral.
+
+"It's a cheerful place, but now and then you feel you might get to
+like it," he said. "Perhaps it's the uncertainty as to when the fever
+will get you that gives living here a zest. When you come to think of
+it, some of us have curious notions."
+
+He appeared to be considering the point as they edged back under the
+lee of the deck-house, and the mate grinned.
+
+"The men don't take kindly to it, sir," he said. "They've been
+worrying me lately as to how long we're stopping here."
+
+"A week," said Desmond. "Ormsgill's time is running out, and he'll be
+here or send us word by then. He said he would, and what that man says
+you can count on being done."
+
+Something in his tone suggested that the question might be considered
+as closed, and they discussed other matters while the deck heaved and
+slanted under them until a man forward flung up an arm and turned
+towards them with a cry which the wind swept away. In another moment
+Desmond scrambled half-way up the bridge ladder, and clung there with
+the mate close beneath him gazing at the white welter where the seas
+swept by the point. There was a sail just outshore of it, a little
+strip of gray canvas that appeared and vanished amidst the serried
+ranks of tumbling combers. It drew out of them and drove furiously
+towards the _Palestrina_, and when a strip of white hull grew into
+visibility beneath it Desmond looked down at his mate.
+
+"A big surf-boat. It's Ormsgill," he said.
+
+There was certainty in his tone, as well as a little ring of
+satisfaction which was, perhaps, warranted, for it is, after all,
+something to be the friend of a man who does just what he has promised
+and never arrives too late. In the meanwhile the object they were
+watching had grown into a bellying lug-sail that reeled to lee and to
+weather with the sea streaming from the foot of it, and a patch of
+foam-swept hull. The boat came on furiously, and when the mate sprang
+from the ladder roaring orders Desmond could see three or four black
+figures through the spray that whirled over her. There was also
+another man in white garments standing upright in her stern, and
+Desmond was wholly sure of his identity. Then she was lost for awhile,
+and only swept into sight again abreast of the _Palestrina_'s dipping
+bows, hove high with half her length lifted out of the crest of a
+breaking sea.
+
+She drove forward with it, the foam standing half a man's height above
+her stern and the foot of the slanted lug-sail washing in the brine,
+while a bent white figure struggled with the great steering oar. She
+swooped like a toboggan plunging down an icy slide when she was level
+with the _Palestrina_'s bridge, and some of the men who watched her
+from the latter's rail held their breath as the smoking sea passed on
+and another gathered itself together astern of her. The helmsman, they
+knew, must bring the dripping, half-swamped boat on the wind to reach
+the strip of lee beneath the steamer's stern, and when he did it
+there was every prospect of her rolling over.
+
+In another moment several black objects rose and grappled with the
+lug-sail sheet, and the big boat tilted until all one side of her was
+in the air. Then she went up in the midst of a white spouting as the
+slope of water behind fell upon her. Still, the slanted lug-sail rose
+out of it, and then came down thrashing furiously while naked black
+figures half-seen in the spray bent from her gunwale with swinging
+paddles as she drove towards the _Palestrina_'s quarter. After that
+there was a hoarse shouting, and the lines flew from the reeling
+taffrail as she slid under the steamer's stern.
+
+In another minute or two Ormsgill swung himself on board through the
+gangway. He had no hat, and the water ran from him, but he shook hands
+with Desmond unconcernedly.
+
+"Ask them to hand that fellow up," he said pointing to a man who sat
+huddled in the water that swirled up and down inside the plunging
+boat. "We took rather a heavy one over two or three hours ago, and he
+brought up on the after thwart when the big oar jumped its crutch. As
+he's the only Kroo among them, I took the helm myself after that. I
+don't fancy he has broken anything."
+
+Desmond hustled him into the deck-house when the negro had been
+brought on deck and the dripping boat rode astern, and an hour later
+he sat at dinner with his comrade in the little white saloon. Darkness
+had closed down in the meanwhile, and the lamp that swung above their
+heads flung a soft light across the table, where dainty glassware and
+silver glittered on the snowy cloth. Ormsgill smiled as he glanced at
+it and the glowing blotch of color in his wine glass.
+
+"After all, this kind of thing has its advantages, especially when one
+has been accustomed to squatting in the wood smoke over a calabash of
+palm oil or some other unhallowed nigger compound," he said. "It's a
+trifle pleasant to wear clothes that fit you, too. Father Tiebout's
+and those Dom Clemente lent me didn't. I had to cut the wrists off the
+latter's jacket."
+
+Desmond looked at him reflectively over his cigar, for he had
+something to say, and was a trifle uncertain as to how he should set
+about it.
+
+"Well," he said, "I suppose it is nice for a while, especially, as you
+say, when it's a change. The point is, would it satisfy you long?"
+
+"A dinner like this one is generally acceptable."
+
+"We'll admit it. The trouble is that these civilized comforts are apt
+to cost you something. I mean one has usually to give up something
+else for the sake of them. You begin to understand?"
+
+"I'm not sure that I do," said Ormsgill. "I'll ask you to go on."
+
+Desmond laughed, though he did not feel quite at ease. He remembered
+the letter in his pocket, and felt that there was a responsibility on
+him, and that was a thing which, inconsequent as he was, he seldom
+shrank from. This was not a man who talked about his duty; in fact,
+any reference to the subject usually roused in him a sense of
+opposition. He contented himself with doing it when he recognized it,
+and since singleness of purpose is not invariably an efficient
+substitute for mental ability, it was not altogether his fault when at
+times he did it clumsily. There was also a subtle bond between him and
+the man who sat opposite him. Affection was not the right term, and it
+was more than _camaraderie_, an elusive something that could not be
+defined and was yet in their case a compelling force.
+
+"Well," he said, "those quagmires and forests up yonder appeal to you.
+It's a little difficult for any reasonable person to see why they
+should, but they certainly do. So does the sea. The love of it's in
+both of us."
+
+He stopped with a lifted hand, and, for the ports were open, Ormsgill
+heard the deep rumble of the eternal surf on the hammered beach. He
+also heard the onward march of the white hosts of tumbling seas, and
+the shrill scream of the wire rigging singing to the gale. It was the
+turmoil of the elemental conflict that must rage in one form or
+another by sea and in the wilderness while the world endures, and
+there is a theme in its clashing harmonies that stirs the hearts of
+men. Ormsgill felt the thrill of it, and Desmond's eyes glistened.
+
+"Lord," he said, "we're curiously made. What in the name of wonder is
+it that appeals to us in driving a swamping surf-boat over those
+combers, or standing on the bridge ramming her full speed into it with
+the green seas going over her forward and everything battened down?
+Still, there is something. While we can do that kind of thing we can't
+stay at home."
+
+Ormsgill smiled curiously. He was acquainted with some of the
+characteristics of the wild Celtic strain, and knew that his comrade
+now and then let himself go. "I think," he said, "considering where
+you come from, you should understand it more readily than I can do."
+
+"You're not exempt," said Desmond, "you cold-blooded Saxons. What did
+you run that boat down the coast under the whole lug-sail for when
+she'd have gone nearly dry with two reefs tied down?"
+
+"I don't know. Still, she lost the wind in the hollows. One had to
+keep her ahead of the seas."
+
+Desmond laughed scornfully. "Is that it? When the boy went down with
+the breath knocked out of him as she took in a green sea, something
+came over you as you grabbed the steering oar. You went suddenly
+crazy, fighting crazy. You'd have rolled her over or run her under
+before you tied a reef in."
+
+He stopped a moment, and made a little gesture as of one throwing
+something away. "Still, you'll have to give all that up when you marry
+and settle down, though it's a little difficult to imagine you going
+round in a frock coat and tight patent boots, growing fat, and
+overfeeding yourself like a--Strasburg goose. I suppose it is your
+intention to be married some day?"
+
+"I believe it is," said Ormsgill quietly.
+
+Desmond laid down his cigar and looked at him. "Well, I may be on
+dangerous ground, but when I get steam up I seldom allow a thing like
+that to influence me. Anyway, I've been worrying over you lately. The
+question is--are you going to marry the right girl, one who would take
+you as you are and encourage you to be more so? It isn't every woman
+who could put up with a man of your kind, but there are a few."
+
+His comrade's expression might have warned another man, but Desmond
+went on.
+
+"I don't know if my views are worth anything, and some of my friends
+doubt it, but you shall have them. After all, the matter's rather an
+important one. The wife for you is one who would sympathize with your
+notions even if she knew they were crazy ones, because they were
+yours, and when they led you into lumber, as such notions generally
+do, stand beside you smiling to face the world and the devil. There
+are such women. I've met one or two."
+
+There was silence for a moment or two when he stopped, and Ormsgill,
+gazing straight before him with vacant eyes, saw a dark-eyed girl with
+dusky hair and a face of the pale ivory tint sitting where the
+moonlight streamed in between a colonnade of slender pillars. As it
+happened, Desmond saw her, too, and sighed. Then Ormsgill seemed to
+rouse himself.
+
+"I am," he said, "going to marry Miss Ratcliffe, as I think you must
+be quite aware."
+
+Desmond could have laughed. He fancied that it would have been almost
+warranted, but he laid a restraint upon himself. "Then," he said, "if
+you have both made up your minds and the thing is settled what in the
+name of wonder are you wandering about Africa for? The fact that you
+like it doesn't count. Why don't you go back--now--to her? It would
+be considerably wiser."
+
+Ormsgill looked at him with half-closed eyes. "I'll have to ask you to
+speak plainly."
+
+"I'll try," and Desmond made a little deprecatory gesture. "There are
+women it isn't wise to leave too long alone. They were not made to
+live that way, and if they find it insupportable you can't blame them.
+How many years is it since Miss Ratcliffe has had more than a few
+weeks of your company, and is it natural that a young woman should be
+quietly content while the man she is to marry wanders through these
+forests endeavoring to throw his life away? Besides that, the thing
+might very possibly not commend itself to her mother."
+
+The lines grew a trifle deeper on Ormsgill's forehead, and his eyes
+were grave. "I have," he said, "been a little afraid of what her
+mother might do myself."
+
+"Then why don't you go across to Grand Canary and make sure she
+doesn't try to influence the girl? Isn't it only reasonable that she
+should expect you to be there and save her all unpleasantness in case
+of anything of that kind happening?"
+
+Ormsgill said nothing for several minutes, but it was borne in upon
+his comrade that his efforts had been thrown away. He had, however,
+after all, not expected them to be successful. At length Ormsgill
+spoke quietly.
+
+"I can't go," he said. "Domingo has carried those boys away into the
+interior and I pledged myself that they should go home when their
+time was up. As it is, unless I can take them from him they will be
+driven to death in a few years. For that, I think, I should be held
+responsible."
+
+He rose with a little sigh. "Dick," he said, "I have this thing to do,
+and even if it costs me a good deal it must be done. I am going back
+inland, and may be three or four months away. You can't stay here.
+After all, I don't know that I shall have much difficulty in getting
+the boys out of the country when I come down again."
+
+Desmond smiled. "I may go to Las Palmas or Madeira, but I'll be here
+when you want me. We can fix that later. It seems to me I've said
+quite enough to-night."
+
+Then they went up the companion, and Ormsgill talked of other matters
+as they sat under the lee of the deck-house, and watched the white
+seas sweep out of the darkness and vanish into it again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+LISTER OFFERS SATISFACTION
+
+
+Desmond's informant had, as it happened, been quite warranted in
+mentioning that Lister's proceedings had aroused the interest of the
+English colony in Las Palmas. He provided those who belonged to it
+with something to talk about as they lounged on the hotel verandas,
+which was a cause for gratification, since a good many of them had no
+more profitable occupation. That dusty city has, like others in the
+south, distractions to offer the idler with liberal views, though a
+certain proportion of them are of distinctly doubtful character. There
+are also in it gentlemen of easy morality who are willing to act as
+cicerone to the stranger with means, that is, provided he possesses a
+generous disposition. Spaniards of the old regime call them the _Sin
+Verguenza_, "men without shame," and there are one or two coarsely
+forceful Anglo-Saxon terms that might be aptly applied to them. It is,
+unfortunately, a fact that there are Englishmen among them.
+
+Lister, who was young, and had never imposed much restraint upon
+himself, profited by the opportunities they provided him. He had the
+command of more money than was, perhaps, desirable, and for several
+weeks the pace he made was hot. He was naturally preyed upon and
+victimized, though, after all, the latter happened less frequently
+than those who watched his proceedings supposed. The lad was careless
+and generous, but there was a certain shrewdness in him as well as a
+vein of cold British stubbornness which made him a trifle difficult to
+handle when once his dislike was aroused. Indeed, one or two of his
+acquaintances fancied he had not gone so very deep in the mire, after
+all. How much Mrs. Ratcliffe knew about his doings did not appear. One
+desires to be charitable, and since Major Chillingham had gone back to
+England, it is possible, though far from likely, that she had not
+heard of them at all. In any case, she took him up, and was gracious
+to him in a motherly fashion, and there was suddenly a change in him.
+
+Lister henceforward spent his evenings at the hotel, generally near
+the piano when Ada Ratcliffe sang. He also planned excursions for her
+and her mother to little palm-shrouded villages among the volcanic
+hills, and, since there was nobody who understood exactly how Miss
+Ratcliffe stood with regard to the man who had gone to Africa, the
+onlookers chuckled, and said that the girl's mother was a clever
+woman. She said that Lister was a very likable young man, who had no
+mother of his own, which was always a misfortune, and that it was
+almost a duty to look after him.
+
+It was, in any case, one she discharged efficiently, and for a time
+his former companions had very little of Lister's company. Several of
+them were also sorry he had, apparently, as the result of their
+persistent efforts to undermine her authority, flung off the
+restraints Mrs. Ratcliffe had gradually imposed on him when at last he
+spent a night with them again.
+
+They had reasonable cause for dissatisfaction when they sat in a
+certain _caffee_ which stood near the cathedral. The latter fact has a
+significance for those acquainted with Spanish cities, but, after all,
+the Church is needed most where sinners abound. The _caffee_ had wide
+unglazed windows, and clear moonlight streamed down into the hot,
+unsavory street, which under that pure radiance looked for once
+curiously clean and white. Tall limewashed walls rose above it, and,
+for the flat roofs lay beneath their crests, cut against the strip of
+velvety indigo, while a little cool breeze swept between them with a
+welcome freshness. There was no gleam of light behind any of the green
+lattices that broke their flat monotony and, save for the deep rumble
+of the surf, the city was very still. Once a measured tramp of feet
+rang across the flat roofs and indicated that two of the armed
+_civiles_ were patroling a neighboring _calle_ where the principal
+shops stand, but their business would not take them near the _caffee_.
+It is, in fact, not often that authority obtrudes itself unadvisedly
+into certain parts of most Spanish towns.
+
+The moonlight also streamed into the _caffee_ where a big lamp in
+which the oil was running low burned dimly. The table beneath it was
+stained with cheap red wine, and a good many bottles stood upon it
+among a litter of Spanish cards. Four men sat about it, and two more
+lounged upon the settee which ran along the discolored wall. The place
+was filled with tobacco smoke and the sickly odor of anisado, which
+was, however, no great disadvantage, since the natural reek of a
+Spanish Alsatia is more unpleasant still. The men had been there four
+or five hours when Lister flung down a card and noisily pushed back
+his chair. His face was a trifle flushed, and his hands were not quite
+steady, but his half-closed eyes were, as one or two of the others
+noticed, almost unpleasantly calm. There was a pile of silver at his
+side on the table, for he had, as the red-faced English skipper
+opposite him had once or twice observed, been favored with an
+astonishing run of luck. It is, however, possible that the skipper did
+not go quite far enough. Lister had certainly been fortunate, but he
+had also a nice judgment in such matters, and his nerve was unusually
+good. He looked round at his companions with a little dry smile.
+
+"You should have left me alone," he said. "I didn't want to come here,
+but when you insisted I did it to oblige you. As you pointed out,
+considering what I took out of some of you on another occasion, it
+seemed the fair thing. Now I hope you're satisfied."
+
+He indicated the pile of silver with a little wave of his hand, and
+the others, among whom there were two Englishmen beside the skipper,
+waited in some astonishment, with very little sign of content in their
+faces, until he went on again.
+
+"Well," he said, "I'm still willing to do the fair thing, though,
+while I don't wish to be unduly personal, that is a point which has
+evidently not caused one or two of you any undue anxiety. You can
+explain that, Walters, to the Spanish gentlemen, though I don't
+altogether confine my remarks to them."
+
+An Englishman straightened himself suddenly, and one of the Spaniard's
+eyes flashed when the man Lister turned to did his bidding. Lister,
+however, grinned at them.
+
+"The question," he said, "is simply do you feel I owe you any further
+satisfaction, or have you had enough? I want you to understand that
+I'm never coming here again, and if you care to double the stakes I'll
+play you another round."
+
+There was no doubt that they had had enough, and while three of them
+might have taken another hand with a view to getting back the pile of
+silver by certain means they were acquainted with they refrained,
+perhaps because they felt that the man called Walters and the burly
+steamboat skipper would in case of necessity stand by Lister. The
+silence that lasted a moment or two grew uncomfortable, but it did not
+seem to trouble Lister, who sat still looking at them with a little
+sardonic smile.
+
+"Well," he said, "it's evident that you don't expect anything more
+from me. Will you and Captain Wilson come with me, Walters?"
+
+He rose when the men addressed reached out for their hats, and then
+clapped his hands until a girl came in. She was very young, and looked
+jaded, which was not particularly astonishing considering that she
+had been keeping the party supplied with refreshment for more than
+half the night. The smudgy patches of powder on it emphasized the
+weariness of her olive-tinted face, but there was for all that a
+certain suggestion of daintiness and freshness about her which was not
+what one would have expected in such surroundings.
+
+Lister stood looking at her with half-closed eyes, while the others
+watched them both until he made a little abrupt gesture.
+
+"It is not you, but your father, the patron, the man who owns this
+place, I want, but you can stop here and call him," he said in a
+half-intelligible muddle of Castilian and Portuguese.
+
+Walters made it a little plainer, and the girl spread out her hands.
+"The patron does not live here," she said. "My father, he is only in
+charge."
+
+"Call him!" said Lister.
+
+The man came in, and his dark eyes as well as those of all the others
+were fixed expectantly on Lister when he once more turned to the girl.
+
+"You like waiting on and singing for these pigs?" he asked.
+
+Walters rendered the word _puerco_, which is not a complimentary term
+in Spain, but the men it was applied to forgot to resent it in their
+expectancy. A flicker of color swept into the girl's face, and it was
+evident that her task was not a congenial one. She was, however, about
+to retreat when Lister raised his hand in protest, and turned to the
+man.
+
+"What do you mean," he said, "by keeping a girl of that kind in a
+place like this?"
+
+Again Walters translated, and the little flicker of color grew a
+trifle plainer in the girl's olive-tinted cheek. One could have
+fancied that she had suddenly realized how others might regard her
+occupation and surroundings. The man, however, spread his hands out.
+
+"It is certainly not what one would wish for her, and she would be a
+modista," he said. "But what would you--when one is very poor?"
+
+Lister caught up a double handful of the silver which still lay upon
+the table and signed to the girl.
+
+"That should make it a little easier. It's for you," he said. "If it
+is not enough you can let me know. You will go and learn to make hats
+and dresses to-morrow. If your father makes any more objections I'll
+send the little fat priest after him. You know the one I mean. He has
+a cross eye and likes a good dinner as well as any man. He is a friend
+of mine."
+
+The others gazed at Lister in blank astonishment when Walters made
+this clear, until the Spaniard became suddenly profuse. Lister,
+however, disregarded him, and picking up the rest of the silver turned
+towards the door. He went out, and Walters looked at him curiously
+when he stopped and stood still a moment, apparently reflecting, with
+the moonlight on his face. The combativeness with which he had
+regarded his gaming companions had faded out of it, and left it, as it
+usually was, heavy and inanimate. Lister was skillful at games of
+chance, where his impassiveness served him well, but Walters fancied
+he was by no means likely to shine at anything else. He was a young
+man of no mental capacity, and his tastes were not refined, but there
+was hidden in his dull nature a germ of the rudimentary chivalry which
+now and then rouses such men as he was to deeds which astonish their
+friends. It had lain inert until the dew of a beneficent influence had
+rested on it, and then there was a sudden growth that was to result in
+the production of unlooked for fruit. Because of the love he bore one
+woman he had become compassionate, and, perhaps, it did not matter
+greatly that she was unworthy, since the gracious impulse was merely
+brought him by, and not born of, the reverence he had for her. After
+all, its source was higher than that. It was, however, not to be
+expected that he should realize such a fact, and he stood wrinkling
+his brows as though ruminating over his proceedings, until he became
+conscious that his companion was looking at him inquiringly.
+
+"I don't know what made me do that," he said. "It's quite certain I
+wouldn't have thought of it a month or two ago."
+
+"No," said Walters, a trifle drily, "one would not have expected it
+from you. Still, you have made a few changes lately. What has come over
+you?"
+
+Lister did not answer him. "If that blamed ass of a skipper means to
+stop I'm not going to wait for him. He'll get a knife slipped into him
+some night and it will serve him right," he said. "We'll get out of
+this place. Once we strike the big calle it will be fresher."
+
+They strode on down the hot, stale smelling street, and Lister
+appeared to draw in a deep breath of relief when they turned into the
+broad road that runs close by the surf-swept beach to the harbor.
+Though there were tall white stores and houses on its seaward side the
+night breeze swept down it exhilaratingly fresh and cool, and Lister
+bared his hot forehead to it.
+
+"Well," he said, "I've been down among the swine in a number of
+places, and, though I suppose it sometimes falls out differently, I've
+scratched some of the bristles off a few of them. Now I want to forget
+the tricks they've taught me. You see, I'm never going back to any of
+the--stys again. It's a thing I owe myself and somebody else."
+
+He had certainly consumed a good deal of wine, but it was clear that
+he was fully in command of his senses, and Walters endeavored to check
+his laugh as comprehension suddenly dawned upon him. Still, he was not
+quite successful, and his companion turned on him.
+
+"I meant it," he said. "There'll probably be trouble between us if you
+attempt to work off any of your assinine witticisms."
+
+Walters said nothing. He had seen his companion calmly insult four men
+whose dollars he had pocketed, and he did not consider it advisable to
+explain what he thought about Mrs. Ratcliffe and the interest she had
+taken in his friend. Still, like most of the English residents who had
+made her acquaintance, he had his views upon the subject. Lister was,
+at least, rich enough to make a desirable son-in-law, and if he
+fancied it was essential that he should reform before he offered
+himself as a candidate there was nothing to be gained by undeceiving
+him.
+
+They walked on until they left the tall white houses and little rows
+of flat-topped dwellings that replaced them behind, and the dim, dusty
+road stretched away before them with a filmy spray-cloud and
+glistening Atlantic heave on one side of it. Lister glanced at the
+fringe of crumbling combers with slow appreciation.
+
+"In one way that's inspiriting," he said. "I might have sat and
+watched them half the evening from the veranda of the hotel. In that
+case I'd have had a clearer head and been considerably fresher
+to-morrow. Still, those hogs would have me out. It's a consolation to
+realize that it has cost them something."
+
+Walters stopped when they reached the hotel and glanced at his
+companion. "Aren't you going in?" he said. "You could still get a
+little sleep before it's breakfast time."
+
+"No," said Lister simply, "I'm going for a swim. It's no doubt an
+assinine notion, but the smell of the sty seems to cling to me."
+
+Walters laughed. "Is that a custom you mean to adopt invariably after
+a night of this kind?"
+
+"No," said Lister. "It won't be necessary. You see there will never be
+another one."
+
+They went on, and Walters sat down on the little mole not far away
+while his comrade stripped off his thin attire. Then Lister stood a
+moment, gleaming white in the moonlight, a big, loose-limbed figure,
+on the head of the mole before he went down with flung-out hands and
+stiffened body into the cool Atlantic swell. It closed about him
+glittering, and he was well out in the harbor when he came up again
+and slid away down the blaze of radiance with left arm swinging. The
+chill of the deep sea water, at least, cooled his slightly fevered
+skin, and, perhaps, there was something in his half pagan fancy that
+it also washed a stain off him. In any case, the desire to escape from
+the most unusual sense of contamination was a wholesome one.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+HIS BENEFICENT INFLUENCE
+
+
+There is a certain aldea, a little straggling village of flat-topped
+houses, among the black volcanic hills of Grand Canary which has like
+one or two others of its kind a good deal to offer the discerning
+traveler who will take the trouble to visit it. It is certainly a
+trifle difficult to reach, which is, perhaps, in one sense not
+altogether a misfortune, since the Englishmen and Englishwomen who
+visit that island in the winter seldom leave such places exactly as
+they find them. One goes up by slippery bridle paths on horse or mule
+back over hot sand and wastes of dust and ashes into a rift between
+the hills, and when once the tremendous gateway of fire-rent rock has
+been passed discovers that it costs one an effort to go away again.
+
+In the bottom of the barranco lie maize-fields and vines. Tall green
+palms fling streaks of shadow over them, and close beneath the black
+crags stands a little ancient church and odd cubes of lava houses
+tinted with delicate pink or ochre or whitewashed dazzlingly. They
+nestle among their fig trees shut in by tall aloes, and oleanders, and
+a drowsy quietness which is intensified by the murmur of running water
+pervades the rock-walled hollow. It is the stillness of a land where
+nothing matters greatly, and there is in it the essence of the
+resignation which regards haste and effort and protest as futile, that
+is characteristic of old world Spain, for Spain was never until lately
+bounded by the confines of the Peninsula.
+
+Las Palmas down beside the smoking beach is no longer Spanish. It is
+filled with bustle and a rampant commercialism, and English is spoken
+there; but the quietness of the ages lingers among the hills where the
+grapes of Moscatel are still trodden in the winepress by barelegged
+men in unstarched linen who live very much as one fancies the
+patriarchs did, plowing with oxen and wooden plows, and beating out
+their corn on wind-swept threshing floors. They also comport
+themselves, even towards the wandering Briton, who does not always
+deserve it, with an almost stately courtesy, and seldom trouble
+themselves about the morrow. All that is essentially Spanish is
+Eastern, too. The life in the hill pueblos is that portrayed in the
+Jewish scriptures, and the olive-skinned men whose forefathers once
+ruled half the world have also like the Hebrew the remembrance of
+their departed glory to sadden them.
+
+It is, however, scarcely probable that any fancies of this kind
+occurred to Mrs. Ratcliffe as she lay in a somewhat rickety chair
+under a vine-draped pergola outside a pink-washed house in that aldea
+one afternoon. She was essentially modern, and usually practical, in
+which respects Ada, who sat not far away, was not unlike her. A man,
+at least, seldom expects to find the commercial instinct and a shrewd
+capacity for estimating and balancing worldly advantages in a young
+woman of prepossessing appearance with innocent eyes, which is,
+perhaps, a pity, since it now and then happens that the fact that she
+possesses a reasonable share of both of them is made clear to him in
+due time. Then it is apt to cause him pain, for man being vain prefers
+to believe that it is personal merit that counts for most where he is
+concerned.
+
+Ada Ratcliffe was listening to the drowsy splash of falling water, and
+looking down through the rocky gateway over tall palms and creeping
+vines, blackened hillslopes, and gleaming sands, on the vast plain of
+the Atlantic which lay, a sheet of turquoise, very far below. Above
+her, tremendous fire-rent pinnacles ran up into the upper sweep of
+ethereal blue, but all this scarcely roused her interest. She had seen
+it already, and had said it was very pretty. Besides, she was thinking
+of other things which appealed to her considerably more, a London
+house, an acknowledged station in smart society, and the command of
+money. These were things she greatly desired to have, and it was
+evident that Thomas Ormsgill could only offer her them in a certain
+measure. It was, in some respects, only natural that her mother should
+set a high value on them too, and desire them for her daughter. She
+had made a long and gallant fight against adverse circumstances since
+her husband died, and there was in her face the hardness of one who
+has more than once been almost beaten. There were, she knew, women who
+would freely give themselves with all that had been given them to the
+man they loved, but Mrs. Ratcliffe had never had much sympathy with
+them. It was, she felt, a much more sensible thing to make a bargain,
+and secure something in return.
+
+Still, nobody would have fancied that Ada Ratcliffe had any such ideas
+just then. Her face was quietly tranquil, and the pose she had fallen
+into in the big basket chair was, if not quite unstudied, a singularly
+graceful one. In her hands lay a Spanish fan, a beautiful, costly
+thing of silk and feathers and fretted ebony which Lister had given
+her a few days earlier. He sat on a block of lava watching her with a
+little significant gleam that she was perfectly conscious of in his
+usually apathetic eyes. Still, though he had a heavy face of the kind
+one seldom associates with self-restraint, there was nothing in his
+expression which could have jarred upon a woman of the most sensitive
+temperament. There were not many things which Albert Lister had much
+reverence for, but during the last few weeks a change had been going
+on in him, and it was a blind, unreasoning devotion which none of his
+friends would have believed him capable of that he offered this girl.
+
+His pleasures had been coarse ones, and there was much in him that she
+might have shrunk from, but he had, at least, of late fought with the
+desires of his lower nature, and, for the time being, trampled on one
+or two of them. Slow of thought, and of very moderate intelligence, as
+he was, he had yet endeavored to purge himself of grossness before he
+ventured into her presence. He had not spoken for awhile when Mrs.
+Ratcliffe turned to him.
+
+"You were not in the drawing-room last night," she said, and her
+manner subtly conveyed the impression that she had expected him. "No
+doubt you had something more interesting on hand?"
+
+"No," said Lister slowly, "I don't think I had. In fact, I was playing
+cards!"
+
+Mrs. Ratcliffe was a trifle perplexed, for she had now and then
+ventured to express her disapproval of one or two of his favorite
+distractions in a motherly fashion, and she could not quite understand
+his candor. It was, perhaps, natural that she should not credit him
+with a simple desire for honesty, since this was a motive which would
+not have had much weight with her.
+
+"Ah," she said, with an air of playful reproach, "everybody plays
+cards nowadays, and I suppose one must not be too hard on you. Still,
+I think you know what my views are upon that subject."
+
+They were scarcely likely to be very charitable ones, since she owed
+her own long struggle to the fact that there were few forms of gaming
+her husband had not unsuccessfully experimented with, and she
+continued feelingly, "If one had no graver objections, it is apt to
+prove expensive."
+
+Lister laughed a little. "It proved so--to the other people--last
+night, but I think you are right. In fact, it's scarcely likely I'll
+touch a card again. In one way,"--and he appeared to reflect
+laboriously, "it's a waste of life."
+
+His companions were both a trifle astonished. They had scarcely
+expected a sentiment of this kind from him, and though the elder lady
+would probably not have admitted it, gaming did not appear to her so
+objectionable a thing provided that one won and had the sense to leave
+off when that was the case. Ada Ratcliffe, however, smiled.
+
+"To be candid, one would hardly have fancied you would look at it in
+that light," she said. "Still, you seem to have been changing your
+views lately."
+
+"I have," said the man slowly, with a faint flush in his heavy face.
+"After all, one comes to look at these things differently, and I dare
+say those fellows are right who lay it down that one ought to do
+something for his country or his living. Once I had the opportunity,
+but I let it go, or rather I flung it away. I often wish I hadn't, but
+I'm not quite sure it's altogether too late now."
+
+He spoke with an awkward diffidence, for though he was very young,
+ideas of this kind were quite new to him. The love of the girl he
+looked at appealingly had stirred his slow coarse nature, and
+something that had sprung up in its depths was growing towards the
+light. It might have grown to grace and beauty had the light been a
+benignant one, for, after all, it is not upon the soil alone that
+growth of any kind depends. Ada Ratcliffe, however, did not recognize
+in the least that this laid upon her a heavy responsibility.
+
+"No," she said with an encouraging smile, "there is no reason why you
+shouldn't make a career yet. I almost think you could if you wanted
+to."
+
+It was a bold assertion, but she made it unblushingly, and Lister
+appeared to consider.
+
+"There are not many things I'm good at--that is, useful ones," he
+said. "You have to be able to talk sensibly, anyway, before you can
+make your mark at politics, and some of them don't do it under twenty
+years."
+
+He stopped for a moment with a little sigh. "Still, I suppose there
+must be something worth while for one to do, even if it's not exactly
+what one would like."
+
+"One's duty is usually made clear to one," said Mrs. Ratcliffe
+encouragingly.
+
+"Well," said Lister, "I'm not sure it is, though it's probably his own
+fault if he doesn't want to recognize it. As I mentioned, you can look
+at the same thing differently. There was Desmond's friend Ormsgill. A
+little while ago I thought he was a trifle crazy. Now I begin to see
+it's a big thing he's doing, something to look back on afterwards even
+if he never does anything worth while again."
+
+He saw the faint flush of color in Ada Ratcliffe's face, though he did
+not in the least understand it. There was a good deal this man could
+give her, and she knew that he would in due time press it upon her,
+but she was naturally aware that his mental capacity was painfully
+small. This made the fact that he should look upon Ormsgill's errand
+as one a man could take pride in a reproach to her. Mrs. Ratcliffe's
+face was, however, if anything, expressive of anxiety, for she had
+asked herself frequently if Lister could by any chance have heard that
+the girl's pledge to Ormsgill had never been retracted. She did not
+think he had, but this was a point it was well to be sure upon.
+
+"I didn't think you had met him," she said.
+
+"I haven't. You see, I stayed behind in Madeira while the _Palestrina_
+came on, and when I got here Ormsgill had gone. Desmond told me about
+him. I understood he was to marry somebody when he had done his
+errand, though, if he knew, Desmond never mentioned who she was."
+
+He stopped, and Mrs. Ratcliffe sighed with sheer relief when he turned
+and looked eastwards towards Africa across the vast stretch of sea
+with a vague longing in his eyes.
+
+"Well," he said, "when he comes back again he will have done something
+that should make the girl look up to him."
+
+Again the flicker of color crept into Ada Ratcliffe's cheek, for she
+was conscious just then of a curious resentment against the man who
+had gone to Africa for an idea. It was singularly galling that a man
+of Lister's caliber should make her ashamed. Still, she smiled at him.
+
+"I believe we have all more than one opportunity, and another one will
+no doubt present itself," she said.
+
+Lister sat still looking at her in a fashion she found almost
+embarrassing, and for a moment or two none of them spoke. Then there
+were footsteps on the lava blocks outside the pergola, and a man
+appeared in an opening between the vines. He was dressed in white
+duck, and his face was bronzed by wind and spray, while Mrs.
+Ratcliffe found it difficult to refrain from starting at the sight of
+him. He stood where he was for a moment looking at the group with
+grave inquiry, and Ada Ratcliffe felt that she hated him for the
+little smile of comprehension that crept into his eyes. Then he moved
+quietly forward, and Lister rose with a faint flush in his face.
+
+"I'm glad to see you, Desmond. I mean it, in spite of what passed the
+night you packed me off," he said.
+
+It was an awkward meeting, though Lister was the only one whose
+embarrassment was noticeable. His companions were watching Desmond
+quietly, though Mrs. Ratcliffe was sensible that this was the last man
+she would have desired to see. He had come back from Africa and might
+spoil everything, for at the back of her mind she was not quite sure
+of her daughter. Still, though it cost her an effort, she asked him a
+few questions.
+
+"Ormsgill didn't want me for some time and I ran across for coal and
+other things. That coast isn't one it's judicious to stay on," he
+said, and looked at Ada steadily. "You will be pleased to hear that he
+was in excellent health--though he was still bent on carrying out his
+purpose--when he left me."
+
+The girl's gesture was apparently expressive of relief, and Desmond
+who sat down on the lava parapet proceeded to relate what he knew of
+Ormsgill's projects and adventures. He felt the constraint that was
+upon all of them except Lister, whose embarrassment was rapidly
+disappearing, and though it afforded him certain grim satisfaction he
+talked to dissipate it.
+
+"We ran in this morning, and as the folks at the hotel told me you
+were here I came on," he said at length.
+
+They asked him a few more questions, and it said a good deal for Mrs.
+Ratcliffe's courage that she invited him to stay there for comida and
+then to ride back to their hotel with them. Still it would, as she
+recognized, be useless to separate the men, since they would come
+across each other continually in Las Palmas, and she was one who knew
+that the boldest course is now and then the wisest. Desmond stayed,
+and it was some little time later when he sat alone with Lister among
+the tumbled lava by the watercourse. Feathery palm tufts drooped above
+them, and looking out between the fringed and fretted greenery they
+could see the blue expanse of sea. Beyond its sharp-cut eastern rim,
+as both of them were conscious, lay the shadowy land. Desmond turned
+from its contemplation and regarded his companion with a little smile.
+
+"I heard a good deal about you in the hotel smoking room," he said. "I
+suppose I ought to compliment you on the possession of a certain
+amount of sense. Presumably you have now a motive for going steady?"
+
+Lister flushed, but he met his companion's gaze without wavering. "As
+a matter of fact you are quite correct," he said. "Anyway, the motive
+is a sufficient one."
+
+"Ah," said Desmond dryly, "it is in that case a lady, Miss Ratcliffe
+most probably? You no doubt recognize that she is several years older
+than you, and that it is more than possible her affections have been
+engaged before?"
+
+His companion resolutely straightened himself. "It isn't as a rule
+advisable to go too far, but I don't mind informing you that they are
+not engaged now."
+
+"You seem sure," said Desmond with more than a trace of his former
+dryness. "She has presumably told you so?"
+
+"She has not," said Lister. "That is, however, quite sufficient in
+itself, because if there had been anyone else with the slightest claim
+on her she and her mother would certainly have found means of making
+it clear to me."
+
+Desmond saw the glint in the lad's eyes, and could not quite repress a
+little sardonic smile. What he had heard in the hotel had at first
+been almost incomprehensible to him, but, as he listened to what the
+men he met there had to tell, it became clear that Lister had in
+reality turned from his former courses. Then came his own admission
+that it was Ada Ratcliffe who had inspired him. Desmond could have
+found it a relief to laugh. The woman who, it seemed, was willing to
+throw over his comrade and break her pledge to him that she might be
+free to marry a richer man was the one who had stirred the lad to what
+was probably a stern and valiant encounter with his baser nature. It
+seemed that she could not even be honest with him.
+
+"Am I to understand that you have made up your mind to marry Miss
+Ratcliffe?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," said Lister slowly, "I have; that is, if she will have me,
+which is doubtful. It is, however, in no sense your business, and you
+needn't trouble to remind me that it would be a very indifferent match
+for her."
+
+Desmond sat still for several minutes, and thought as hard as he had
+in all probability ever done in his life. He had given Ormsgill a hint
+which had not been taken, and now he found it had been fully
+warranted, he had ventured on giving Lister another which had also
+been disregarded. The lad's faith in the woman who was deceiving both
+of them was evidently sincere and generous, as well as in one respect
+pitiable, and under the circumstances Desmond could not tell what
+course he ought to take. He was aware that the man who rashly meddles
+in his friends' affairs seldom either confers any real benefit upon
+them or earns their thanks, and he doubted if Lister would listen to
+any advice or information he might offer him. To say nothing meant
+that he must leave Mrs. Ratcliffe a free hand, but he had sufficient
+knowledge of that lady's capabilities to feel reasonably sure that she
+would succeed in marrying the girl to one of the men in spite of him.
+That being so, it seemed to him preferable that the one in question
+should not be his friend. Then he looked at Lister gravely.
+
+"Well," he said, "I almost think she'll have you, and I'm not sure
+that you need worry yourself too much about not being good enough for
+her. That's a point you could be content with her mother's opinion
+on."
+
+He left the lad, and five minutes later came upon Ada Ratcliffe in the
+patio of the adjacent house. "You will make my excuses to your
+mother," he said. "After all, I think I had better ride back to Las
+Palmas alone."
+
+The girl met his eyes, but for a moment her face flushed crimson. She
+said nothing, and he quietly turned away, while in another few minutes
+she heard his horse stumbling down the slippery path beside the
+watercourse. When they reached the hotel that evening they were also
+told that he did not intend to live ashore while the yacht was in the
+harbor, which was a piece of information that afforded Mrs. Ratcliffe
+considerable relief.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+HERRERO'S IMPRUDENCE
+
+
+Though it was, at least, as hot as it usually is at San Roque and the
+heavy, stagnant atmosphere made exertion of any kind impossible to a
+white man, Dom Erminio had not gone to sleep that afternoon, as he
+generally did. He had, after all, some shadowy notions of duty, and
+would now and then rouse himself to carry them out; that is, at least,
+when he stood to obtain some advantage by doing so. In this he was,
+perhaps, not altogether singular, since it is possible that there are
+other men who recognize a duty most clearly under similar
+circumstances. He lay in a low hung hammock where the veranda roof
+flung a grateful shadow over him, with a cigar in his hand,
+meditatively watching a row of half-naked negroes toiling in the
+burning sun, and the fashion in which he did so suggested that it
+afforded him a certain quiet satisfaction. He had grave objections to
+physical exertion personally, and as a rule succeeded in avoiding it,
+for there are, as he recognized, advantages in being a white man, in
+that country, at least. Dom Erminio invariably made the most of them.
+
+It must be admitted that the negro is by no means addicted to toiling
+assiduously under scorching heat, especially when, as sometimes
+happens, he works for a white man who requisitions his services
+without any intention of rewarding him for them, but though the baked
+and trampled soil of the compound flung back an intolerable heat and
+glare, the half-naked men were diligent that afternoon. Dom Erminio
+had his shifty black eyes on them, and certain dusky men with sticks
+stood ready to spur the laggards to fresh endeavor. So while the sweat
+of strenuous effort dripped from them some trotted to and fro with
+baskets of soil upon their woolly heads and the rest plied saw and
+hammer persistently. They were strengthening the fort stockade and
+digging a ditch, and incidentally riveting the shackles of the white
+man's bondage more firmly on their limbs. The Commandant, or Chefe as
+he was usually called, appeared to recognize that fact, for he smiled
+a little as he watched them.
+
+By and by he turned and blinked at the forest which hemmed in the
+stockaded compound as with an impenetrable wall. It was dim and
+shadowy, even under that burning glare suggestively so, and he was
+aware that just then whispers of a coming rising were flying through
+its unlifting gloom, though the fact caused him no great concern. A
+few white friends of his were playing a game that has been played
+before in other regions, and he was quite willing to gain fresh renown
+as an administrator by the suppression of a futile rebellion. It is
+also possible that his friends looked for more tangible advantages,
+and would have been willing to offer him a certain share of them.
+That, however, is not quite a matter of certainty, and there were, at
+least, men in that country who said they regarded Dom Erminio as all
+an administrator ought to be. Perhaps he was, from their point of
+view.
+
+The Lieutenant Luiz, who had just come back from a native village with
+a handful of dusky soldiers and a band of carriers loaded with fresh
+provisions, sat in a basket chair close by, also regarding the
+stockade builders with a little smile. The natural reluctance of
+certain negroes to part with their possessions had occasioned him a
+good deal of trouble during the last few days. A negro who served as
+messenger stood waiting a few paces behind him.
+
+"It is an advantage when one can teach the trek-ox to harness
+himself," he said reflectively. "I do not think those men like what
+they are doing. Every pile that they are driving makes our rule a
+little surer. It is not astonishing that some of them should be a
+trifle mutinous now and then."
+
+"You had a difficulty about those provisions?" said Dom Erminio.
+
+His companion laughed. "One would scarcely call it that. It was merely
+advisable to use the stick, and a hut or two was burnt. In times like
+the present one profits by a little judicious firmness."
+
+"I think one could even go a trifle further than that."
+
+Lieutenant Luiz made a little gesture. He had a certain shrewdness,
+and the Chefe was only cunning, which is, after all, a different thing
+from being clever. It seemed that Dom Erminio failed to recognize
+that it is always somewhat dangerous to play with fire. One can as a
+rule start a conflagration without much difficulty, but it is now and
+then quite another matter to put it out.
+
+"I am not sure," he said. "There are men in this country who seem to
+enjoy scattering sparks, and they are rather busy just now. It is,
+perhaps, not very hazardous when it is done judiciously and one knows
+there is only a little tinder here and there, but when one flings them
+broadcast it is possible that two or three may fall on powder." He
+turned and stretched out a dainty, olive-tinted hand towards the
+forest. "After all, we do not know much about what goes on there."
+
+"Bah!" said Dom Erminio, who had courage, at least, "if the blaze is a
+little larger than one expected what does it matter? The stockade will
+be a strong one."
+
+His companion glanced at the gap in the row of well stiffened piles.
+"It would certainly be difficult to storm that gate, but these bushmen
+who are building the stockade will have the sense to realize it and
+tell their friends. If there is an attack it will not be made that
+way."
+
+"Exactly!" and the Chefe's eyes twinkled as he waved a yellow hand.
+"It is a little idea that occurred to me while you were away. The
+bushmen would come by the rear of the stockade which we leave lower,
+and when they do I think we shall also be ready for them there. There
+are certain defenses which will be substituted when their friends
+have gone away again."
+
+They both laughed at this and neither of them said anything further
+for awhile until a negro swathed in white cotton strode out of the
+forest with a little stick in his hand. He was challenged by a sentry
+who sent him on, and presently stood on the veranda holding out the
+stick. Dom Erminio glanced at it languidly.
+
+"Our injudicious friend Herrero has some word for us," he said. "He is
+a man who lets his dislikes run away with him, and he is not always
+wise in his messages." He stopped a moment with a little reflective
+smile. "Still, a message is always a difficulty in this part of
+Africa. If one teaches the messenger what he is to say he may tell it
+to somebody else, and it happens now and then that to write is not
+advisable. One must choose, however, and I wonder which our friend has
+done."
+
+The man decided the question by holding out a strip of paper, and the
+Chefe who took it from him nodded as he read.
+
+"It appears that Herrero is not pleased with the doings of the
+Englishman who is now in the bush country," he said. "Herrero seems to
+consider that he and a few others are capable of rousing all the ill
+will against us among the natives that is desirable, and I am almost
+tempted to believe that he is right in this. He is, however, imprudent
+enough to supply me with a few particulars which might with advantage
+have been made less explicit. He fancies we shall have a rebellion,
+and if we do not I almost think it will be no fault of his."
+
+"There is no doubt a little more," observed Lieutenant Luiz. "When
+that man writes a letter he has something to ask for."
+
+The Commandant nodded. "It is in this case a thing we can oblige him
+in," he said. "It seems the crazy Englishman Ormsgill is causing
+trouble up yonder and inciting the natives to mutiny. Further, it is
+evidently his intention to deprive Domingo of some of the boys who
+have engaged themselves under him. The man is one who could, I think,
+be called dangerous. It is not a favor to Herrero, but a duty to place
+some check on him."
+
+They looked at one another, and Dom Luiz grinned. "Ah," he said, "our
+imprudent friend no doubt mentions how it could most readily be done."
+
+The Commandant raised one hand. "The thing is simple. You will start,
+we will say the day after to-morrow, with several men, and you will
+come upon Ormsgill in a village in Cavalho's country. Domingo, it
+seems, is there now, and it is expected that Ormsgill will attempt to
+take the boys from him, but this will cause no difficulty. The
+Headman, who is a friend of Domingo's will, if it appears advisable,
+disarm Ormsgill. The latter will no doubt not permit this to be done
+quietly, and it is possible that there will be a disturbance in the
+village, as the result of which you will arrest him for raiding
+natives under our protection. We shall know what to do when you bring
+him here."
+
+They had, after sending Herrero's messenger away, spoken in Portuguese
+of which the negro who remained on the veranda understood no more than
+a word or two. He stood still, statuesque, with his white draperies
+flowing about his dusky limbs, and as disregarded by the white men as
+the native girl with the big bedizened fan who crouched in the shadowy
+doorway just behind them. Yet both had intelligence, and noticed that
+the Chefe instead of destroying the letter laid it carelessly on the
+edge of his hammock, from which it dropped when he raised himself a
+little. The girl's eyes glistened, but she said nothing, and the man
+moved slightly as though his pose had grown irksome. It was
+unfortunate that Dom Erminio had considered it advisable to keep him
+there waiting his pleasure, for when he stood still again he was a
+foot or two nearer the strip of paper than he had been a few moments
+earlier.
+
+Then the girl in the doorway rose, and the Chefe turned sharply in his
+hammock as a little haggard man in plain white duck walked quietly out
+of the house. He saw the question in the glance Dom Erminio flashed at
+his Lieutenant, and smiled as he seated himself in the nearest chair.
+Father Tiebout was always unobtrusive, and what he did was as a rule
+done very quietly, but he was quite aware that neither of the two
+white men were exactly pleased to see him.
+
+"I came in from the east by the rear of the stockade where they are
+mending it," he said. "It was a little nearer. One would suppose that
+you did not see me."
+
+The residency veranda, as is usual in that country, ran round the
+building, which had several doors and two stairways, and it was
+therefore perfectly natural that the priest should have arrived
+unnoticed, but the fact that he had done so was disconcerting just
+then, and it left the question how long he might have been in the
+house. Still, there were reasons why the Chefe could not ask it or
+treat his guest with any discourtesy.
+
+"In any case you are welcome," he said. "There is presumably something
+I can do for you?"
+
+Father Tiebout nodded. "A little matter," he said. "I was going to San
+Thome, and as my road led near the fort I thought I would mention it.
+My people have a complaint against the soldiers you lately sent into
+our neighborhood under the Sergeant Orticho. Some of them have been
+beaten."
+
+"Dom Luiz will go over and look into it," said the Chefe. "That is,
+presently."
+
+"Ah," said Father Tiebout, "then Dom Luiz is busy now? He will, no
+doubt, be at liberty in a day or two?"
+
+It was not a question Dom Erminio wished to answer, and he waved his
+hand. "At the moment one cannot say. In the meanwhile you will make
+your complaint a little more definite."
+
+He had apparently forgotten the messenger, but Father Tiebout had been
+quietly watching him, and now saw him stretch out a dusky foot towards
+the strip of paper which lay not far away. He touched it with a
+prehensile toe, and in another moment it had vanished altogether,
+though the man did not stand exactly where he had stood before.
+Lieutenant Luiz, as it happened, sat with his back to him, and Dom
+Erminio lay in his hammock where he could not see, but two people had
+noticed every motion, and though neither of them made any sign the
+dusky man was quite aware that the girl who had retired to one of the
+windows was watching him. About Father Tiebout he was far from
+certain, but he was a bold man, and turning a little away from him he
+stooped and apparently touched a scratch a thorn or broken grass stalk
+had made on his foot. When he straightened himself again there was,
+however, something in his hand. Then the Chefe appeared to remember
+him.
+
+"You will go back to the Lieutenant Castro," he said. "You can tell
+him there is no answer. Start to-morrow."
+
+"It is a long journey," said the man. "I go back now."
+
+Dom Erminio made a little gesture which seemed to indicate that it was
+a matter of indifference to him, and Father Tiebout put a check on his
+impatience. He had, as it happened, been in the house at least a
+minute before any one had noticed him, and was anxious for reasons of
+his own to discover what was in the letter. He did not know what the
+messenger meant to do with it, but he was aware that those entrusted
+with authority in that country were frequently at variance and spied
+on one another. It was possible that the man who could not read the
+note might expect to sell it.
+
+Still, the missionary was one who seldom spoiled anything by undue
+haste, and he reflected that while he had traveled in a hammock
+leisurely the man was probably worn by a long journey, since San Roque
+lay at some distance from the camp where the officer the Chefe had
+mentioned was stationed then. So he supplied his hosts with
+particulars concerning his complaint, and then talked of other matters
+for an hour or more, and it was not until the comida was laid out that
+he set out on his journey. This was a somewhat unusual course in the
+case of a guest who had a long march still in front of him, but
+although the messenger, who might also have been expected to spend the
+night there, had evinced the same desire to get on his way, it never
+occurred to Dom Erminio to put the two facts together. There are,
+however, other cunning men who now and then fail to see a very obvious
+thing.
+
+Still, Father Tiebout did not go by the nearest way to San Thome,
+though he urged his hammock boys through the bush all night at their
+utmost speed. The path was smoothly trodden, and they had no great
+difficulty in following it through the drifting steam, while when the
+red sun leapt up and here and there a ray of brightness streamed down,
+they came upon a weary man who turned and stood still when he saw
+them. He made a little gesture of comprehension when the priest
+dropped from his hammock and looked at him.
+
+Father Tiebout touched his shoulder and led him back a few paces into
+the bush. The man was big and muscular, as well as a pagan, but the
+priest had the letter when they came out again. He did not tell any
+one how he induced the messenger to part with it, but, as he now and
+then admitted, he was one who did not hesitate to use the means
+available. It was, in fact, a favorite expression of his, and, though
+he usually left the latter point an open question, in his case, at
+least, the results generally justified the means. He spoke a word or
+two sharply to the hammock boys, and they left the man sitting wearily
+beside the trail when they went on again.
+
+It was three weeks later when the priest in charge of the San Thome
+Mission, who was a privileged person, sent on the letter to Dom
+Clemente Figuera by the hands of a Government messenger, but Father
+Tiebout, who requested him to do so, had made one or two other
+arrangements in connection with it in the meanwhile. Ormsgill, as he
+had once said, had a few good friends in Africa.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+NARES COUNTS THE COST
+
+
+It was getting late and the night was very hot, but Nares was still
+busy in his palm-thatched hut. The creed he taught was not regarded
+with any great favor by the authorities, and, perhaps, was also by
+virtue of its very simplicity a little beyond the comprehension of the
+negro, who not unnaturally finds it a good deal easier to believe in a
+pantheon of mostly malevolent deities, but if his precepts produced no
+very visible result, there were, at least, many sick who flocked to
+him. It was significant that the door of his hut stood wide open, as
+it always did, though there were men in that forest who had little
+love for him. The priests of the heathen also practice the art of
+healing, and it is not in human nature to be very tolerant towards a
+rival who works without a fee.
+
+He sat with the perspiration trickling down his worn face beside a
+little silver reading lamp, a gift from somebody in the land he came
+from. Now and then there was a faint stirring of the muggy air, and
+the light flickered a little, while the blue flame of a spirit lamp
+that burned beneath a test tube was deflected a trifle, but the weary
+man scarcely noticed it as he pored over a medical treatise. Nor did
+he notice the crackling that unseen creatures made in the thatch
+above his head, the steamy dampness that soaked his thin duck jacket,
+or the sickly smell of lilies that now and then flowed into the room.
+He was too intent upon the symbols of certain equations, letters and
+figures, and crosses of materialistic significance, with the aid of
+which he could, at least, mitigate bodily suffering and fight disease.
+They were always present, and it was a valiant fight he made in a land
+where the white man's courage melts and his faith grows dim.
+
+At last there were voices and footsteps in the compound, which he
+heard but scarcely heeded, and he only looked up when a man stood in
+the doorway smiling at him.
+
+"Ah," he said, "I scarcely expected to see you, Father. What has
+become of your hammock boys, and where have you sprung from?"
+
+Father Tiebout waved his hand, and dropped into the nearest chair.
+"The boys are already in the guest hut," he said. "I have come from
+San Roque, but not directly. In fact, I found it advisable to make a
+little detour."
+
+"In your case that is not a very unusual thing," and Nares laughed.
+"Still, you appear to get there, arrive, as you express it, at least
+as frequently as I do."
+
+The priest made a little gesture. "When one finds a wall he can not
+get over across his path it is generally wiser to go round. Why should
+one waste his strength and bruise his hands endeavoring to tear it
+down? It may be a misfortune, but I think we were not all intended to
+be battering rams. The metaphor, however, is not a very excellent
+one, since it is in this case a lion that stands in the path of our
+friend Ormsgill. For a minute or two you will give me your attention."
+
+Nares listened with wrinkled forehead, leaning forward with both arms
+on the table, and then there was a faint twinkle in his eyes as he
+looked at his companion. It was, after all, not very astonishing that
+he should smile, for he was accustomed to disconcerting news.
+
+"I wonder if one could ask how you learned so much?" he said. "It is
+scarcely likely that the Chefe or his Lieutenant would tell it you."
+
+"For one thing, I heard a few words that were not exactly meant for
+me; for another, I laid unauthorized hands upon a certain letter. One,
+as I have pointed out, must use the means available."
+
+"The results justify it--when he is successful, which is, no doubt,
+why you so seldom fail? Under the circumstances you can not afford to.
+There may be something to say for that point of view, but our fathers
+were not so liberal in Geneva."
+
+Father Tiebout smiled good-humoredly. "We will not discuss the point
+just now. The question is what must be done? We have a friend who will
+walk straight into the jaws of the lion unless--some one--warns him."
+
+"It is not impossible that he will do so then."
+
+The priest spread his hands out. "Ah," he said, "how can one teach the
+men who delight in stone walls and lions a little sense? Still,
+perhaps, it would be a pity if one could. It is possible that folly
+was the greatest thing bestowed on them when they were sent into this
+world. That, however, is not quite the question."
+
+"It is--who shall go?" and Nares, who closed one hand, thrust his
+chair back noisily. "There are you and I alone available, padre, and
+we know that the one of us who ventures to do this thing will be laid
+under the ban of Authority, openly proscribed or, at least, quietly
+thwarted here and there until he is driven from his work and out of
+the country. There are many ways in which those who hold power in
+these forests can trouble us."
+
+Father Tiebout said nothing, but he made a gesture of concurrence,
+with his eyes fixed steadily on his companion, and Nares, who could
+not help it, smiled a trifle bitterly.
+
+"Well," he said, "you have your adherents--a band of them--and what
+you teach them must be a higher thing than their own idolatry. If they
+lost their shepherd they would fall away again. I, as you know, have
+none. My call, it seems, is never listened to--and it is plain that
+circumstances point to me. Well, I am ready."
+
+His companion nodded gravely. "It is a hard thing I have to say, but
+you are right in this," he said. "I have a flock, and some of them
+would perish if I left them. For their sake I can not go. It is not
+for me to take my part in a splendid folly, but"--and he spread his
+thin hands out--"because it is so I am sorry."
+
+It was clear that Nares believed him, though he said nothing. He knew
+what the thing he was about to do would in all probability cost him,
+but he also realized that had circumstances permitted it the little
+fever-wasted priest would have gladly undertaken it in place of him.
+Father Tiebout was one who recognized his duty, but there was also the
+Latin fire in him, and Nares did not think it was merely because he
+liked it he submitted to Authority and walked circumspectly,
+contenting himself with quietly accomplishing a little here and there.
+
+Then Father Tiebout made a gesture which seemed to imply that there
+was nothing further to be said on that subject, as he pointed through
+the open door to the steamy bush.
+
+"You and I have, perhaps, another duty," he said. "We know what is
+going on up yonder, and, as usual, those in authority seem a trifle
+blind. If nothing is done there will be bloodshed when the men with
+the spears come down."
+
+Nares was by no means perfect, and his face grew suddenly hard.
+"That," he said, "is the business of those who rule. They would not
+believe my warning, and I should not offer it if they would. There are
+wrongs which can only be set right by the shedding of blood, and I
+would not raise a hand if those who have suffered long enough swept
+the whole land clean."
+
+Father Tiebout smiled curiously. "There is, I think, one man who would
+have justice done. It is possible there are also others behind him,
+but that I do not know. He is not a man who takes many into his
+confidence or explains his intentions beforehand. I will venture to
+send him Herrero's letter--and a warning."
+
+He rose with a soft chuckle. "I almost think he will do--something by
+and by, but in the meanwhile it is late, and you start to-morrow."
+
+"No," said Nares simply. "I am starting as soon as the hammock boys
+are ready."
+
+He extinguished the spirit lamp, and lighting a lantern went out into
+the darkness which shrouded the compound. He spent a few minutes in a
+big whitened hut where two or three sick men lay and a half-naked
+negro sat half-asleep. There was, as he realized, not much that he
+could do for any of them, and after all, his most strenuous efforts
+were of very slight avail against the pestilence that swept those
+forests. He had not spared himself, and had done what he could, but
+that night he recognized the uselessness of the struggle, as other men
+have done in the land of unlifting shadow. Still, he gave the negro a
+few simple instructions, and then went out and stood still a few
+moments in the compound before he roused the hammock boys.
+
+There was black darkness about him, and the thicker obscurity of the
+steamy forest that shut him in seemed to emphasize the desolation of
+the little station. He had borne many sorrows there, and had fought
+for weeks together, with the black, pessimistic dejection the fever
+breeds, but now it hurt him to leave it, for he knew that in all
+probability he would never come back again. He sighed a little as he
+moved towards one of the huts, and standing in the entrance called
+until a drowsy voice answered him.
+
+"Get the hammock ready with all the provisions the boys can carry. We
+start on a long journey in half an hour," he said.
+
+Then he went back to his hut, and set out food for himself and his
+guest. They had scarcely finished eating when there was a patter of
+feet in the compound and a shadowy figure appeared in the dim light
+that streamed out from the door.
+
+"The boys wait," it said. "The hammock is ready."
+
+Nares rose and shook hands with his companion. "If I do not come
+back," he said, "you know what I would wish done."
+
+The priest was stirred, but he merely nodded. "In that case I will see
+to it," he said.
+
+Then Nares climbed into the hammock, and once more turned to his
+companion.
+
+"I have," he said, "failed here as a teacher. At first it hurt a
+little to admit it, but the thing is plain. I may have wasted time in
+wondering where my duty lay, but I think I was waiting for a sign.
+Now, when the life of the man you and I brought back here is in peril
+I think it has been given me."
+
+"Ah," said the little priest quietly, "when one has faith enough the
+sign is sometimes given. There are, I think, other men waiting on the
+coast yonder, and one of them is a man who moves surely when the time
+is ripe."
+
+Nares called to the hammock boys, who slipped away into the darkness
+with a soft patter of naked feet, while Father Tiebout stood still in
+the doorway with a curious look in his eyes. He remembered how Nares
+had first walked out of that forest and unobtrusively set about the
+building of his station several years ago. Now he had as quietly gone
+away again, and in a few more months the encroaching forest would
+spread across the compound and enfold the crumbling huts, but for all
+that, the man he had left behind could not believe that what he had
+done there would be wholly thrown away.
+
+It was a long and hasty march the woolly-haired bearers made, and they
+did not spare themselves. It is believed in some quarters that the
+African will only exert himself when he is driven with the stick, and
+there are certainly white men in whose case the belief is more or less
+warranted, but Nares, like Ormsgill, used none, and the boys plodded
+onwards uncomplainingly under burning heat and through sour white
+steam. They hewed a way through tangled creepers, and plunged knee and
+sometimes waist deep in foul morasses. The sweat of tense effort
+dripped from them, and thorns rent their skin, but they would have
+done more had he asked it for the man who lay in the hammock that
+lurched above them.
+
+Nares on his part knew that Ormsgill was well in front of him, and
+Ormsgill as a rule traveled fast, but it was evident that he must have
+made a long journey already, and the Mission boys were fresh. That, at
+least, was clear by the pace they made, but it did not greatly slacken
+when weariness laid hold on them. They pushed on without flagging
+through the unlifting shade, and the ashes of their cooking fires
+marked their track across leagues of forest, until late one night they
+stopped suddenly in a more open glade, and Nares, flung forward in his
+hammock, seized the pole and swung himself down.
+
+He alighted in black shadow, but he could dimly see one of the boys in
+front of him leaning forward as though listening. A blaze of moonlight
+fell upon the trail some forty yards away, and two great trunks rose
+athwart it in towering columns, but there was nothing else visible.
+Still, the boy, who now crouched a trifle, was clearly intent and
+apprehensive. He stood rigid and motionless, gazing at the bush, until
+he slowly turned his head.
+
+Nares, who could hear no sound, felt his heart beat, for the man's
+attitude was unpleasantly suggestive. It seemed that he was following
+something that moved behind the festooned creepers with eyes which
+could see more than those of a white man, and Nares felt the tension
+becoming unendurable as he watched him until the negro flung out a
+pointing hand. Then a voice rose sharply.
+
+"Move forward a few paces out of the shadow," it said in a native
+tongue.
+
+Nares laughed from sheer relief, for the voice was familiar.
+
+"We'll move as far as you wish, but we're quite harmless," he said.
+
+There was a crackle of undergrowth, and a white-clad figure stepped
+out of the bush with something that caught the moonlight and glinted
+in its hand. Nares moved forward, and in another moment or two stopped
+by Ormsgill's side.
+
+"I might have expected something of the kind, but I scarcely fancied
+you were so near," he said. "Anyway, I should not have supposed a
+white man could have crept up on us as you have done."
+
+Ormsgill's smile was a trifle grim. "Most white men have not been
+hunted for their life," he said. "As a rule it's prudent to take
+precautions in the bush. It was not you I expected to see."
+
+"Still, I have come a long way after you."
+
+"Then we'll go back to camp," said Ormsgill. "Bring your boys along."
+
+He sent a hoarse call ringing through the shadows of the bush, and
+then turned to his companion as if in explanation.
+
+"One or two of the boys have Sniders, and their nerves might be a
+trifle unsteady," he said, "I can't get them to keep their finger off
+the trigger."
+
+"Sniders?" said Nares.
+
+Ormsgill laughed. "There are, it seems, a few of them in the country.
+I have now and then come across American rifles, too. I don't know how
+they got here, and it's not my business, but it is generally believed
+that officials now and then acquire a competence by keeping a hand
+open and their eyes shut."
+
+Nares, who asked no more questions, followed him through the creepers
+and undergrowth until he turned and pointed to a stalwart negro
+standing close against a mighty trunk, who lowered his heavy rifle
+with a grin. Then the faint glow of a smoldering fire became visible,
+and Ormsgill stopped where the moonlight streamed down upon the ground
+sheet spread outside a little tent.
+
+"Your boys can camp among my carriers," he said. "You will probably
+have fed them, but I can offer you a few biscuits and some coffee.
+It's Liberian."
+
+The coffee was made and brought them by a splendid grinning negro with
+blue-striped forehead, who hailed from the land where it was grown,
+and while they drank it Nares made his errand clear. When he had done
+this Ormsgill laid down his cup and looked at him.
+
+"There is one thing you have to do, and that is to go back to the
+Mission as fast as you can," he said. "Our friends in authority will
+make things singularly uncomfortable for you if they hear that you
+have taken the trouble to spoil their plan by warning me."
+
+Nares smiled and shook his head. "You ought to be acquainted with the
+customs of this country by now," he said. "I couldn't keep clear of
+all the villages on my way up, and, if I had, news of what I have done
+would have reached San Roque already."
+
+"Ah," said Ormsgill quietly, "that is probably correct. It is
+unfortunate. I won't attempt to thank you--under the circumstances it
+would be a trifle difficult to do it efficiently. Well, since you
+can't go back to the Mission, you must come on with me."
+
+Nares looked at him in some astonishment. "After what I told you, you
+are going on?"
+
+"Of course!" and Ormsgill laughed softly. "I have been trailing
+Domingo for a long while, and he is, as you know, in the village a few
+days' march in front of us with most of the boys. It is scarcely
+likely that I shall have a more favorable opportunity."
+
+"Haven't I made it clear to you that the Headman is a friend of his,
+and they are supposed to have arms there? Can't you understand yet
+that Domingo will embroil you with him, and arrange that you will have
+to fight your way out? Even if you manage it Dom Luiz is close behind
+with several files of infantry, and will certainly lay hands on you.
+You will have fired upon natives under official protection, and taken
+a labor purveyor's boys away from him. It would not be difficult to
+make out that you were inciting the natives to rebellion. Do you
+expect a fair hearing at San Roque?"
+
+"I don't," and Ormsgill smiled. "In fact, I don't purpose to go there
+at all. I expect to be clear again with the boys before Dom Luiz
+arrives. From what I know of his habits on the march I should be able
+to manage it."
+
+"But it is likely that Domingo, who knows he is expected to keep you
+here until Dom Luiz turns up, will sell the boys?"
+
+Ormsgill smiled again. "I don't purpose to afford him the opportunity.
+He stole the boys, and I am merely going to make him give them up
+again. With a little resolution I believe it can be done. Still, I am
+sorry to drag you into the thing."
+
+Nares said nothing for a moment or two. He felt that it would be
+useless, and his companion's quiet cold-blooded daring had its effect
+on him. After all, check it as he would, there was in him a vague
+pride and belief in the white man's destiny, and in the land he came
+from the term white man does not include the Latins. This world, it
+seems, was made for Americans and Englishmen to rule. A little gleam
+crept into his eyes.
+
+"Well," he said, "I don't think I'm going to blame you now I am in."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+NEGRO DIPLOMACY
+
+
+The glare was almost intolerable when Ormsgill and his carriers walked
+into the space of trampled dust round which straggled the heavily
+thatched huts of the native village. The afternoon sun flooded it with
+a pitiless heat and dazzling brilliancy, and there was not a movement
+in the stagnant atmosphere. Beyond the clustering huts the forest rose
+impressively still, and there was a deep silence for a few moments
+after the line of weary men appeared. Then as they came on with a soft
+patter of naked feet a murmur rose from the groups of half-naked
+negroes squatting in the dust under the shadow flung by a great tree.
+It was not articulate, but there was a hint of anger in it, for white
+men were not regarded with any great favor in that village, which was
+not astonishing.
+
+They moved quietly forward across the glaring dust, with a guard of
+dusky men in white cotton marching rifle on shoulder behind them.
+Indeed, the carriers only stopped when they reached the shadow of the
+tree under which the Headman and the elders of the village had
+assembled. Then as Ormsgill raised his hand the men with rifles swung
+out to left and right, and stood fast, an inconsequent handful of
+motionless figures with the unarmed carriers clustering behind them.
+Their white cotton draperies, which they had put on half an hour ago,
+gleamed in the sun glare dazzlingly.
+
+Ormsgill was quite aware that a good deal depended on his composure
+and steadiness of bearing, but he had just come out of the shadow of
+the forest and he blinked as he looked about him. Close in front of
+him the fat village Headman sat on a carved stool, but there was
+another older man of somewhat lighter color and dignified presence who
+was seated a little higher, and this promised to complicate the
+affair, since Ormsgill recognized him as a man of some importance in
+those forests, and one who claimed a certain domination over the
+villages in them. It was known that he bore the white men little good
+will, but his presence there suggested that he had some complaint
+against the villagers, or was disposed as their suzerain to listen to
+their grievances, and Ormsgill realized that he had arrived at a
+somewhat unfortunate time. Then his eyes rested on another man he had
+expected to see. He stood among the elders, big and brown-skinned,
+with loose robes of white and blue flowing about him, smiling
+maliciously, though Ormsgill fancied that for some not very evident
+reason he was not quite at ease. Nares, who now stood beside his
+comrade, recognized him as Domingo, the labor purveyor.
+
+"I'm 'most afraid you are going to find it difficult to get those
+boys," he said. "One could fancy these people had affairs of their own
+to discuss, and it's by no means certain that they'll even listen to
+us in the meanwhile."
+
+Ormsgill, who did not answer him, glanced round at his boys. He
+fancied that none of them felt exactly comfortable, but they, at
+least, kept still, and he sent forward two of them with the presents
+he had brought before he turned to the Headman.
+
+"I have come here to justice," he said in a bush tongue, and Nares who
+had a closer acquaintance with it amplified his observations. "That
+man," and he pointed to Domingo, "has with him boys who belonged to my
+friend the trader Lamartine. He stole them, and I have made a long
+journey to get them back again."
+
+"If they belonged to Lamartine, who is dead, they can not be yours,"
+said the Headman shrewdly. "You do not say you bought them from him."
+
+"In one sense it's almost a pity you hadn't. He has made a point,"
+Nares said quietly.
+
+It was evident that the rest of the assembly recognized the fact, for
+there was laughter and a murmur of concurrence. Ormsgill, who did not
+expect to be believed, flung a hand up.
+
+"If you will listen you shall hear why I claim them," he said, and he
+spoke for some minutes tersely while Nares now and then flung in a
+word or two.
+
+Another laugh rang along the rows of squatting men, and there was
+blank incredulity in the dusky faces. This was, however, by no means
+astonishing, since the motives he professed to have been actuated by
+were distinctly unusual in that part of Africa. It was inconceivable
+to those who heard him that a man should trouble himself greatly about
+a promise he need not have kept, as this one said he had done. They
+were too well acquainted with the white men's habits to believe a
+thing of that kind could be possible. The fat Headman looked round and
+grinned.
+
+"I think," he observed, "we should now hear what Domingo has to say."
+
+Domingo had a good deal to say, and framed it cunningly, playing upon
+the dislike of the white men that was in those who heard him, but as
+Ormsgill noticed, it was the old man of lighter color he chiefly
+watched. The latter sat silent and motionless, regarding him with
+expressionless eyes, until he ceased, and Ormsgill realized that if it
+depended upon the opinion of the assembly Domingo had won his case.
+Still, though he was by no means sure what he would do, he was, at
+least, determined it should not depend on that, and there was a trace
+of grimness in his smile when Nares turned to him.
+
+"I'm afraid it has gone against us," he said.
+
+"Against me, you mean," said Ormsgill dryly.
+
+"No," and Nares's gesture was expressive, "what I said stands without
+the correction."
+
+Before Ormsgill could answer, the old man made a sign, and there was
+no mistaking his tone of authority.
+
+"Bring the boys," he said.
+
+They were led in some minutes later, eight of them, and three or four
+ran towards Ormsgill with eager cries. He waved them back, and there
+was silence for a moment or two until the old man rose up slowly with
+a curious smile in his eyes.
+
+"It seems that this man has not beaten them too often," he said. "You
+have seen that they would sooner be his men than Domingo's. Let one of
+them speak."
+
+One of them did so, and what he said bore out some, at least, of
+Ormsgill's assertions. Then the grave figure in the plain white robe
+raised a hand, and there was a sudden silence of attention.
+
+"After all," he said, "this is my village, and it is by my permission
+your Headman rules here. Now, this stranger has told us a thing which
+appears impossible. We have not heard anything like it from a white
+man before, but when a man would deceive you he is careful to tell you
+what you can believe."
+
+There was a little murmur which suggested that the listeners grasped
+the point of this, and the old man went on.
+
+"I know that Lamartine was an honest man, for I have bought trade
+goods from him. They were what I bought them for, and I got the weight
+and count in full. Lamartine was honest, and it is likely that this
+man is honest, too, or he would not have been his friend."
+
+He stopped a moment, and smiled a trifle dryly. "Now, we know that
+Domingo is a thief, for he has often cheated you, and it is certain
+that he is a friend of the white men. I have told you at other times
+that you are fools to trade with him. If a man is in debt or has done
+some wrong you part with him for this trader's goods. The rum is
+drunk, the cloth wears out, but the man lives on, and every day's work
+he does on the white men's plantations makes them richer and
+stronger. As they grow richer they grow greedier, and by and by they
+will not be satisfied with a man or two from among you. You will have
+made them strong enough to take you all. That, however, is not the
+question in the meanwhile. I think it may have happened, as this
+stranger says, that Domingo stole these boys from Lamartine, but even
+in that case there is a difficulty. The boys are with him, and in this
+country what a man holds in his hand is his. Perhaps the white man
+will offer him goods for them. I do not think he would ask too much,
+at least, if he is wise."
+
+He looked at Ormsgill, who shook his head.
+
+"Not a piece of cloth or a bottle of gin," he said.
+
+There was a little murmur of resentment from the assembly, but
+Ormsgill saw that his boldness had the effect he had expected upon the
+man whose suggestion he had disregarded, and he had not acted
+inadvisedly when he dismissed all idea of compromise. Domingo had
+influential friends in that village, while, save for the handful of
+carriers, he and his companion stood alone. He also knew that if
+misfortune befell them no troublesome questions would be asked by the
+authorities. The whole enterprise was in one sense a folly, and that
+being so it was only by a continuance of the rashness he could expect
+to carry it through. Half measures were, as he realized, generally
+useless, and often perilous, in an affair of the kind, for there are
+occasions when one must face disastrous failure or bid boldly for
+success. Nares also seemed to recognize that fact, for he smiled as he
+turned to his companion.
+
+"I think you were right," he said.
+
+Then the Headman said something to his Suzerain who made a sign that
+the audience was over.
+
+"It is a thing that must be talked over," he announced. "We shall,
+perhaps, know what must be done to-morrow."
+
+Ormsgill acknowledged his gesture, swinging off his shapeless hat, and
+then led his boys away to the hut one of the Headman's servants
+pointed out to him. It was old, and had apparently been built for a
+person of importance for, though this was more usual further east
+among the dusky Moslem, there was a tall mud wall about it, and a
+smaller building probably intended for the occupation of the women
+inside the latter. It was dusty and empty save for the rats and
+certain great spiders, and during the rest of the hot afternoon
+Ormsgill sat with Nares in the little enclosed space under the
+lengthening shadow of the wall. The boys had curled themselves up
+amidst the dust and quietly gone to sleep.
+
+There was nothing they could see but the ridge of forest beyond the
+huts, and though now and then a clamor of voices reached them from
+outside, it supplied them with no clue to what was going on. Ormsgill
+smoked his pipe out several times before he said anything, and then he
+glanced at the wall meditatively.
+
+"It seems thick, and there's only one entrance," he observed. "I
+almost fancy we could hold the place, though I don't anticipate the
+necessity. Still, Domingo, who does a good trade here, has a certain
+following, and it might be an advantage if I knew a little more about
+our friends' affair. Their Suzerain seems to have some notion of fair
+play. I wonder what he is doing here."
+
+"I have been asking myself the same question," said Nares. "It seems
+to me these folks have been a little slack in recognizing his
+authority, and he has been making them a visitation. In one respect
+they're somewhat unfortunately fixed. The Portuguese consider they
+belong to them though they have made no attempt to occupy the country,
+and it's a little rough on the Headman who has to keep the peace with
+both."
+
+Ormsgill made a little gesture of concurrence. "No doubt you're
+correct. The question is who the Headman would sooner not offend, and
+it's rather an important one because we are somewhat awkwardly
+circumstanced if it's the Portuguese. Our friend from the Interior
+naturally doesn't like them, but it's uncertain how far we could count
+on him, and Dom Luiz will probably turn up to-morrow night or the next
+day, and then there would be fresh complications."
+
+"In that case we should never get the boys."
+
+The lines grew a trifle deeper in Ormsgill's forehead, but he smiled.
+"I wouldn't go quite so far, though if Domingo still had the boys it
+might delay things. As it is, I don't think he will have them. How I'm
+going to take them from him I don't quite know, but I expect to make
+an attempt of some kind to-morrow. You see, these folks have no
+particular fondness for the Portuguese, and that will probably count
+for a little."
+
+Nares said nothing further on that subject, and Ormsgill talked about
+other matters while the shadows crept across the little dusty
+enclosure and the forest cut more darkly against the dazzling glare.
+Then it stood out for a brief few minutes fretted hard and sharp in
+ebony against a blaze of transcendent splendor, and vanished with an
+almost bewildering suddenness as darkness swept down. The smell of
+wood smoke crept into the stagnant air, and a cheerful hum of voices
+rose from the huts beyond the wall, through which odd bursts of
+laughter broke. It would not have been astonishing if it had jarred
+upon the susceptibilities of the two men who heard it, but, as it
+happened, they listened tranquilly. They had both faced too many
+perils in the shadowy land to concern themselves greatly as to what
+might befall them. In one was the sure belief that all he was to bear
+was appointed for him, and the other thought of little but the task in
+hand. They were simple men, impatient often, and now and then driven
+into folly by human bitterness, but there is, perhaps, nothing taught
+in all the creeds and philosophies greater than their desire to do a
+little good. The formulas change, and lose their authority, but the
+down-trodden and those who groan beneath a heavy burden always remain.
+
+By and by one of the Headman's retainers brought in food and a native
+lamp. He had nothing to tell the white men, and they, recognizing it,
+judiciously refrained from useless questions. When they had eaten they
+sat awhile talking of matters that did not greatly interest them until
+Ormsgill, who had already stationed his sentries, extinguished the
+light.
+
+"Whether the boys can be depended on to watch I don't know, and it's
+probably very doubtful," he said. "Anyway, I think we shall be safe
+until to-morrow, and I'm going to sleep. After all, I fancy we could
+leave the thing to the Headman. He's a cunning rascal, and it's to
+some extent his business to find a way out of the difficulty. As you
+suggest, he stands between his Suzerain and the Portuguese, and can't
+afford to offend either of them."
+
+He stretched himself out on his hard native couch, and apparently sank
+into tranquil slumber, but it was some time before Nares' eyes closed.
+He was of different temperament, and, though he was not unduly
+anxious, the surroundings had their effect on him. There was, as
+usual, no door to the hut, and he could see the soft blue darkness
+beyond the entrance. The figure of a big, half-naked man who carried a
+heavy rifle cut against it shadowily now and then. The village was
+silent, and he could hear a little hot breeze sweep through it and
+stir the invisible trees. At last, however, he sank into sleep, and
+was awakened suddenly some time later. He did not know what had roused
+him, but as he raised himself he dimly saw Ormsgill slip across the
+room. Then there was a footfall outside, and he made out the sentry
+half-crouching in the entrance.
+
+He rose, and stood still, quivering a little, while, perhaps, a
+quarter of a minute slipped by. The stillness was very impressive, and
+seemed emphasized by the footsteps outside. They were soft and
+cautious, and it was evident that the man who made them was desirous
+of slipping into the hut unseen. Then there was a thud in the
+entrance, and a scuffle during which Ormsgill hurled himself upon the
+pair of struggling men.
+
+"Let him go," he said in a bush tone. "Take your hand off his neck.
+Now get up."
+
+A man who gasped heavily staggered to his feet, and Ormsgill laughed
+as he turned to Nares.
+
+"I believe he's a messenger, but he can hardly blame us for welcoming
+him as we did," he said. "Now if you have anything to say go on with
+it."
+
+Nares could only just see the negro, who was probably attempting to
+recover his senses, for he said nothing.
+
+"Who sent you?" asked Ormsgill, who gripped his arm tightly, in the
+native tongue.
+
+"It is a thing I am not to tell," said the man. "I have a message.
+Domingo left our village with the boys an hour ago. He heads for the
+west."
+
+Nares turned to Ormsgill. "Well," he said, "I am not altogether
+astonished, and the Headman's hint is plain enough. Of course, the
+thing may be a trap, but it is quite possible he is not unnaturally
+anxious to get rid of us and Domingo."
+
+Ormsgill looked at the negro. "If he has gone an hour ago how are we
+to come up with him?"
+
+"The road twists across the high land," said the man. "There is a
+shorter path through a swamp."
+
+"Then if you will lead us across the swamp so we can reach firm ground
+in front of Domingo you shall have as much cloth as you can carry."
+
+It was a tempting offer, and though the negro appeared to have
+misgivings he profited by it, and in another few minutes Ormsgill had
+roused the boys in the compound.
+
+"If we have no trouble in getting out I think we can feel reasonably
+sure that the Headman doesn't care whether we worry Domingo or not,"
+he said.
+
+"Well," said Nares reflectively, "I almost think you're right. Still,
+he may, after all, have something different in his mind. As you said,
+we could probably hold the hut, and we are not out of the village
+yet."
+
+Ormsgill seemed to smile. "In that case," he said, "he may have reason
+to be sorry he ever entertained a notion of that kind."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE AMBUSCADE
+
+
+A thin crescent moon hung low in the western sky when they slipped out
+into the sleeping village, and shadowy huts and encircling forest were
+dimly distinguishable. The place was very silent, and though the negro
+as a rule sleeps lightly no one appeared in a doorway, and no voice
+was raised to challenge them. In fact, Nares, who walked beside his
+comrade with his heart beating a good deal faster than usual, felt the
+silence almost oppressive, for he was conscious that it might at any
+moment be rudely broken. He had very little confidence in the dusky
+Headman, and knew that if treachery was intended they were affording
+him the opportunity he probably desired.
+
+Now and then there was a faint clatter and jingle of arms, and at
+times the soft patter of naked feet in the trampled dust was flung
+back with what appeared to be a startling distinctness by the huts
+they passed, but there was no other sound, and the boys flitted
+steadily on, a line of vague, shadowy figures, in front of him. Then
+he drew a deep breath of relief as they left the village behind them
+and plunged into the gloom of the forest. He looked back a moment
+towards the clustering huts which rose faintly black against the dim
+bush, and wondered how the Headman would explain matters to his
+Suzerain on the morrow. That, however, was the Headman's affair, and
+Nares fancied he would be equal to the occasion, since the negro is
+usually a very shrewd diplomatist.
+
+By and by the darkness beneath the trees grew a little less intense,
+and they came out on the brink of a morass. It stretched away before
+them smeared with drifting wisps of sour white steam, and it was not
+astonishing that they halted and looked at it apprehensively. An
+African swamp is not, as a rule, considered impassable so long as one
+does not sink beyond the hips in it, and there are places where
+British forest officers flounder through them more or less cheerfully
+for days together, but it is, for all that, a thing the average white
+man has a natural shrinking from. Ormsgill significantly tapped the
+rifle he now carried before he exchanged a few words with their guide.
+
+"He says we can get through, but I'll take the precaution of walking
+close beside him," he said to Nares. "It's an excellent rule in this
+country not to let your guide get too far in front of you."
+
+They went in, and the tall grass near the verge crackled about them as
+they sank in the plastic mire out of which they could scarcely drag
+their feet. It was a little easier where there was only foul slime and
+water, and in places there were signs of a path, that is, they could
+see where somebody else had floundered through the quaggy waste of
+corruption. The smell was a thing to shudder at, but they were all of
+them more or less used to that, and the emanations of such places do
+not invariably prostrate the white man who is accustomed to the
+country. In some cases, at least, the results of inhaling them only
+appear some time afterwards, but there are very few white men who
+escape them altogether.
+
+In due time they came out, bemired from head to foot, with scum and
+slimy water draining from them, and they diffused sour odors as they
+once more plunged into the forest which just there was permeated with
+the sickly scent of lilies. Still, it was a consolation to Ormsgill
+that they had, at least, left nobody behind, and he acquired a certain
+confidence in their guide. They pushed on for most of the night,
+smashing and hacking a way through creepers, and stumbling in loose
+white sand, and at last came out upon a well beaten trail. The negro
+who crawled up and down it said that Domingo had not reached that spot
+yet, but Ormsgill did not content himself with his assurance. With
+difficulty, he made a little fire and while it flickered feebly
+stooped over the loose sand. Then he stamped it out before he turned
+to Nares.
+
+"I almost think he is right, and as the Headman doesn't expect us to
+compromise him we'll let him go," he said.
+
+The man, it was evident, had no desire to stay, and when he went away
+content with his load of cotton cloth Ormsgill made the most of his
+forces. Two men with Sniders whom he fancied he could to some extent
+depend upon were sent back to crouch beside the trail; a few more took
+up their stations a little distance ahead; and the white men lay down
+with the carriers between the two parties, and a few yards back from
+the path. It was now a trifle cooler, for the night was wearing
+through, and the mysterious voices of the forest had died away and
+left a deep silence intensified by the splash of moisture on the
+leaves. Nares shivered a little as the all pervading damp crept
+through his thin garments, though the lower half of them was still
+foul with the mire of the swamp.
+
+"I suppose we shall meet Domingo if we wait long enough?" he said.
+"After all, we have only the Headman's word to warrant us believing
+it."
+
+Ormsgill laughed. "It depends a good deal upon the kind of bargains
+Domingo has made with him lately. The thing will probably work out
+just as we would like it if he hasn't been quite satisfied with them.
+It's an arrangement that would commend itself to the average African.
+Still, as I said already, I'm a trifle sorry that you are mixed up in
+it."
+
+Nares sat silent a moment or two. He had borne a good deal, perhaps
+rather more than could have been expected of him, from those whom he
+considered with some reason as workers of iniquity, and, after all,
+excessive meekness has seldom been a characteristic of the Puritan.
+
+"Well," he said slowly, "I'm not sure that I am. It is very probable
+that I have been proscribed already, and, perhaps, it was not patience
+but cowardice that made me submit so long. After all, patience
+accomplishes very little in Africa."
+
+"I'm afraid it was never one of my strong points," and Ormsgill
+smiled. "In fact, if Domingo made any kind of fight it would be a
+certain relief to me, although because one can't always afford to be
+guided by his personal likes I've taken every precaution against it.
+Now, suppose we get the boys back, what do you propose to do?"
+
+"Go back to my station," said Nares quietly.
+
+"And if you hear that Dom Luiz is there with several files of infantry
+to arrest you?"
+
+"In that case I will go down to the coast with you."
+
+Ormsgill dropped a hand on his comrade's shoulder. "I shall be glad to
+have you wherever I go, though I'm not sure that you wouldn't be safer
+if you pushed on alone. You don't mention what it has cost you to warn
+me, but I think I can understand."
+
+Nares slowly shook his head. "I don't think I have much to regret," he
+said without a trace of bitterness. "I was sent here to save men's
+souls, and it seems that I have failed. Still, I think I should have
+stayed and healed their bodies--had it been permitted--but there is,
+perhaps, work I can do elsewhere since that is not the case." He
+stopped a moment with the faintest sigh. "We will not mention this
+again."
+
+Ormsgill said nothing, probably because he was more than a trifle
+stirred. He knew that it requires self-restraint and courage to face
+the fact that one's efforts have been thrown away, but there are men
+like him who now and then shrink from expressing their sympathy.
+Leaning forward a little with the rifle across his knees he set
+himself to listen.
+
+It was almost an hour before he heard anything at all, and in the
+meanwhile the faint coolness increased, and the tops of the trees
+above him became dimly visible. They cut with a growing sharpness
+against the eastern sky, and here and there a massy trunk grew out of
+the obscurity. Then there was a faint pearly flush beyond them, and in
+the cold of the sudden dawn he heard the men he was waiting for. A
+soft patter of footsteps and a murmur of voices came up the winding
+trail. He knew the boys had also heard, for the undergrowth behind him
+crackled and then was still again.
+
+In another few minutes there was dim light in the forest, and he could
+see indistinct figures moving towards him through the narrow gap in
+the leaves. They became more visible, and he could make out the
+uncovered ebony skin of some and the fluttering cotton that flowed
+about the others' limbs. There were burdens upon most of their heads,
+but a few carried what seemed to be long flintlock guns. Then, for
+dawn comes with startling swiftness in that land, the shadowy trunks
+became sharp and clear, and the men who plodded among them seemed to
+emerge from a blurring obscurity. Black limbs, impassive faces, raw
+white draperies, and gray gun barrels were forced up in the sudden
+light, but Ormsgill raising himself a trifle fixed his eyes upon the
+man of lighter color who walked a little apart from the others. His
+voice rang harshly as he flung menaces in a native tongue at one or
+two of those who lagged under their burdens, and perhaps he was, in
+one respect, warranted in this, since, for economic reasons, the negro
+whose labor somebody else has sold for him is seldom loaded beyond
+his strength on his march to the coast, at least, so long as
+provisions are plentiful.
+
+They had almost reached the spot where the white men lay when Ormsgill
+quietly walked out into the trail, and stood there with left foot
+forward and the rifle at his hip. He had left his shapeless hat
+behind, and his thin, thorn-rent garments clung about him damp with
+dew and foul with mire. Still, he looked curiously resolute, and the
+men with the burdens stopped and recoiled at the sight of him, until
+one group of them flung down what they carried and ran towards him
+clamoring. Then there was a harsh cry from the rear of the line, and
+swinging round they scattered into the underbrush as the tall man of
+lighter color sprang forward with something that glinted in his hand.
+
+Ormsgill's rifle went up and came in to the shoulder. With the same
+motion his cheek dropped upon the stock. He said nothing, but the
+labor purveyor stopped. Ormsgill swung down the rifle.
+
+"Look behind you," he said in Portuguese.
+
+Domingo turned, and saw two half-naked men with Sniders standing in
+the trail. Then looking round again he saw several more ahead, while
+other dusky figures had risen here and there among the undergrowth.
+They appeared resolute, and it was evident that he could get no
+further without their permission. He was credited with being a daring
+as well as an unscrupulous man, but he knew when the odds were too
+heavy against him, and he made a sign to Ormsgill.
+
+"You want something from me?" he said.
+
+"I do," said Ormsgill. "The boys you stole from Lamartine. It will
+save you trouble if you give them up."
+
+Domingo glanced once more at the men with the rifles, who stood still,
+one or two of them regarding him with a sardonic grin. Then he glanced
+at his startled carriers, who had thrown down their burdens and
+huddled together. There was, of course, nothing to be expected from
+them, and his few armed retainers were evidently not to be relied
+upon. In fact, they were gazing longingly at the bush, and it was
+clear that they were ready to make a dash for its shelter. They had
+done his bidding truculently when it was a question of overawing
+down-trodden bushmen and keeping defenseless carriers on the march,
+but to face resolute men with rifles was a different matter, and their
+courage was not equal to the task. Domingo seemed to recognize it, for
+he made a little scornful gesture.
+
+"If I had a few men who could be depended on I would fight you for the
+boys," he said. "As it is they are yours."
+
+"I see eight," said Ormsgill. "Where are the others?"
+
+Domingo smiled maliciously. "In the hands of the Ugalla Headman. I am
+afraid it will be a little difficult to induce him to part with them:
+Lamartine, it seems, had taught them enough to make them useful to a
+Headman who is copying the white men's habits."
+
+"In that case he no doubt gave you something worth while for them, and
+since you stole them it does not belong to you. Are you willing to
+tell me what he offered you?"
+
+"No," said Domingo resolutely.
+
+"It wouldn't be difficult to estimate it at the usual figure, and you
+will understand that the Headman will ask me, at least, as much as he
+gave for them, but I will be reasonable. If you will let me have the
+arms your boys carry I shall be satisfied."
+
+"How can I drive these men to the coast if we have no arms?"
+
+"I don't know," said Ormsgill with a little laugh. "It is your affair,
+but, perhaps, I can simplify the thing for you. I will take the arms
+in exchange for the boys in the Headman's possession, and hand you
+over what trade goods I have and paper bills for the rest of the men,
+except the eight boys, for whom you will get nothing. I think I can
+calculate what they cost you, and the fact that the transaction is
+probably illegal does not trouble me."
+
+There was still silence for a moment or two, and a dazzling ray of
+sunlight beat down into the bush. It made a sudden brightness, and
+showed the malice in Domingo's dusky face. Then it touched the huddled
+carriers' naked skin, and Nares glanced from them to the group of
+Lamartine's boys who had appeared again. It seemed they understood a
+little of what was going on, and were watching Ormsgill expectantly.
+He stood quietly in the middle of the trail, with a rifle at his hip
+and a little grim smile in his eyes. All round rose the forest,
+impressive in its stillness, dim and shadowy, and the scene had a
+curious effect on Nares. He felt it had its symbolism, and its motive
+was that of all the old world legends and dramas, the triumph of the
+right over evil which man has from forgotten times vaguely believed
+in. It is, perhaps, especially difficult to be an optimist in Africa,
+but Nares who had borne a good deal in its steamy shadow held fast to
+his faith, and it did not matter greatly to him that the latter day
+champion of the oppressed was a most unknightly figure in burst shoes
+and tattered garments and carried an American rifle. At last, however,
+Domingo made a little gesture.
+
+"I am in your hands," he said. "You shall have them."
+
+They were not long in making the bargain, and when the arms and all
+the boys except the few who had carried the long guns had been handed
+over Ormsgill turned once more to Domingo.
+
+"Now," he said, "you can go where you please, but I scarcely think it
+will be back towards the interior. Your friends up yonder would
+probably profit by the opportunity if you appeared among them with a
+few unarmed men."
+
+Domingo called to his few remaining followers, who took up some of the
+loads the men released had carried for them. Then there was a soft
+patter of feet and one by one the dusky figures flitted by and
+vanished into the gloom. Ormsgill armed Lamartine's boys, and
+afterwards drew Nares aside.
+
+"In the first case I have to make sure of these men, and it is a
+question if I can reach the coast before Domingo's friends head me
+off," he said. "Considering everything it seems to me that haste is
+distinctly advisable."
+
+They started in another half-hour, and pushed on through the forest
+for a week or two. Then Ormsgill made a traverse which cost him
+several days to reach the vicinity of Nares' station. He stopped at a
+bush village, and was told there that the station was occupied by
+black soldiers from San Roque. When they heard it Ormsgill quietly
+looked at Nares.
+
+"You can't go back," he said. "The Chefe holds summary authority, and
+no doubt has his views concerning you. It's scarcely worth while
+pointing out what they would probably be, but if you succeed in
+getting out of his hands you would be a discredited man who had only
+met with his deserts."
+
+Nares made a little gesture, for that was a very bitter moment, but
+his face was tranquil.
+
+"It's a thing I was prepared for. We'll push on," he said.
+
+They stayed an hour or two in the village, and then started once more
+on their long journey to the coast. It was clear that they could
+afford no delay in reaching it, but there was no road to the Bahia
+Santiago, and day by day they floundered through swamp and forest
+under an intolerable heat, with garments rent to tatters, worn out,
+gasping now and then, but always pushing on. They drank putrid water,
+and when provisions commenced to run out lived on a few daily handfuls
+of equally divided food. Nature was also against them, and barred
+their path with fallen trees and thorny creepers, and the march they
+made was a test of what man could bear. Still, there was no discord,
+and no negro raised his voice in protest. The boys recognized that
+haste was advisable, and they had confidence in the white man with the
+quiet lined face who marched at the head of them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+DOM CLEMENTE LOOKS ON
+
+
+A little breeze blew in between the slender pillars delightfully fresh
+and cool, and Dom Clemente Figuera, who had taken off his heavy kepi,
+lay in a cane chair with a smile in his half-closed eyes. The ten
+o'clock breakfast had just been cleared away, but two cups of bitter
+black coffee still stood upon the table beside a bundle of cigars and
+a flask of light red wine. He was, as he now and then laughingly
+admitted, usually in an excellent humor after breakfast, and one could
+have fancied just then that he had not a care in the world. There
+were, however, men who said that in the case of Dom Clemente
+tranquillity was not always a favorable sign.
+
+Opposite him sat the trader Herrero, who was not quite so much at ease
+as he desired to be. His manners were usually characterized by a
+certain truculence, which as a rule served him well in the bush, but
+he had sense enough to realize that it was not likely to have much
+effect upon his companion. There was something about the little
+smiling gentleman in the immaculate white uniform on the other side of
+the table which would have made it difficult for one to adopt an
+aggressive attitude towards him, even if he had not been one who held
+authority. Herrero had therefore laid a somewhat unusual restraint
+upon himself while he expressed his views, and now sat watching his
+companion anxiously. Dom Clemente lighted a cigar before he answered
+him.
+
+"This Englishman," he said, "is apparently a turbulent person. I have
+just received a letter concerning him from the Chefe at San Roque, as
+you are, no doubt, aware."
+
+There was a question in his glance which Herrero could not ignore,
+though he would have liked to do so. He felt it was unfortunate that
+he did not know exactly what was in the letter.
+
+"I addressed my complaint to the Chefe in the first case," he said.
+"Since Ormsgill is believed to have traveled towards the coast it was
+to be expected that Dom Erminio should communicate with you."
+
+"Exactly!" and Dom Clemente smiled. "The complaint, it seems, is a
+double one. The Englishman Ormsgill has, I am informed, abducted a
+native girl who was in your company, but one can not quite understand
+how he has offended in this, since it appears that she was content to
+go with him. In one case only you have a remedy. If you have any
+record of a marriage with this woman the affair shall be looked into."
+
+"I have none," and Herrero made a little gesture. "There are, you
+understand, certain customs in the bush."
+
+Dom Clemente reproachfully shook his head. "They are," he said, "not
+recognized by the law, and that being so your grievance against the
+Englishman is a purely personal one. It is no doubt exasperating that
+the woman should prefer him, and she is probably unwise in this, but
+it is not a matter that concerns any one else."
+
+"It is not alleged that she preferred him," and the trader's face
+flushed a trifle.
+
+"Still," said his companion, "she went with him. Now you do not wish
+to tell me that you had laid any restraint upon her to keep her with
+you, or that there was anything to warrant you doing so. For instance,
+you do not wish me to believe that you had bought her?"
+
+Herrero did not, at least, consider it prudent. The law, as he was
+aware, did not countenance such transactions, and while he sat silent
+his companion smiled at him.
+
+"Then," he said, "I am afraid I can only offer you my sympathy, and we
+will proceed to the next complaint. This Englishman, it is alleged,
+has also stolen certain boys from Domingo. Now the law allows a native
+to bind himself to labor for a specified time, and while the
+engagement lasts he is in a sense the property of the man he makes it
+with. The engagement, of course, can only be made in due form on the
+coast, but the man who brings the boys down and feeds them on the
+strength of their promise may be considered to have some claim on
+them. It seems to me that person was Domingo. Why did he not make the
+complaint himself?"
+
+"He is busy, and it would necessitate a long journey. Besides, I have
+a share in his business ventures."
+
+"That," said Dom Clemente reflectively, "is a sufficient reason. This
+Domingo seems to be an enterprising man. One wonders if he has many
+business associates up yonder."
+
+Again Herrero did not answer. He did not like the little shrewd smile
+in his companion's eyes, for, as he was aware, the only white men in
+the forests Domingo frequented were missionaries and administrators,
+who were, at least, not supposed to participate in purely commercial
+ventures. He could not understand Dom Clemente at all, for it was very
+natural that it should not occur to him that he was an honest man, as
+well as an astute one who had been entrusted with a difficult task. He
+would, in fact, have been startled had he known what was in his
+companion's mind. Seeing he did not speak, Dom Clemente waved his
+hand.
+
+"It seems," he said, "that Ormsgill will make for the coast with the
+boys in question, and you have come to warn me, partly because it is
+to your interest, and partly from the sense of duty. Well, with this
+knowledge in my possession it should be difficult for him to get them
+away."
+
+He stopped a moment, but Herrero saw nothing significant in the fact
+that he glanced languidly towards the _Palestrina_. She lay gleaming
+white like ivory on the glittering stretch of water he could see
+across the roofs of the city, and, as it happened, he was going off
+that evening to a function which Desmond, who had brought her in the
+day before, had arranged.
+
+"Steps will be taken to intercept him when we have news of his
+whereabouts, and in the meanwhile I have another question," he said.
+"There is discontent up yonder among the bushmen?"
+
+His manner was indifferent, but Herrero was on his guard. "A little,"
+he said. "If it becomes more serious it will be due to this Ormsgill,
+and, perhaps, to the missionaries. He and the American are teaching
+the bushmen to be mutinous."
+
+Dom Clemente took up a letter which had, as it happened, been sent him
+by Father Tiebout, from the table, and read it meditatively. Then he
+rose with a little smile.
+
+"The affair shall be looked into," he said.
+
+Herrero withdrew, not altogether satisfied. Dom Clemente had been
+uniformly courteous, but now and then a just perceptible hardness had
+crept into his eyes. The latter, however, smiled as he poured himself
+out another glass of wine, and then turned quietly, as his daughter
+appeared in the doorway. She came nearer, and stood looking down at
+him.
+
+"That man has gone away?" she said. "He is an infamous person."
+
+Dom Clemente glanced at the little green lattice on the white wall
+behind her with a faint twinkle in his eyes. It was not very far away,
+and he remembered that Herrero had spoken distinctly.
+
+"One would admit that he is not a particularly estimable man, but he
+has, like most of us, his little role to play," he said. "He does not,
+however, play it brilliantly."
+
+Benicia made a gesture of impatience. "The Englishman is on his way
+to the coast. You are going to arrest him?"
+
+"When we know where he is. What would you have me do? A man in
+authority has his duty."
+
+"Is it a duty to bring trouble on a man who has done no wrong?"
+
+Dom Clemente leaned forward with his arms on the table, and looked at
+her with a curious little smile.
+
+"I almost think," he said reflectively, "if I was a great friend of
+this Englishman's I would prefer him to fall into the hands of--such a
+man as I am. In that case, he would, at least, be prevented from going
+back to the bush, which is just now unsafe for him."
+
+Benicia felt her face grow hot under his steady gaze. "The difficulty
+is that there are men without scruples who would blame him for
+whatever trouble may be going on up yonder in the forest," she said.
+"You would have to listen to them. If their complaints were serious
+what would you do?"
+
+"Ah," said Dom Clemente, "that is rather more than I can tell. When
+one is young one feels that he is always expected to do something.
+Afterwards, however, one becomes content to leave it to the others now
+and then. It is sometimes wiser to--look on. That may be my attitude
+in this case, but I am not sure that the affair is one that concerns
+you."
+
+He made a little deprecatory gesture as he turned to the papers in
+front of him, and Benicia went out quietly. It was an affair that
+concerned her very much indeed, but she knew that Dom Clemente could
+be reticent, and she fancied that he had something in his mind. As it
+happened, this was the case with her. In the meanwhile he sat still,
+gazing thoughtfully at the sun-scorched town while he smoked another
+cigar. Then he rose with a little jerk of his shoulders, and buckling
+on his big sword went down the stairway.
+
+When evening came he went off to the _Palestrina_ with his daughter,
+her attendant Senora Castro, and one or two officials and their wives,
+and enjoyed an excellent dinner on board the yacht. He fancied Benicia
+was rather silent during part of it, and glanced at her once or twice,
+which she naturally noticed, and as the result of it roused herself to
+join in the conversation. Still, she was a trifle relieved when the
+dinner was over and Desmond led them up on deck. Clear moonlight
+streamed in between the awnings, and, as it happened, Desmond seated
+himself beside the rail at some distance from her Madeira chair. Twice
+she ventured to make him a little sign, which he apparently
+disregarded, but at last he rose and walked forward, and she turned to
+the black-robed Senora Castro, who had clung persistently to her side.
+
+"The dew is rather heavy. I brought a wrap or two, but I think I left
+them in the saloon," she said.
+
+The little portly lady waddled away, and a minute or two later Benicia
+rose languidly, and moved towards the companion door through which she
+had disappeared. Instead of descending the stairway, the girl slipped
+out by the other door, and flitted forward in the shadow of the
+deckhouse until she came upon Desmond standing beneath the bridge.
+
+"You do not seem to notice things to-night. I signed to you twice,"
+she said.
+
+Desmond smiled. "I saw you," he said. "Still, I wasn't quite sure that
+another of my guests did not do so, too. You have something to say to
+me."
+
+Benicia turned and glanced down the long deck. There was nobody
+visible on that part of it.
+
+"Yes," she said a trifle breathlessly. "But nobody must know that I
+have talked to you alone."
+
+Desmond opened the door of the little room beneath the bridge. A lamp
+burned in it, and he flung a shade across the port before he drew the
+girl in, and then closing the door, leaned with his back against it.
+
+"I do not think we shall be disturbed," he said.
+
+Benicia stood still a moment looking at him. It was in the case of a
+young woman from The Peninsula a very unusual thing she had done, but
+there was inconsequent courage in her, and a certain quiet
+imperiousness in her manner.
+
+"You have coal and water on board?" she said.
+
+"I have," said Desmond. "I have also clearance papers for British
+Nigeria, but we haven't steam up. You see, I expected to stay here at
+least a day or two."
+
+"Then you must raise it. You must sail for the Bahia Santiago before
+to-morrow."
+
+"You have word of Ormsgill?" and Desmond became suddenly intent. "He
+is a man who is never late, but on this occasion he is a week or two
+before his time. Well, I dare say we can sail to-morrow. You will tell
+me what you know?"
+
+He leaned against the door with a quiet thoughtful face while she did
+so, and then the Celtic temperament revealed itself in the flash in
+his eyes.
+
+"It will evidently be a tight fit, but we'll get him if I have to arm
+every man on board and bring him off," he said. "That there may be
+complications afterwards doesn't in the least matter."
+
+"Ah," said Benicia, "you are one who would do a good deal for a
+friend."
+
+Desmond looked at her with a little wry smile. "Miss Figuera," he said
+slowly, "I think I would gladly do a very great deal for you."
+
+A just perceptible flicker of color crept into the girl's face. "But
+what you are about to do now is for your friend Ormsgill."
+
+"Yes," said Desmond, still with the curious little smile. "In one way,
+at least, I suppose it is."
+
+Benicia turned and faced him, with the color growing plainer in her
+cheeks, and for a moment there was hot anger in her, for she knew what
+he meant. Then the fierce resentment vanished suddenly, as she once
+more met his eyes. There was something that suggested a deep regret in
+them, and his manner was wholly deferential.
+
+"I only wish you to understand that if I fail it will not be because I
+have not done all I can," he said. "You see, I would, at least, like
+to keep your good opinion, and in spite of every effort one can't
+always be successful. Still, if it is possible, I will bring Ormsgill
+safely off. As you say, he is my friend."
+
+There was silence for, perhaps, half a minute, and during it each knew
+what the other was thinking. Then Benicia made this clear.
+
+"Ah," she said, "you are a very generous man." She stopped a moment,
+and there was a faint tremble in her voice when she turned to him
+again. "You have come from Las Palmas?"
+
+"I have," said Desmond. "I saw Miss Ratcliffe there. I think I may
+venture to tell you that Ormsgill will never marry her."
+
+Benicia's face flamed, but the color died out of it again, and she
+looked at him quietly. "To no one else could I have forgiven that.
+Still, one can forgive everything to one who has your courage--and
+devotion."
+
+Desmond made a little gesture. "Well," he said simply, "we sail before
+to-morrow, and I will do what I can. There is this in my favor--your
+friends probably don't know where Ormsgill is heading for."
+
+Then the girl started suddenly with consternation in her eyes, for
+there was a tapping at the door, but Desmond's hand fell on her
+shoulder and she felt that he would do what was most advisable. Next
+moment he leaned forward and turned the lamp out before he threw the
+door open.
+
+"Well," he said, "what do you want? I am, as you see, just coming
+out."
+
+There was moonlight outside, though the awnings dimmed it, and just
+there the bridge flung a shadow on the deck, and he recognized with
+the first glance that it was one of his guests who had tapped upon
+the door which he flung carelessly to behind him.
+
+"One wondered where you had gone to," said the man.
+
+Desmond laughed, and slipping his hand beneath the inquirer's arm
+strolled aft with him, but he sighed with relief when, as they joined
+the others on the opposite side of the deck-house, he saw Benicia
+already sitting there. He did not know how she had contrived it, until
+he remembered that to slip through the companion would shorten the
+distance. It was, however, half an hour later when she found an
+opportunity of standing beside him for a moment or two.
+
+"It seems that one is watched," she said. "You must be careful."
+
+Desmond was on the whole not sorry when his guests took themselves
+away, and he laughed as he stood at the gangway shaking hands with
+them.
+
+"I am afraid I shall not be ashore to-morrow," he said. "It is very
+likely that we shall be out at sea by then."
+
+One or two of them expressed their regret, and the boat slid away,
+while some little time afterwards Dom Clemente glanced at his daughter
+as they stood on the outer stairway of his house. Beneath them they
+could see the _Palestrina_ dotted here and there with blinking lights,
+and a dingy smear of smoke was steaming from her funnel.
+
+"So he is going away again to-morrow," he said reflectively. "Well, I
+suppose one is always permitted to change his mind."
+
+Benicia made no answer, and Dom Clemente stood still, glancing
+towards the steamer with a somewhat curious expression when she went
+into the house. Then he made a little abrupt gesture, as of one who
+resigns himself, before he turned away and went in after her.
+
+"In the meanwhile I look on," he said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE DELAYED MESSAGE
+
+
+It was a few days after the _Palestrina_ had sailed when Dom Clemente
+once more sat behind the pillars in a basket chair looking
+thoughtfully at his unlighted cigar. He could when it appeared
+advisable move energetically and to some effect, but he was not fond
+of action, or conversation, for its own sake, and he seldom told
+anybody else what was in his mind. There are men who apparently find a
+pleasure in doing so, and in their case the task is as a rule a
+particularly easy one, but Dom Clemente had no sympathy with them.
+When the time was ripe he acted on his opinions, but otherwise he was
+placid, tolerantly courteous, and inscrutable. Still, there were men
+concerned in the government of his country who had confidence in him.
+
+It happened that a little cargo steamer on her way north had crept in
+that morning with engines broken down, and her British skipper, who
+had certain favors to ask, had been sent to Dom Clemente. He had gone
+away contented a few minutes earlier, but he had incidentally supplied
+Dom Clemente with a piece of information which, although he was not
+altogether astonished at it, had made him thoughtful. At last he rose,
+and laying down his cigar strolled forward leisurely to where,
+looking down between the pillars, he could see his daughter in the
+patio below. She did not see him, for she was sitting with a book
+turned back upwards upon her knee and apparently gazing straight
+before her at a trellis draped with flowers. He would have greatly
+liked to know what she was thinking, but since he recognized that this
+was one of the wishes that must remain ungratified he turned away
+again with a little gesture which was chiefly expressive of
+resignation. He could deal with men, but he had already found that the
+charge of a motherless daughter was something of a responsibility.
+Then he called a negro whom he dispatched with a message, and leaned
+against one of the pillars until a man in uniform with a big sword
+belted to him came in.
+
+"Sit down," he said, pointing to the table. "Write what I tell you."
+
+The man did as he was bidden, and Dom Clemente nodded when he was
+shown the letter. "You will take it across to the Lieutenant Frequillo
+and tell him to send a few men direct to the Bahia if he considers it
+advisable," he said. "Then you will see the messenger Pacheco
+dispatched with it. The matter, as you will understand, is urgent. As
+you go down say that I should like a word with the Senorita Benicia if
+she is at liberty."
+
+His companion went out with the letter of instructions which was
+directed to the officer in command of the handful of dusky soldiers
+who had been sent up to inquire for news of Ormsgill, and Dom Clemente
+who sat down again waited until his daughter came in. She stood
+looking at him expectantly until he turned and pointed to the little
+British steamer.
+
+"The captain of that vessel has just been in," he said. "He told me
+with some resentment that a white steam yacht went by him two days
+ago, and took no notice of his signals. The captain, it seems, was
+very anxious to be towed in here."
+
+"I do not think that concerns me," said Benicia.
+
+"The yacht," said Dom Clemente, "had a single funnel, a long
+deck-house, and two masts, which, of course, is not unusual, but it is
+most unlikely that there are two yachts of that description anywhere
+near this coast. The point is that she was steaming very fast, and
+heading south, which is certainly not the way to Nigeria."
+
+Benicia appeared to straighten herself a trifle, but save for the
+little movement she was very quiet, and she looked at her father with
+eyes that were almost as inscrutable as his own. Still, she recognized
+that she was at a disadvantage, since it was evident that the course
+he meant to take was clear to him, and she was in a state of anxious
+uncertainty.
+
+"It is," he continued tranquilly, "a little astonishing how these
+Englishmen recognize the natural facilities of a country. There is
+down the coast a little bay which I have long had my eyes upon. Some
+day, perhaps, we will build a deep water pier there and make a railway
+across the littoral. No other place has so many advantages. It offers,
+among others, a natural road to the interior."
+
+The girl could have faced a direct question better than this
+preamble, which Dom Clemente no doubt guessed.
+
+"The Senor Desmond is not a commercialist," she said. "Why should this
+interest him?"
+
+"Well," said Dom Clemente, "one could fancy that it does, for he is
+certainly going there." He stopped for a moment, and then his tone was
+sharp and incisive. "The question is, who sent him?"
+
+Benicia saw the little glint in his dark eyes, but she met his gaze.
+She was clever enough to realize that there was only one course open
+to her.
+
+"Ah," she said, "I almost think you know."
+
+The man made a little gesture. "At least, I do not know how the affair
+concerns you."
+
+Benicia sat down in the nearest chair, and a faint warmth crept into
+her face, for this was the last point she desired to make clear, and
+Dom Clemente's eyes were still fixed upon her. It was evident that he
+expected an answer, and it said a good deal for her courage that her
+voice was steady.
+
+"You are aware that I have spoiled your plans?" she said.
+
+"That," said Dom Clemente dryly, "is another matter. I am not sure
+that you have spoiled them. I would, however, like to hear your
+reasons for meddling with them."
+
+It was the same question in a different guise, and she nerved herself
+to face it.
+
+"The Senor Ormsgill is doing a very chivalrous thing," she said. "It
+is one in which he has my sympathy--one could almost fancy that he
+has yours, too."
+
+This was a bold venture, but she saw the man's faint smile. "I have a
+duty here, and that counts for most," he said. "Then it was sympathy
+with this man Ormsgill that influenced you?"
+
+"Not altogether. I hate the Chefe at San Roque. You know why that is
+natural, and, after all, it was you who had him sent there. Apart from
+that, is it not clear that he and the trader Herrero and Domingo play
+into each other's hands up yonder? The traffic they are engaged in is
+authorized, but the way in which it is carried out is an iniquity."
+
+There were, as it happened, men in that country who held similar
+views, but the other reason the girl had proffered seemed to Dom
+Clemente the most obvious one, though he fancied it did not go quite
+far enough. It was conceivable that she should hate Dom Erminio, who
+had been sent up into the bush after bringing discredit upon himself
+as well as certain friends of hers. Still, he realized that this was a
+matter on which she would never fully enlighten him, and he recognized
+his disabilities. It was, perhaps, one of his strong points that he
+usually did recognize them, and seldom attempted the impossible. As
+the result of this he generally carried out what he took in hand. Dom
+Clemente was first of all a soldier, and not one who shone in
+civilized society or cared to scheme for preferment by social
+influence, which was probably why he had been sent out to a secondary
+command in Africa. He had friends who said he might have gone further
+had he been less faithful to his dead wife's memory.
+
+"Well," he said, "it was certainly my intention to arrest this man
+Ormsgill. I admit that I have a certain sympathy with him, and that is
+partly why I am a little anxious to keep him from involving himself in
+useless difficulties."
+
+"Do you think a man of his kind would be grateful for that?"
+
+Dom Clemente made a little gesture of indifference. "I do not know. It
+is, after all, not a point that very much concerns me, though he is
+doing a perilous thing by meddling with our affairs, especially in the
+bush yonder."
+
+"Ah," said Benicia, "then is nobody to meddle, and is this iniquity to
+go on?"
+
+Dom Clemente smiled dryly. "I almost think," he said, "that when the
+time is ripe there will, as usual, be a man ready to take the affair
+in hand. In the meanwhile it would be a very undesirable thing that
+any one should point to you as a friend of this rash Englishman."
+
+He rose, and buckling on his sword went down the outer stairway, while
+Benicia sat still with her cheeks burning. She fancied Dom Clemente
+had meant a good deal more than he had said, but, after all, that did
+not greatly trouble her. She was not one who counted the cost, and it
+was not quite clear that she had failed, though she knew troops had
+been dispatched to head off Ormsgill from the coast. It was possible
+that he had slipped past them, and the _Palestrina_ would be waiting
+at the Bahia Santiago, and then it flashed upon her that it would not
+be difficult for her father to send the man in command of the troops
+instructions to proceed direct to the Bahia by a fast messenger. While
+she considered the point it happened that the officer he had handed
+the instructions to came up the stairway.
+
+"I wonder if you know where the messenger Pacheco is, Senorita?" he
+said. "I have an urgent errand for him."
+
+Benicia saw that he had a packet in his hand, and a swift glance at
+the table showed her that the writing materials were not exactly as
+they had been laid out an hour or two earlier. Somebody, it seemed,
+had written a letter, and she could make a shrewd guess at its
+purport. For a moment she stood looking at the officer, and thinking
+hard. It was evident that her father had a certain liking for
+Ormsgill, but she felt that he would probably not allow it to
+influence him to any great extent. He was apparently working out some
+cleverly laid plan of his own, and it was evident that she would incur
+a heavy responsibility by meddling with it, but after all Ormsgill's
+safety stood first with her.
+
+"I am not sure, but I think he is in the house," she said.
+
+She left the officer waiting, and entering her own room hastily wrote
+a note. Then she went down the inner stairway with it in her hand, and
+crossing the patio glanced up for a moment at the balustrade above.
+Fortunately, the officer was not leaning over it, and did not see her
+slip into a store room where a big dusky man was talking to the
+negress cook, with whom, as it happened, he was a favorite. Western
+Africa is indifferently supplied with telegraphic and postal
+facilities and messages are still usually carried by native runners.
+There were none of them anywhere about that city as fast or trusty as
+Pacheco, and Benicia smiled as she looked at him. He was lean and hard
+and muscular, a man who had made famous journeys in the service of the
+Government, which was exactly why she did not wish him to be available
+for another one.
+
+"I have a message for the Senora Blanco," she said. "I should like her
+to get it before she goes to sleep in the afternoon, and you will
+start now, but if it is very hot you need make no great haste in
+bringing me back the answer."
+
+Pacheco rose with a grin. "It is only two leagues to the plantation,"
+he said. "Though the road is rough, that is nothing to me."
+
+Then the plump negro woman caught Benicia's eyes, and, though she said
+nothing, there was comprehension in her dusky face. The girl went out
+in the patio satisfied, and stood waiting behind a creeper-covered
+trellis. She felt she could leave the matter in the hands of the
+negress with confidence. The latter turned to the messenger with a
+compassionate smile.
+
+"You have the sense of a trek-ox. It is in your legs," she said. "The
+Senorita does not wish you to distress yourself if the day is hot."
+
+"But," said Pacheco, "it is always hot, and no journey of that kind
+could weary me."
+
+The woman made a little grimace. "The trek-ox is slow to understand
+and one teaches it with the stick. Sometimes the same thing is done
+with a man. It seems the Senorita does not wish to see how fast you
+could go."
+
+At last Pacheco seemed to understand. "Ah," he said, "there are thorns
+in this country. Now and then one gets one in his foot."
+
+"The Senorita would be sorry if you came home limping. Once or twice I
+have cut my hand with the chopper, and she was kind to me."
+
+The man chuckled softly and went out, and Benicia standing in the
+shadow felt her heart beat as she watched him slip across the patio.
+There would probably be complications if the officer saw him from
+above. Nobody, however, appeared among the pillars, and the shadowy
+arch that led through the building was not far away. The negro's feet
+fell softly on the hot stones, and though the slight patter sounded
+horribly distinct to her nobody called out to stop him. He had almost
+reached the arch when a uniformed figure appeared between two of the
+pillars, and for a moment the girl held her breath. If the man moved
+another foot it was evident that he must see the messenger, but, as it
+happened, he stood where he was, and next moment Pacheco, who turned
+and looked back at her with a grin, slipped into the shadow of the
+arch. Then Benicia went back into the house a little quiver of relief
+running through her. It would, she knew, be possible to obtain other
+messengers, but none of them were so well acquainted with the native
+paths which traverse the littoral or so speedy as Pacheco, and she did
+not think he would be available until the evening.
+
+In the meantime the officer waited above, until growing impatient, he
+summoned the major domo, who sent for the negress.
+
+"Pacheco was certainly in the house because he talked to me, but he
+went out with a message, and I do not know when he will be back
+again," she said.
+
+The officer asked her several questions without, however, eliciting
+much further information, and went away somewhat perplexed. He could
+not help a fancy that Benicia was somehow connected with the
+messenger's disappearance, but there was nothing to suggest what her
+object could have been. She was also a lady of influence, and he
+wisely decided to keep his thoughts to himself. As it happened,
+Pacheco did not arrive until late that night, and another messenger
+was dispatched in the meanwhile. He, however, became involved amidst a
+waste of tall grass which Pacheco would have skirted, and afterwards
+wasted a day or two endeavoring to carry out the directions certain
+villagers who bore the Government no great good-will had given him. As
+the result of this the handful of black soldiers had wandered a good
+deal further inland before he came up with them.
+
+In the meantime it happened the morning after he set out that Dom
+Clemente sent for Pacheco who was just then sitting in the cook's
+store nursing an injured foot. They exchanged glances when the
+major-domo informed him that his presence would be required in a few
+minutes, and after the latter had gone out the negress handed Pacheco
+a sharp-pointed knife.
+
+"It is wise to make certain when one has to answer a man like Dom
+Clemente, and the scratch the thorn made was not a very large one,"
+she said.
+
+Pacheco took the knife, and looked at it hesitatingly.
+
+"The thing would be easier if it was some other person's foot. It
+will, no doubt, hurt," he said.
+
+"It will hurt less than what Dom Clemente may order you," and the
+negress grinned. "A man is always afraid of bearing a little pain."
+
+Pacheco decided that she was probably right, and set his thick lips as
+he laid the knife point against the ball of his big toe. Still, for it
+is probable that there are respects in which the negro's
+susceptibilities are less than those of the civilized white man, he
+steadily pressed the blade in. After that he wrapped up his foot
+again, and rose with a wry face.
+
+"I was given a bottle of anisado and a small piece of silver
+yesterday," he said. "I almost think I deserve a little more for
+this."
+
+Then he limped up the stairway leaving red marks behind him, and made
+a little deprecatory gesture when he appeared before Dom Clemente. The
+latter looked at him in a fashion which sent a thrill of dismay
+through him.
+
+"I hear you have hurt your foot," he said. "Take that bandage off."
+
+Pacheco, who dare not hesitate, sat down and unrolled the rag. Then
+with considerable misgivings he did as he was bidden and held up his
+foot.
+
+"Ah," said Dom Clemente dryly, "a thorn did that. The wound a thorn
+makes seems to keep curiously fresh. Well, you can put on the rag
+again."
+
+Pacheco did it as hastily as he could while he wondered with a growing
+uneasiness what the man who regarded him with a little sardonic smile
+would ask him next. Dom Clemente, however, made him a sign to get up.
+
+"One would recommend you to be more careful," he said. "You will have
+reason to regret it if the next time I have an errand for you you have
+a--thorn--in your foot."
+
+Pacheco limped away with sincere relief, and Dom Clemente who sat
+still contemplatively smoked a cigar. While he did it he once more
+decided that it is now and then advisable to content oneself with
+simply looking on, and it was characteristic of him that when he next
+met Benicia he asked her no questions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+DESMOND GOES ASHORE
+
+
+It was a thick black night when Desmond brought the _Palestrina_ into
+the Bahia, steaming at half-speed with the big smooth swell heaving in
+vast undulations behind her. The blinding deluge which had delayed him
+for half an hour had just ceased, and at every roll boat and deckhouse
+shook off streams of lukewarm water. A dripping man stood strapped
+outside the bridge swinging the heavy lead, and his sing-song cry
+which rose at regular intervals broke through the throb of slowly
+turning engines. A yard or two away from him Desmond leaned upon the
+rails peering into the darkness athwart which there ran a dim black
+line of bluff. A filmy haze that glimmered faintly white leapt up
+between him and it, and the stagnant air was filled with a great,
+deep-toned rumbling. It rolled along the half-seen bluff like the
+muttering of distant thunder, for, though the Bahia was partly
+sheltered, the vast heave of the Southern Ocean was crumbling upon the
+hammered beach that night. It does so now and then when there is not a
+breath of wind.
+
+"It isn't exactly encouraging," he said to his mate. "The surf seems
+running unpleasantly steep. There's a weight in it. I'm rather glad
+the boat's a big one since we have to face it. Well, you had better
+get forward, and stand by your anchors. I'll bring her up in another
+few minutes."
+
+The mate went forward with a handful of dripping men behind him, and
+left Desmond quietly intent upon the bridge. The latter was quite
+aware that it would have been prudent to wait for daylight, and
+recognized that he was doing a reckless thing, but that rather
+appealed to him. It is also possible to do a reckless thing carefully,
+and he was, at least, proceeding with a certain circumspection. When
+the bluff grew a trifle plainer he seized his telegraph, and raised a
+warning hand to the helmsman.
+
+"Starboard!" he said. "Let her swing when she goes astern."
+
+A gong tinkled beneath him, there was a sharper clank of engines, and
+the _Palestrina_ swinging round rolled from rail to rail. Then a
+strident roar of running cable jarred through the rumbling of the
+surf, and was succeeded by a trumpeting blast of blown off steam when
+he rang the telegraph again. When this slackened a little he raised
+his voice.
+
+"If you're ready there, Mr. Winthrop, will you bring your men along,"
+he said.
+
+There was a tramp of feet forward, and when half-seen figures
+clustered beneath the bridge Desmond leaned over the rails and
+addressed them.
+
+"Boys," he said, "what we are going to do is in some respects a crazy
+thing, and while I don't know that we'll have trouble it's very
+probable. Now there'll be a bonus for the men who come with me, but I
+don't want any one to go against his will. If any of you would sooner
+stay here all he has to do is to walk forward, and I'll admit that
+he's sensible."
+
+There was a little laughter, but nobody moved. Among those who heard
+him were shrewd, cold-blooded Scots from the Clyde, and level-headed
+Solent Englishmen, as well as boys from Kingston and Belfast Lough. Of
+these latter Desmond had no doubt. A hint that the thing was rash and
+might lead to trouble was naturally enough for them, but he recognized
+that there might be occasions when the colder temperament of the
+others was likely to prove, at least, as serviceable. It was not
+astonishing that these, too, evidently meant to go with him, for there
+are men who can apparently with no great effort bend others to their
+will, and, after all, one can not invariably be sensible. Perhaps, it
+would be a misfortune if this were possible.
+
+"Sure," said one of them, and he was a Kingston man, "all ye have to
+do, sir, is to go straight ahead. We're coming with ye, if we have to
+swim, an' if we have to it's more than I can."
+
+One or two of his comrades laughed, and Desmond raised a hand. "It's
+very probable that you'll have to try. We'll get the surfboat over,
+Mr. Winthrop."
+
+It would have been a difficult task in the daylight, for the
+_Palestrina_ rolled wickedly and the long slopes of water lapped to
+her rail, but they accomplished it in the dark, and when the big boat
+hove up beneath them dropped into her one by one. They had a few Accra
+and Liberia boys for the paddles, but not enough and white seamen
+perched among them on the froth-licked gunwale as they reeled away on
+the back of a swell. It swept them out from the steamer, and let them
+drop into a black hollow while the negro at the steering oar yelled as
+another dark ridge hove itself aloft behind them. They drove on with
+this one and several others that succeeded it, careering amidst a
+turmoil of spouting froth that boiled round the high, pointed stern,
+and there was spray all about them, stinging their eyes and in their
+nostrils, when at last the beach was close at hand. They could not,
+however, see it. There was nothing visible now but a dim filmy cloud,
+out of which came a thunderous rumbling that has its effect upon the
+stoutest nerves, for there are probably few men who can listen to the
+crashing charge of the great combers on an African beach quite
+unmoved, especially if it is their business to face them in the dark.
+
+Desmond glanced astern a moment when the sable helmsman shouted, and
+then resolutely turned his eyes ahead. He had seen all he wished to,
+and it was with vague relief he felt the boat rush upwards under him,
+for that waiting in the hollow was not a thing one could bear easily.
+She went forward reeling, half-buried in tumbling foam, twisting in
+spite of the gasping helmsman in peril of rolling over, and out of the
+spray and darkness the dim line of bluff came rushing back to them.
+Then there was a crash that flung half of them from the gunwale, and
+the boat went up the beach with a seething white turmoil washing over
+her, until they swung themselves over and clung to her waist-deep in
+the wild welter when the sea sucked back. Straining every muscle they
+held her somehow, and a voice rose strained and harsh through the din.
+
+"Where are those--rollers, boys?" it said.
+
+Somebody produced them, and gasping and floundering they ran her up
+with another comber thundering out of the darkness behind them, and
+then flung themselves down breathless and dripping on the hot sand.
+Desmond let them lie awhile, and then leaving the negroes behind, the
+white men clambered up the face of the bluff. After that they stumbled
+amidst loose sand and tufts of harsh grass that now and then cut
+through their thin duck garments and twined about their legs, but they
+plodded on steadily, and when morning broke had made about a league
+which was, all things considered, excellent traveling. With the
+daylight, however, came the rain that beat the soil into a pulp and
+filled the steamy air. The grass they found in places bent beneath it,
+and the water flowed about their feet. Still, they held on, drenched,
+and bleeding from odd scars and scratches, until there broke out
+dazzling, blistering sunshine which in a few minutes sucked the
+moisture from their clothing.
+
+Then Desmond, who had heard that littoral described as dry and
+parched, bade them lie down in the scanty strip of shadow behind a
+clump of thorns, and a twinkle crept into his eyes as he glanced at
+them. They were already freely plastered with mire. A few of them had
+sporting rifles--he carried one himself--and bandoliers, while some of
+the rest had the gig's ash stretchers, and one a big pointed iron
+bar, but he fancied they would scarcely pass for a big game
+expedition. For one thing, they had no carriers. Desmond desired only
+men who could be relied upon to say as well as do what he bade them,
+for he could without any great effort foresee that he might have to
+grapple with more than physical difficulties. He let them lie for half
+an hour, and then the rain came and drove them on again.
+
+[Illustration: "He fancied they would scarcely pass for a big game
+expedition."--Page 242.]
+
+They floundered through it all that afternoon, lay down in wet sand
+when the sudden darkness blotted out the misty littoral, and rose with
+the swift dawn, cramped and wet and aching, to plunge into a thick
+white steam. There was a muggy warmth in it which relaxed their
+muscles and insidiously slackened the domination of their will. They
+wanted to lie down, and wondered vaguely why they did not do so, for
+there are times when man's resolution melts out of him in that land,
+and nothing seems worth the trouble of accomplishing. Still, they went
+on, and evening found them wearied in body and limp of will, as well
+as very wet and miry, on the edge of a belt of thorny vegetation
+amidst which there wound a native path. They slept beside it as best
+they could, and went on again for two more days under scorching
+sunshine until at last they reached a ridge of higher ground. There
+were a few palms on the crest of it, and they lay down between them
+amidst a maze of thorny vines.
+
+Darkness was creeping up from the eastwards when Desmond sat poring
+over a section of a large-scale chart which had proved to be a
+reasonably accurate guide to the physical features of that
+littoral. The elevation of which the ridge formed a portion was duly
+marked, as was the creek they had cautiously waded through, and not
+far away there stood another rise which might be made out from a
+steamer's bridge. The dots that ran through them both indicated
+Ormsgill's path. He was a man who, at least, endeavored to provide for
+contingencies, and he had for Desmond's benefit plotted out the last
+stages of his march to the coast. The latter, however, remained in
+unpleasant uncertainty as to when he would arrive, which, in view of
+the fact that a handful of dusky troops were in all probability not
+very far away, was a question of some consequence.
+
+When darkness swept down he posted two sentries and then lay down near
+the smoldering cooking fire. The strip of rubber sheeting he spread
+beneath him did not make a very efficient mattress, but worn-out as he
+was he fell asleep in spite of the mosquitoes, and so far as he could
+afterwards ascertain the men he had left on watch in due time did the
+same. When he awakened there was a half-moon in the sky, and a faint
+silvery light shone down upon the ridge. He could see the palm shafts
+cut against it darkly in delicately proportioned columns, and the
+ebony tracery of their great curved leaves. Now and then a big drop
+that fell from them splashed heavily upon the straggling undergrowth,
+but save for that everything was very still. The fire was red and low,
+but the smell of wood smoke and hot wet soil was in his nostrils. He
+was wondering drowsily why he had awakened when he fancied that a
+shadowy figure flitted behind a palm, and turning cautiously he
+reached out for the rifle that lay by his side. As his hand closed
+upon it another figure moved towards him quietly. The moonlight fell
+upon it and his grasp relaxed on the rifle as he saw that it was
+dressed in tattered duck. He scrambled to his feet, and Ormsgill
+stopped a pace or two away.
+
+"You are a little ahead of time, but considering everything it's
+fortunate," he said.
+
+Desmond blinked at him for a moment or two. The man's face was lean
+and worn, and his thin, dew-drenched garments were torn by thorns. One
+of his boots had also burst, his wide hat was shapeless, and sunbaked
+mire clung about him to the knees.
+
+"There were reasons why it seemed advisable to divide my party and
+push on," he proceeded. "My few personal belongings are now reposing
+in a swamp."
+
+Desmond shook hands with him. "Well," he said, "it's like you. Where
+are your niggers, and what's the matter with my--sentries? Still
+that's not exactly what I meant to say."
+
+Ormsgill laughed, and sent a shrill call ringing across the belt of
+mist below. There was an answer from it, and while the men from the
+_Palestrina_ rose clamoring to their feet a row of weary, half-naked
+negroes plodded into camp. Some of them had red scars upon their dusky
+skin, some of them limped, and when they stopped at a sign from
+Ormsgill the seaman clustered round and gazed at them. They were
+woolly-haired and thick-lipped, and their weariness had worn all sign
+of intelligence out of their dusky faces. They looked at the
+clustering seamen vacantly and without curiosity.
+
+"Lord," said Desmond, "and these are the fellows you have done so much
+for! Well, it's evidently my turn. I suppose they can eat?"
+
+Ormsgill laughed. "A good deal just now. We started soon after
+sunrise, and have scarcely stopped all day. In fact, we have been
+marching rather hard the last week or two."
+
+Desmond turned to one of the men he had brought with him. "Stir that
+fire," he said. "Make these images something, then take them away and
+stuff them."
+
+He touched Ormsgill, and pointed to the strip of sheeting. "Get off
+your feet. We have a good deal to talk about."
+
+They sat down, and by and by one of the _Palestrina_'s stewards served
+them with coffee and canned stuff while his comrades sat in a ring
+about the negroes patting them on their naked shoulders and
+encouraging them to eat. The black men's stolidity vanished, and they
+grinned widely, while by degrees odd snatches of different languages
+and bursts of hoarse laughter rose from them. In the midst of it one
+big man chanted a monotonous song. Ormsgill laid down his cup and
+listened with a little smile.
+
+"He's improvising rather cleverly," he said. "It's almost a pity you
+don't know enough of the language to hear your praises sung. You see,
+he has so far only come across two white men who have even spoken to
+him decently."
+
+Desmond grinned, and raised his voice. "If they understand what
+tobacco is let them have what you have with you, boys," he said. "You
+can come to me for more when we get back on board."
+
+"That's all right, sir," said one man. "It's our dinner party. We've
+got most of a hatful for them ready."
+
+"Sailors," said Desmond reflectively, "have some curious notions on
+the subject of making pets. So have you, for that matter, but, after
+all, that's not quite the question. Did you see anything that would
+lead you to believe Herrero's friends were after you?"
+
+"I did," said Ormsgill. "Smoke, for one thing, and that was why I
+pushed on for the coast. Nares who was a little feverish and found it
+difficult to march fast insisted on turning back inland with half the
+carriers. I left two men I could rely on behind to investigate, and I
+expect some news before the morning. In the meanwhile what are you
+doing here? It's at least a week before I was due."
+
+Desmond looked at him steadily, and, as it happened, the firelight
+fell upon them both. "Miss Figuera sent me."
+
+"Ah," said Ormsgill, and a curious little glint crept into his eyes
+and faded out of them again. "Well, you have, no doubt, a little more
+to tell."
+
+His companion told it tersely, and afterwards Ormsgill sat silent for
+awhile with a half-filled pipe in his hand. Many a time during his
+wanderings he had seen in fancy Benicia Figuera sitting in the shady
+patio, and on each occasion the longing to hear her voice and once
+more stand face to face had grown stronger. He had fought against it
+on weary march and when the boys were sleeping in the silent camp, but
+it had conquered him.
+
+"It was very kind of her," he said at last. "Still, considering her
+father's status, one could wonder why she did it."
+
+Desmond smiled curiously as he leaned forward and stirred the fire.
+"That," he said with an air of reflection, "is naturally one of the
+things I don't know. Still, there is a certain chivalrous rashness in
+the adventure you have undertaken which, although sensible folks would
+probably consider it misguided, might appeal to a young woman of Miss
+Figuera's description. You see, she is by no means a conventional
+person herself. Perhaps, it's fortunate there are young women like her
+with courage and intelligence enough to form their own opinions."
+
+"Miss Figuera has certainly courage," said Ormsgill slowly.
+
+Desmond laughed. "She has. She has also a wholesome pride, and sense
+as well as imagination, though the two don't always go together. With
+her at his side a man crazy enough to be pleased with that kind of
+thing might set himself to straighten up half the wrongs perpetrated
+by our civilization, and she'd see he was never wholly beaten.
+Somehow, she would, at least, bring him off with honor, and that is,
+after all, the most any one with such notions could reasonably look
+for."
+
+He stopped for a moment, and when he went on again the firelight
+showed the little flush in his cheeks and the gleam in his eyes.
+
+"Lord," he said, "how little some of us are content with when we
+marry--a woman to sit at the head of out table, and talk prettily, one
+who asks for everything that isn't worth while, and sees you never do
+anything her friends don't consider quite fitting. Still, there is
+another kind, the ones who give instead of asking, and who would, for
+the man they loved, face the malice of the world with a smile in their
+eyes. I think," and he made a little vague gesture, "I have said
+something of the kind before, but I have to let myself go now and
+then. I can't help it."
+
+"One would almost fancy you were in love with the girl yourself," said
+Ormsgill quietly.
+
+Desmond leaned forward a trifle, and looked hard at him. "No. I might
+have been had things been different. At least, she is certainly not in
+love with me."
+
+Ormsgill said nothing, but he was sensible of a curious stirring of
+his blood. He would not ask himself exactly what his comrade meant, or
+if, indeed, he meant anything in particular, for it was a consolation
+to remember that Desmond now and then talked inconsequently. He sat
+still, vacantly watching the blue smoke wreaths curl up between the
+palms. The boys had lain down now, and only an occasional faint
+rustle as one moved broke the heavy silence. Then, and, perhaps he was
+a trifle overwrought and fanciful, as he watched the drifting smoke
+wreaths a figure seemed to materialize out of them. It was filmy and
+unsubstantial, etherealized by the moonlight, but it grew plainer, and
+once more he saw Benicia Figuera as he had talked with her in the
+shady patio. She seemed to be looking at him with reposeful eyes that
+had nevertheless a little glint in the depths of them, and now the
+desire to see her in the flesh took him by the throat and shook the
+resolution out of him. At last he knew. There could no longer be any
+brushing of disconcerting facts aside. There was one woman in the
+world whom he desired, and he had pledged himself to marry another
+one. Still, his duty remained, and he sat silent with one lean hand
+closed tightly and the lines on his worn face deepening until at last
+he became conscious that Desmond was watching him, and he roused
+himself with an effort.
+
+"Well," he said quietly, "she has laid me under a heavy obligation,
+but we have other things to talk of."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+ON THE BEACH
+
+
+Desmond was asleep when the men his comrade had left behind came in,
+but the negroes' sense of hearing was quicker than his, and when he
+rose drowsily to his feet there was already a bustle in the camp.
+Ormsgill, who was giving terse directions, turned to him.
+
+"These boys have brought me word that there is a handful of troops in
+a village a few hours' march away," he said, pointing towards two
+half-seen men who were talking excitedly to the dusky carriers. "As
+they know where we are heading for they will probably be upon our
+trail as soon as the sun is up." He did not seem very much concerned,
+and when he once more turned to the negroes, Desmond, reassured by his
+quietness, glanced about him. The fire had died out, and there was no
+longer any moonlight, but the palms cut with a sharp black
+distinctness against the eastern sky. It was also a little cooler.
+Indeed, Desmond shivered, for he was stiff and clammy with the dew.
+The negroes were hurrying to and fro, apparently getting their loads
+together, and the seamen were asking each other disjointed questions
+as they scrambled to their feet. Desmond could see their faces faintly
+white which he had not been able to do when he went to sleep.
+
+"Well," he said, "I suppose we'll have to make a move of some kind?"
+
+"It would be advisable," said Ormsgill. "Fortunately, it will be
+daylight in a few minutes. You will start for the coast as soon as you
+are ready, and take most of the boys I brought down along. It would be
+wiser to push on as fast as possible, though it's scarcely likely that
+the troops will come up with you. If they do, you will give the boys
+up to them, but in that case one of the carriers will slip away and
+bring me word. Any resistance you could make would be useless and very
+apt to involve you in serious difficulties."
+
+Desmond smiled dryly, and did not pledge himself. He was not a man who
+invariably did the most prudent thing.
+
+"You are not coming with us?" he said.
+
+"No," said Ormsgill. "There are six boys not accounted for yet. I am
+going back inland for them. The troops will, of course, pick up your
+trail, and they will probably be content with that. It's scarcely
+likely to occur to them that there might be another."
+
+Desmond exerted all his powers of persuasion during the next minute or
+two, and it was not his fault if his comrade did not realize that it
+was a folly he was undertaking. Desmond, at least made a strenuous
+attempt to impress that point on him, in spite of the fact that it was
+a folly he would in all probability have been guilty of himself.
+Ormsgill, however, only smiled.
+
+"As you have pointed out, anything I can do to straighten out things
+in this country is scarcely worth while," he said. "I'm also willing
+to admit that it's not exactly my business, and I'm far from sure that
+the role of professional philanthropist is one that fits me. Still,
+you see, I have undertaken the thing, and I can't very well leave it
+half done." He stopped a moment, and laughed, a trifle harshly.
+"Especially as it's scarcely probable that I shall have an opportunity
+of doing anything of the kind again."
+
+Then he turned to the negroes, and spoke to them for several minutes
+in scraps of Portuguese and a native tongue. Their villages on the
+inland plateau had been burned, he said, and there was, so far as he
+knew, no one he could trust them to in the country. If they stayed in
+it some white man would in all probability claim them, and they would
+be sent to toil for a term of years upon the plantations. They knew
+what that meant.
+
+They certainly appeared to do so by the murmurs that rose from them,
+and Ormsgill pointed to Desmond. He had pledged himself to set them at
+liberty, he said, and his friend would take them to a country where
+negroes were reasonably paid for their services, and, unless they
+deserved it, very seldom beaten. What was more to the purpose, if they
+did not like the factory they worked at they could leave it and go to
+another, which was a thing that appeared incomprehensible to them,
+until a man with a blue stripe down his forehead stood up and told
+them it certainly was as Ormsgill had said. He had himself earned as
+much by twelve months' labor at a white man's factory as would have
+kept him several years in luxury. Then one of the boys, a
+thick-lipped, woolly-haired pagan with nothing about him that
+suggested intelligence or sensibility asked Ormsgill a question in the
+native tongue, and the latter looked at Desmond.
+
+"He asks if I can give my word that they will not be ill-used in
+Nigeria, and it's a good deal to assure them of," he said. "Still, I
+think it could be done. There are outcasts in those factories, men
+outside the pale, and it's possible that some of them occasionally
+belabor a nigger with a wooden kernel-shovel, but considering what the
+negro is accustomed to in this country that is a little thing, and
+they usually stop at it. After all, it is not men of their kind who
+practice systematic oppression or grind the toiler down. When I was a
+ragged outcast it was the men outside the pale who held out their
+hands to me."
+
+He turned to the negro saying a few words quietly, and there was a low
+murmuring until one of the boys pointed to Desmond.
+
+"Then," he said, "we are ready to go with him."
+
+Even Desmond could understand all that this implied, and it stirred
+the hot Celtic blood in him. It was a crucial test of faith, for it
+seemed that these half-naked bushmen had a confidence in his comrade
+which no one acquainted with the customs of the country could
+reasonably have expected of them. They knew how their fellows were
+driven by men of his color, but in face of that his word that it
+should not be so with them was, it seemed, sufficient.
+
+"You already understand my wishes, and here are the letters for the
+two traders in Nigeria," said Ormsgill quietly. "There is nothing more
+to say."
+
+"There's just this," said Desmond turning towards the _Palestrina_'s
+men, who had naturally been listening. "If it costs me the yacht to do
+it I'll see these boys safe into the right hands."
+
+The men from Belfast Lough and Kingston grinned approvingly. They and
+their leader were, after all, of the same temperament, and one of them
+carried a sharp-pointed iron bar and others stout ash stretchers which
+they had, somewhat to their regret, not been called upon to do
+anything with yet. Desmond, however, walked a little apart with
+Ormsgill.
+
+"When will you be back?" he asked.
+
+"I don't know," said Ormsgill. "There is a good deal against me just
+now. In any case, I expect nothing further from you. You have done
+more than I would have asked of anybody else already."
+
+"Will two months see you through?"
+
+"It may be four, very probably longer."
+
+"Exactly," said Desmond with a little smile. "In the meantime the
+_Palestrina_ is going to Nigeria. I don't quite know where she'll go
+after that."
+
+They said very little more until Ormsgill shook hands with him and
+calling to his carriers marched out of camp. The sun had just lifted
+itself above a rise to the east, and for awhile Desmond watched the
+line of dusky men with eyes dazzled by the fierce light, and then
+turned to give instructions to his seamen. They had already been busy,
+and in another few minutes they and the boys that had been
+Lamartine's had started for the coast.
+
+It proved an arduous march, for before the sun had risen its highest
+it was blotted out by leaden cloud and the wide littoral was wrapped
+in dimness until the lightning blazed. It ceased in a few minutes, but
+the men crouched bewildered for another half hour ankle-deep in water
+while a pitiless blinding deluge thrashed them. Then they went on
+again dripping, and every league or so were lashed by tremendous rain
+while mad gusts of wind rioted across the waste in between. The next
+day there was scorching sunshine, and the men were worn-out, parched,
+and savage, when at last one of the boys who had served Lamartine,
+climbing a low elevation, assured his comrades that there were soldiers
+behind them. He said they would be, at least, an hour in reaching that
+spot, but there was haste and bustle when the information was conveyed
+to Desmond. The latter fancied it would be several hours before he
+made the beach.
+
+He and the white men had occasion to remember the rest of that
+journey. They strained every aching muscle as they plodded on with the
+perspiration dripping from them and the baked mire crumbling and
+slipping beneath their feet while a dingy haze once more crept across
+the sky and the heat became intolerable. It was dark when they reached
+the beach, and Desmond gasped with relief when the roar of the
+_Palestrina_'s whistle rang through the thunder of the surf in answer
+to a rifle shot. It was evident that she had steam up. He sent two
+men back to keep watch on the crest of the bluff, and then set about
+getting the boat down with the rest.
+
+She was big and heavy. The sand was soft, and the rollers instead of
+running over it bedded themselves in it. The boys from the interior
+were also of little use at that task, and though the seamen toiled
+desperately it was almost beyond their accomplishing. The tide was at
+low ebb, and the sand grew softer as they ran her down a yard at a
+time, until at last they stopped gasping. Then one of the men came
+running from the bluff.
+
+"The soldiers are not far away," he said.
+
+Desmond asked him no questions, but turned to the seamen. "We have got
+to do it, boys," he said. "Shift that after roller under her nose."
+
+They drew breath, and toiled on again. Their progress was not
+reassuring in view of the fact that the troops were close at hand, but
+they made a little, and in front of them the spray beyond which lay
+the _Palestrina_ whirled in a filmy cloud. Every now and then there
+was a thunderous roar in the midst of it, and part of the beach was
+hidden in a tumultuous swirl of foam. Gasping, straining, slipping,
+but grimly silent, they toiled on, moving her a foot with every
+desperate effort, until at last a yeasty flood surged past them
+knee-deep, and hove her away from them grinding one bilge in the sand.
+Then Desmond raised a hoarse voice.
+
+"Hang on to her," he said. "Oh, hang on. Down on her bilge, and let
+her go when the sea sucks out again."
+
+They went out with her and it amidst a sliding mass of sand, and
+somehow contrived to hold her when the next sea came in. It broke
+across her, and some of them went down, but when the seething flood
+swept on up the beach she was there still, and they went out again
+waist-deep in the downward swirl of it. Then they were up to the
+shoulders with a great hissing wall of water close in front of them,
+and black man and white scrambled in over the gunwale and floundered
+furiously in the water inside her, groping for oar and paddle. Still,
+they were perched on the gunwale, and the man with the blue-striped
+forehead had the big steering oar before the sea fell upon them, and
+straining every muscle they drove her through the breaking crest of
+it.
+
+She lurched out, half-full and loaded heavily, to face the next, and
+Desmond was never certain how she got over it, but at least, he was
+not washed out of her as he had half expected. He fancied there was a
+faint shouting on the bluff, but nobody could have been sure of that
+through the din of the surf, and all his attention was occupied by his
+paddle. Very slowly, fighting for every fathom, they drove her
+outshore, until the combers grew less steep and their crests ceased to
+break, and Desmond gazing seawards could see the _Palestrina_ when she
+lifted. She swung with the swell, a dim, blurred shape, without a
+light on board her, but a sharp jarring rattle told him that his
+instructions were being carried out. Winthrop the mate was already
+heaving his anchor. That was satisfactory, for Desmond knew that
+nobody could see the yacht through the spray that floated over bluff
+and beach.
+
+They were alongside in some twenty minutes with another troublesome
+task before them. The yacht was rolling heavily, and the big
+half-swamped boat swung up to her rail one moment and sank down
+beneath a fathom of streaming side the next. It was a difficult matter
+to reach her deck, and Lamartine's boys were bushmen who knew nothing
+of the sea. They crouched in the boat's bottom stupidly until their
+white companions who found thumps and pushes of no avail seized them
+by their woolly hair and dragged them to their feet. They were sent up
+one by one, and when at last the boat was hove in by the banging winch
+Desmond scrambled with the brine running from him to his bridge. The
+windlass rattled furiously for another minute or two, and then with a
+quickening throb of engines the _Palestrina_ swept out into the night.
+A little while later Winthrop the mate climbed to the bridge, and
+Desmond laughed when he asked him a few questions.
+
+"I don't think those folks ashore got a sight of the yacht or boat,"
+he said. "It will be morning before they find out where we've gone,
+and we should be a good many miles to the north by then. I don't
+suppose they know Ormsgill isn't with us either, and that will
+probably put them off his trail for a time, at least. In the meanwhile
+you'll head her out a point or two more to the westwards for another
+hour, and have me called at daylight. I'm going down to change my
+clothes."
+
+He had just dressed himself in dry garments when a steward tapped at
+the door of his room.
+
+"I don't know what's to be done with those niggers, sir," he said.
+"The men won't have them in the forecastle."
+
+"Ah," said Desmond a trifle sharply, "that's a thing I hadn't thought
+of, though, of course, it might have struck me. They're on deck still?
+Bring me a lantern."
+
+The man got one, and Desmond who went out with him held it up when
+they stood beside the little group of dusky men who sat huddled
+together upon the sloppy deck. A seaman stood not far away from them,
+and he turned to Desmond.
+
+"We can't have them down forward with us, sir," he said.
+
+There was a certain deference in his tone, but it was very resolute,
+and Desmond made a little gesture of comprehension as he glanced at
+the huddled negroes. Most of them were naked save for a strip of
+tattered waistcloth, and their thick lips, wooly hair, and heavy faces
+were revealed in the lantern light. He realized that there was
+something to be said for the seaman's attitude. They had done what
+they could for these Africans, and had done it gallantly, but now they
+were afloat again they would not eat with them or sleep in their
+vicinity. Color is only skin-deep, a question of climate and
+surroundings, but Desmond, who admitted that, felt that, after all,
+there was a wide distinction between himself and the seamen and these
+aliens. It was one that could not be ignored. The theory of the
+brotherhood of humanity went so far, and then broke down.
+
+"We have a few strips of pine scantling among the stores," he said,
+after a moment's thought. "You can screw one or two of them down on
+deck--but I can't have more than a couple of screws in each. Then if
+you ranged a bass warp in between it would keep them off the wet.
+There's an old staysail they can have to sleep in. We could toss it
+overboard when they have done with it."
+
+He turned away, and, soon after a meal was brought him, went to sleep
+while the _Palestrina_ sped on as fast as her engines could drive her
+towards the north. In due time she also crept into one of the many
+miry waterways which wind through the mangrove forests of Lower
+Nigeria, and Desmond sent a boat up it with a letter Ormsgill had
+given him to a certain white trader. An hour or two later a big gaunt
+man in white duck came back with the boat and drank a good deal of
+Desmond's wine. Then after asking the latter a few questions he looked
+at him with a twinkle in his eyes.
+
+"Well," he said, "Ormsgill is rather a friend of mine, and what you
+have been telling me is certainly the kind of thing one would expect
+from him. It is by no means what I would do myself, but he always
+had--curious notions. Most of us have, for that matter, though,
+perhaps, it's fortunate they're not all the same. Well, I'll be glad
+to have the boys, especially as it's difficult to get Kroos enough
+from Liberia just now."
+
+"I think there were certain conditions laid down in Ormsgill's
+letter," said Desmond reflectively.
+
+The trader laughed. "There were," he said. "Well, I'm willing to admit
+that I have once or twice pitched a nigger who was a trifle impudent
+over the veranda rails. It's one of the things you have to do, and if
+you do it in one way they don't seem to mind. No doubt they understand
+it's only natural the climate and the fever should make you a trifle
+hasty. Still, I don't think a Kroo was ever done out of his earnings,
+or had things thrown at him when he didn't deserve it, in my factory."
+
+Desmond fancied that this was probable, for he liked the man's face.
+There was rough good-humor in it, and the twinkle in his eyes was
+reassuring. As a matter of fact, he was, like most of those who
+followed his occupation in those swamps, one who lived a trifle hard
+and grimly held his own with a good deal against him. His code of
+ethics was, perhaps, slightly vague, but there were things he would
+not stoop to, and though now and then he might in a fit of
+exasperation hurl anything that was convenient as well as hard words
+at his boys, they knew that such action was not infrequently followed
+by a fit of inconsequent generosity. There are men of his kind in
+those factories whose boys will not leave them even when a rival
+offers them more gin cases and pieces of cloth for their services. In
+a moment or two Desmond made up his mind.
+
+"Shall I send the boys ashore with you?" he asked.
+
+"No," said the trader reflectively. "After what you've told me it
+might be wiser if I ran them up river in the launch to our factory
+higher up after dark. You see, nobody would worry about where they
+came from there. In the meantime you had better go up and ask the
+Consul down to dinner. You needn't mention the boys to him, and it's
+fortunate that a yacht owner escapes most of the usual formalities.
+I'll be back with the launch by sunset."
+
+He kept his word, but while he was getting the boys on board his
+launch just after darkness closed down a little white steamer swept
+suddenly round a bend, and before the launch was clear two white
+officers stepped on board the _Palestrina_. A thick white mist rose
+from the river, but Desmond was a trifle anxious when one of the
+officers leaned over the yacht's rail looking down on the launch.
+
+"You seem to have a crowd of boys with you, Brinsley," he said.
+
+The trader stepped back on to the _Palestrina_'s ladder. "I could do
+with more. Those folks up river are loading me up with oil. Anyway,
+I'd like a talk with you about that gin duty your clerk has
+overcharged me."
+
+Then he turned to a man in the launch below. "Go ahead," he said. "You
+can tell Nevin he must send me that oil down if he works all to-morrow
+night."
+
+A negro shouted something back to him, and with engines clanking the
+launch swept away up the misty river, while it was with relief Desmond
+led Brinsley and his guests into the saloon where dinner was set out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+UNDER STRESS
+
+
+When Desmond left him Ormsgill did not march directly east towards the
+interior, but headed northwards for several days. There were reasons
+which rendered the detour advisable, especially as he desired to avoid
+the few scattered villages as much as possible, but he had occasion to
+regret that he had made it. He pushed on as fast as possible until one
+hot afternoon when the boys wearied with the march since early morning
+lay down in the grass, and he wandered listlessly out of camp. Their
+presence was irksome, and he wanted to be alone just then.
+
+There are times when an unpleasant dejection fastens upon the white
+man in that climate, and when he is in that state a very little is
+usually sufficient to exasperate him. The boys were muttering drowsily
+to one another, and Ormsgill felt he could not lie still and listen to
+them. He had also a tangible reason for the bitterness he was troubled
+with. Desmond had brought him no message from Ada Ratcliffe, and
+though she had as he knew no sympathy with what he was doing and had
+never shown him very much tenderness, it seemed to him that she might,
+at least, have sent him a cheering word. It was, in view of what it
+would cost him to keep faith with her, and that was a thing he
+resolutely meant to do, a little disconcerting to feel that she did
+not think of him at all.
+
+In the meanwhile it was oppressively hot, and the air was very still.
+His muscles seemed slack and powerless, his head ached, and the
+perspiration dripped from him, but he wandered on until he reached a
+spot where a little patch of jungle rose amidst a strip of tall grass
+in the mouth of a shallow ravine. Ormsgill stood still in its shadow
+and looked about him. Not a leaf shook, and there was not a movement
+in the stagnant air. In front of him the patch of jungle cut harshly
+green against the glaring blue of the sky, and beyond it there was
+sun-baked soil and sand on the slopes of the ravine.
+
+Then there was a flash in the shadow and one of his legs gave away. He
+staggered and reeled crashing into a thicket, and when a minute later
+he strove to raise himself out of it one leg felt numb beneath the
+knee except for the spot where there was a stinging pain. Ormsgill
+also felt more than a little faint and dizzy, and for a few moments
+lay still again blinking about him. A wisp of blue smoke still hung
+about the leaves, and he could hear a low crackling that grew fainter
+as he listened. It was evident that the man who had shot him was bent
+on getting away, and he made shift to roll up his thin duck trousers,
+and looked down at his leg. There was a bluish mark in the middle of
+the big muscle with a little dark blood about it, and he took out his
+knife. He set his lips as he felt the point of it grate on something
+hard, and then closed the knife and sat still again with a little
+gasp of pain.
+
+There was, he knew, a piece of the broken cooking pot the West African
+usually loads his flintlock gun with embedded in his leg. That, at
+least, was evident, but he did not know who had shot him, and, indeed,
+was never any wiser on that point. It was, perhaps, a negro who had
+supposed him to be a trader or official against whom he had some
+grievance, but, after all, that seemed scarcely likely, and Ormsgill
+fancied it was some dusky sportsman who had fired at a venture when he
+heard a movement, and had then gone away as fast as possible when he
+saw that he had hit a white man. This appeared the more probable
+because they were not very far from the coast, where men do not often
+attempt each other's life, and Ormsgill had only been struck by one
+piece of iron.
+
+In any case, the faintness was leaving him by the time the startled
+boys came up and found him sitting in the shadow. It was evident that
+the wound was not very serious in itself, but he realized that a man
+could not expect to travel far in that climate with a piece of iron
+rankling in his leg. Somebody must cut it out for him, and he did not
+care to entrust any of his thick-headed carriers with the operation.
+Without being much of a physiologist he knew that there are arteries
+in one's leg which it is highly undesirable to sever. He also
+recognized that while the thing was, perhaps, possible to one with
+nerve enough, he could not get it out himself, which was, however,
+rather more than one could reasonably have expected of a man born and
+brought up in a state of civilization, for there are a few points on
+which the primitive peoples excel us. Still, the life he had led had
+made him hard, and when he had quieted the boys he bound up the wound,
+and filling his pipe with hands that were tolerably steady, lay still
+awhile to consider.
+
+He could not push on towards the interior as he was, and there were,
+he believed, one or two doctors in the city, which was not very far
+away. He was aware that he was liable to be arrested there, but it
+seemed possible that he might enter it unobserved at night and
+purchase secrecy from any one who took him in. In such a case he would
+be the safer because it was about the last spot in which those
+interested in his capture would expect to come across him, and in a
+few more minutes he had made up his mind. Though the hammock is not so
+frequently used as a means of conveyance in that country where the
+trek-ox is generally available as it is in most other parts of Western
+Africa, he had provided himself with one.
+
+"Get the hammock slung," he said. "We will go on towards the west when
+you are ready."
+
+Half an hour later the bearers hove the pole to their woolly crowns,
+and plodded on again. They were not men of any great intelligence, and
+were usually content to do what they were told without asking
+questions, which was a custom that had its advantages. They had also
+an unreasoning and half-instinctive confidence in the man who led
+them, and in due time they plodded into sight of the town one night
+when the muggy land breeze was blowing. Like other West African
+towns, the place straggles up and back from the seaboard bluff, with
+wide spaces between the houses, and nobody seemed stirring when
+Ormsgill's boys marched into the outskirts of it. Remembering what the
+priest of San Thome had told him of the man whose wife he had sent the
+girl Anita to, he presently bade them stop outside the building which
+stood well apart from the rest. Some of them were roofed with
+corrugated iron, and some with picturesque tiles, but the top of this
+one was flat, which Ormsgill was pleased to see. He recognized that it
+was built in the older Iberian style which is not uncommon in Western
+Africa and ensures the inmates privacy. There are no outbuildings
+where this plan is adopted. The house stands four-square and
+self-contained, presenting an almost unbroken wall to the outer world,
+though there is usually an open patio in the midst of it. One of the
+boys rapped upon a door, and when it was opened by a negro his
+comrades unceremoniously marched down an arched passage under the
+building until they reached the enclosed patio. Ormsgill had impressed
+them with the fact that the most important thing was to get in.
+
+Then lights appeared at one or two windows, and when a little,
+olive-faced gentleman in white linen with a broad sash about his waist
+came down the stairway from a veranda Ormsgill raised himself in the
+lowered hammock.
+
+"You will forgive this intrusion, Senor," he said.
+
+The other man made him a little formal salutation. "I," he said dryly,
+"await an explanation."
+
+Ormsgill offered him one, and the little gentleman looked at him
+thoughtfully for a moment or two.
+
+"I have heard of you--from the fathers up yonder who are friends of
+mine," he said. "Perhaps it is my duty to inform the Authorities that
+you are here, but in the meanwhile that is a point on which I am not
+quite certain. You can, at least, consider this house as yours until
+we talk the matter over. The boys may sleep in the patio to-night, but
+they will first carry you in."
+
+They did it at Ormsgill's bidding, and left him sitting in a basket
+chair in a big, cool room, after which his host brought in a few
+cigars and a flask of wine.
+
+"They are at your service, senor," he said. "I would suggest that you
+give me a little more information. I am one who can, at least, now and
+then respect a confidence."
+
+Ormsgill looked at him steadily, and made up his mind. It was clear
+that if his host meant to hand him over to the Authorities there was
+nothing to prevent him doing so, and reticence did not appear likely
+to serve any purpose, since he was wholly in his hands. He spoke for a
+few minutes, and the other nodded.
+
+"I think it was wise of you to tell me this," he said. "There are, I
+may mention, others besides myself who desire to see certain changes
+made in our administration, and they would, I think, sympathize with
+you. Some of them are gentlemen of influence, but we have confidence
+in Dom Clemente and another man of greater importance--and we are
+waiting. To proceed, I think it would not be difficult to keep you
+here awhile without anyone we would not wish to know becoming aware of
+it. The thing is made easier by the fact that my wife and the girl
+Anita are away, and my sister, who is very deaf and does not like
+society, rules the household. Now if it is permissible I will examine
+your leg."
+
+He did so, and looked a trifle grave after it. "I know a little of
+these matters, and it is advisable that this should be seen to," he
+said. "Now the Portuguese doctor is not exactly a friend of mine, and
+might ask questions as to how you got hurt and where you came from,
+but there is a half-breed who I think is clever, and he would probably
+refrain from mentioning anything that appeared unusual if he is
+remunerated sufficiently. It is"--and he made a little expressive
+gesture, "a thing he is accustomed to doing."
+
+Ormsgill suggested that the man should be sent for early next morning,
+and went to sleep an hour later in greater comfort than he had enjoyed
+for a considerable time. He did not, however, sleep soundly, and was
+awake when the half-breed doctor came into his room next morning. The
+latter set to work and managed to extract the piece of iron, but
+before nightfall the fever which had left him alone of late had
+Ormsgill in its grip. It shook him severely during several days, and
+then, as sometimes happens, left him suddenly, limp and nerveless in
+mind and body. He was content to lie still and wait almost
+unconcernedly. Nothing seemed to matter, and he felt that effort of
+any kind was futile.
+
+He lay one morning in this frame of mind when there were footsteps on
+the veranda outside his door, and he heard a voice that sounded
+curiously familiar. Then the door opened, and Benicia Figuera who came
+into the room started when she saw him. Ormsgill, however, betrayed no
+astonishment. He was too languid, and he lay still gravely watching
+her. The sunlight that streamed in through the open door fell full
+upon her, gleaming on her trailing white draperies and forcing up
+bronze lights in her dusky hair. He did not see the faint tinge of
+color that crept into the ivory of her cheek, but he vaguely noticed
+the pity shining in her eyes. She seemed to him refreshingly cool and
+reposeful.
+
+He did not remember exactly what she said, though he fancied she
+mentioned that she had some business with his host's sister, and he
+had no recollection of his own observations, but he sank into tranquil
+sleep when she went away and awoke refreshed, to wonder when she would
+come back again. As it happened, she came next day, bringing him
+choice fruits and wine, and it was by her instructions he was carried
+out on the veranda above the patio where she sat and talked to him.
+Her voice was low and tranquil, her mere presence soothing, and she
+did not seem to mind when he grew drowsy. Once or twice again, when
+she was not aware that he was watching her, he saw compassion in her
+eyes. Afterwards, though this was not quite in accordance with Iberian
+customs, she came for an hour or two frequently, and Ormsgill grew
+curiously restless when she stayed away. Sometimes his host sat with
+them and discoursed on politics, but more often he left his deaf
+sister, who would wander away to superintend the dusky servants' lax
+activities.
+
+The house, like others of the same type, might have been built for a
+fortress, and afforded those within it all the seclusion any one could
+desire. One arched entrance pierced the tall white walls, which had a
+few little windows with heavy green lattices set high in them. Within,
+the building rose, tinted a faint pink and terraced with verandas
+supported by tottering wooden pillars, about a quadrangular patio, and
+it was characteristic that it was more or less ruinous. When the outer
+windows were open the sea breeze blew through it, and sitting in cool
+shadow one could hear the drowsy murmur of the surf. Ormsgill found
+the latter inexpressibly soothing when Benicia sat near him, and he
+would lie still contentedly listening to her and watching the shadow
+creep across the patio. Weak as he was in body, with his mind relaxed,
+he allowed no misgivings to trouble him. He was vaguely grateful for
+her presence as a boon that had been sent him without his request, and
+whether Benicia understood his attitude, or what she thought of it,
+did not appear.
+
+That was at first, however, and by degrees he took himself to task as
+his strength came back, until in the hot darkness of one sleepless
+night he realized towards what all this was leading him. As it
+happened, Benicia did not appear the next day, and he had nerved
+himself for an effort by the one that followed. He had an interview
+with his host and the half-breed doctor, who both protested, and then
+lay waiting for the girl in a state of tense expectancy. He recognized
+now what it was most fitting that he should do, but that, after all,
+is a good deal less than half the battle. It was late in the afternoon
+when she came, and the first glance showed her that there was a change
+in Ormsgill.
+
+He lay in a canvas lounge smiling gravely, but he had dressed himself
+more precisely than usual, and there was a suggestion of resolution in
+his haggard face which had not been there before. There was also
+something in his eyes which conveyed the impression that the
+resolution had cost him an effort, and Benicia laid a certain
+restraint upon herself, for she knew what had happened. The days in
+which he had leaned upon her and permitted her unquestioningly to
+minister to his comfort had, undoubtedly been pleasant, but, after
+all, she had not expected them to continue.
+
+"You are stronger to-day," she said, with a composure that was a
+little difficult to assume, as she took a chair beside him.
+
+"I am," said Ormsgill quietly. "In fact I have been getting stronger
+rapidly of late, and I am glad of it. You see, I have been blissfully
+idle for a while and I have a good deal to do."
+
+Benicia knew what was coming, but she smiled. "You are sure of that?"
+she said. "I mean, you still think it is your business?"
+
+"Perhaps it's a little absurd of me, but I do. Anyway, I don't know of
+anybody else who is willing to undertake it."
+
+"Ah," said Benicia, "would it matter greatly if it was not done, after
+all? There are so many things one would have altered in Africa--and
+they still go on. It is possible that nobody will ever succeed in
+changing them."
+
+It was, though she was, perhaps, not aware of this, a very strong
+argument she used, one whose force is now and then instinctively
+realized by every thinking white man in the western half of Africa,
+and in other parts as well. It is a land that has absorbed many
+civilizations and continued in its barbarism. Nature unsubdued is
+against the white man there, and against her tremendous forces his
+most strenuous efforts are of little avail. Where the air reeks with
+germs of pestilence and there are countless leagues of swamps breeding
+corruption, one can expect very little from a few scattered hospitals
+and an odd mile of drains. Besides, there is in the lassitude born of
+its steamy heat something that insidiously saps away the white man's
+will until he feels that effort of any kind is futile, and that in the
+land of the shadow it is wiser to leave things as they are.
+
+Ormsgill nodded gravely. "Yes," he said, "one recognizes that, but,
+you see, I don't expect to do very much--merely to keep a promise, and
+set a few thick-headed heathen at liberty. I think I could accomplish
+that."
+
+"Why should you wish to set them at liberty?"
+
+"It's a trifle difficult to answer," and Ormsgill laughed. "After all,
+the motive is probably to some extent a personal one. Anyway, it's not
+a thing I have any occasion to inflict on you. There was a time when
+you didn't adopt this attitude, but sympathized with me."
+
+The girl made a little gesture. "I would like to understand. You and
+Desmond have all that most men wish for. Why are you risking your life
+and health in Africa?"
+
+A curious little smile crept into Ormsgill's eyes. "Well," he said
+reflectively, "there are respects in which one's possessions are apt
+to become burdensome. They seem to carry so many obligations along
+with them that one falls into bondage under them, and I think some of
+us are rebels born. We feel we must make our little protest, if it's
+only by doing the thing everybody else considers reprehensible."
+
+He stopped a moment, and his face grew a trifle grim when he went on
+again. "In my case it must be made now since I shall probably never
+have an opportunity of doing anything of the kind again."
+
+Benicia understood him, for she had watched Miss Ratcliffe carefully
+at Las Palmas. In fact, she had understood him all along. That he
+should shrink from any claim to philanthropy was only what she had
+expected from him, and it was also characteristic that he should have
+made as little as possible of his motives. Admitting that he had to
+some extent been swayed by the rebellious impulse he had mentioned,
+she knew there was beneath it a chivalrous purpose that was likely to
+prove the more effective from its practical simplicity. The Latins can
+appreciate chivalry, though they do not invariably practice it now,
+and she realized vaguely that there is nothing in man more knightly
+than the desire to strike a blow for the oppressed or at his peril to
+redress a wrong. Ormsgill's sentiments and methods were, perhaps, a
+trifle crude, and, from one point of view, somewhat old fashioned. He
+did not preach a crusade, but couched the lance himself. After all, he
+belonged to a nation which had once, using crude effective means,
+swept the slavers off that coast, and still stamps its coinage with
+the George and Dragon.
+
+It was, however, after all, not so much as a redresser of grievances
+and a friend of the oppressed, but as a man that Benicia regarded her
+companion, for she knew that she loved him. She said nothing, and in a
+minute or two he spoke again.
+
+"There is a thing that has been on my mind the last few days," he
+said. "The fever must have left me too shaky to think of it before. I
+am afraid, though it was very pleasant to see you, I haven't quite
+kept faith with your father in allowing you to come and talk with me.
+You, of course, don't understand exactly how the Authorities regard
+me."
+
+Benicia smiled a little, for she understood very well. "I don't think
+that counts," she said, "and what is, perhaps, more to the purpose, my
+father is not here; he has gone, I believe, on business of the State,
+into the bush country. If you had remembered earlier you would have
+been anxious to send me away?"
+
+She leaned forward looking at him, and saw the tension in his face. It
+told her a good deal, and she felt that for all his resolution she
+could, if she wished, bend him to her will.
+
+"No," he said, "I'm not sure I could have done it if I had wished. In
+fact, the week--is it a week?--I have lain here has been such a one as
+I have never spent before. Now I am horribly sorry that it is over."
+
+There was something in his voice which fully bore out what he had
+said, but Benicia was aware that it was she who had forced the
+admission from him without his quite realizing its significance. She
+knew that he would speak more plainly still if she kept her eyes on
+him.
+
+"It is over? You can countenance no more of my visits, then?" she
+asked.
+
+"I am," said Ormsgill gravely, "going away again before to-morrow."
+
+Benicia sat very quiet, and contrived that he did not see her face for
+a moment or two. She had, at least, not expected this, and it sent a
+thrill of dismay through her. Steady as his voice was, she was aware
+that the simple announcement had cost the man a good deal.
+
+"You are not strong enough for the journey yet," she said at length.
+"It would not be safe."
+
+Ormsgill smiled in a curious wry fashion. "It does not require much
+strength to lie still in a hammock, and I shall no doubt get a little
+more every day. Besides, I almost think there is a certain danger
+here. In fact, it would be safer for me up yonder in the bush."
+
+Benicia was quite aware that he was not thinking chiefly of the danger
+of arrest, and again a little thrill that was no longer altogether one
+of dismay ran through her. He was, it seemed, afraid of sinking wholly
+under her influence. Again she leaned a little forward, and laid her
+hand upon his arm.
+
+"You must go? Would nothing keep you here--at least until you are fit
+to travel?" she asked.
+
+She saw his lips set for a moment, and the tinge of grayness creep
+into his face. Then, with a visible effort, he laid a restraint upon
+himself.
+
+"If I do not go," he said simply, "I should be ashamed the rest of my
+life. Perhaps, that would not matter so much, but, as it happens, one
+can't always bear his shame himself."
+
+Benicia turned a little in her chair, and let her hand fall back
+again. She knew that if she chose to exert her power he would not go
+at all, but it was probably fortunate that she did not choose. After
+all, she was a lady of importance in that land, and had the pride of
+her station in her. Though he loved her, she would not stoop to claim
+him against his will, and, what was more, she had a vague perception
+of the fact that he was right. A wrong done could not be wiped out by
+the mere wish to obliterate it, and she felt that if he broke faith
+with the Englishwoman in Las Palmas and slackly turned back from the
+task which he, at least, fancied was an obligation upon him, there
+might come a time when the fact would stand between them and she would
+remember the stain upon his shield. She hated the Englishwoman with
+Latin sincerity, but in this case her pride saved her from a fall.
+There are other people who owe their pride a good deal.
+
+"Then," she said slowly, "one can only tell you to go. Some time,
+perhaps, you will come back again?"
+
+She rose, and Ormsgill with an effort stood up awkwardly, and taking
+the hand she held out held it a moment. "I do not know," he said with
+a faint trace of hoarseness. "It is not often possible for one to do
+what one would wish, and there are--duties--laid on me. Still, if it
+should be possible--" He broke off for a moment, and then went on
+again in a different tone very quietly, "In the meanwhile I must thank
+you. I owe you a good deal."
+
+He watched her go down the stairway, and then leaned on the balustrade
+for awhile wondering vaguely what would have happened if he had flung
+off all restraint and let himself go. He did not know that while he
+was nearest to doing so Benicia Figuera had laid a restraint on him,
+and that had she permitted it he would have rushed headlong to a fall.
+There are times when the strength of a usually resolute man is apt to
+prove a snare to him. Then he sat down wearily in the canvas chair
+again, and when the land breeze swept through the city that night he
+and his handful of carriers slipped quietly out of it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE SLACKENING OF RESTRAINT
+
+
+A half moon had just sailed up above the shoulder of a hill, and its
+pale light streamed into the veranda of the little mission house which
+stood in a rift of the great scarp where the high inland plateau
+breaks down to the levels of the sun-scorched littoral. The barren
+hillslopes round about it were streaked with belts of gleaming sand,
+and above them scrubby forests, destitute of anything that man or
+beast could eat, rolled back to the vast marshes of the western
+watershed, but the bottom of the deep valley was green and fertile as
+a garden. It had, however, only been made so by patient labor, for
+even in the tropics there is no escape from the primeval ban. It is by
+somebody's tense effort that man is provided with his daily bread, and
+where he labors least he lives most like the animals, for nature
+unsubdued is very rarely bountiful. She sends thorns and creepers to
+choke the young plantations, and the forest invades the clearing when
+the planter stays his hand. But in Western Africa the white man sees
+that the negro fights the ceaseless battle for him. It is, in his
+opinion, what the black man was made for, and those who know by what
+methods he obtains and controls his dusky laborers in certain tracts
+of the dark land wonder now and then why such things are permitted
+and if there will never be a reckoning. That is, however, only one
+aspect of a very old question, and it is admittedly difficult to be an
+optimist in Africa.
+
+Still, there was, for the time being, at least, quietness and good
+will in that lonely rift among the hills, and Nares, sitting on the
+mission house veranda in the moonlight, felt its beneficent influence,
+though he was suffering from that most exasperating thing the prickly
+heat, which had, as it frequently does, followed a slight attack of
+fever. Two patient men from his own country sat with him, and it was
+clear that their toil had not been in vain. He could see the
+sprinkling of white blossom on the trees beneath him that bore green
+limes, and beyond these were rows of mangoes, coffee plants, and sweet
+potato vines, but the huts of the dusky converts were silent and
+hidden among the leaves. There was no sound but the soft murmur of
+running water. A deep serenity brooded over it all.
+
+"A garden!" he said. "In this country one could call it a garden of
+the Lord."
+
+The elder of his two companions smiled, for he had shrewdness as well
+as faith.
+
+"Thanks in part, at least, to our mountain wall," he said. "We lie
+several leagues from the only road, and that is not a much frequented
+one. There is, most fortunately, little commerce in this strip of
+country, and the great roads lie as you know far to the south of us.
+Still, I sometimes wonder how we have been left alone so long, and we
+have had our warnings."
+
+"Herrero now and then comes up this way?"
+
+The missionary nodded. "He is the thorn in our side," he said.
+"Domingo, his associate, as of course you know, rambles through the
+back country. There is no one else to cause us anxiety, but Herrero
+has an old grudge against us. There were villages in these valleys
+when he first came here, and he swept them almost clean. We gathered
+up the remnant of the people, and now they will not buy his rum from
+him."
+
+"If the news we got with our last supplies is correct he can not be
+more than a few days' march away," the younger man broke in. "I have
+been wondering how often he will pass us by. Some day he will come
+down on us. It's a sure thing."
+
+Nares straightened himself a trifle. He had for several years borne
+almost all a man could bear and live through in that land, and after
+he left Ormsgill had fled inland, proscribed, finding no safety
+anywhere until his countrymen at their peril had offered him shelter
+at the mission. Besides, he had fever and prickly heat, which tries
+the meekest white man's patience, and it was New England stock he
+sprang from. He was a Puritan by birth as well as training, of the old
+grim Calvinistic strain, and his forbears had believed that the sword
+of the Lord is now and then entrusted to human hands. In that faith
+they had faced their king at Naseby, and in later days and another
+land held their own at Bunker Hill, and again crushed the Southern
+slave-owners' riflemen. It awoke once more deep down in the heart of
+their descendant as he sat on the mission veranda that night.
+
+"What will you do then?" he said. "It sometimes seems to me that we
+have borne enough. One could almost wonder if there is anything more
+than prudence in our non-resistance. That alone seldom carries one
+very far."
+
+A faint sparkle crept into the eyes of the younger man, for there was
+also a capacity for righteous wrath in him, but his elder companion
+raised a restraining hand.
+
+"What can we do that will not bring down trouble on our followers'
+heads?" he asked.
+
+Nares had not slept for several nights, and that coming on top of his
+other troubles had its effect on him, for he was, after all, very
+human, and the white man's self-restraint is apt to grow feeble in
+that land where his passions usually grow strong. Now and then,
+indeed, it breaks down altogether suddenly.
+
+"Somebody must suffer for every reform," he said. "It seems that a
+sacrifice is demanded, and the ban is upon us still. Here, at least,
+the cost of man's progress is the shedding of blood." Then he made a
+little forceful gesture. "They are arming in the bush. In another
+month or two there will be very grim doings at San Roque."
+
+The older man changed the subject abruptly. "You have your own course
+to consider. Have you come to a decision yet? I almost think if you
+surrendered to a responsible officer the Society has influence enough
+to secure your acquittal. After all, there are a few honest men upon
+the coast."
+
+Nares looked at him with a curious little smile. "It is possible that
+I might escape with my liberty, but not until those who hate us had
+blackened my character and flung discredit upon the aims and methods
+of the men who sent me here. Is my acquittal worth what it would cost
+your Society? Would the folks down yonder miss such an opportunity as
+my trial would afford them of making us out political intriguers and
+destroyers of authority?"
+
+He broke off for a moment, and laughed softly. "Still, they can't very
+well have a trial without a prisoner, and I shall wait in the bush
+until Ormsgill overtakes me. I have left word for him here and there
+with men who I think will not betray me."
+
+"Why shouldn't you stay here?" asked the younger man.
+
+"And bring the authorities down upon you? You know the cost of
+harboring me. Still, I will wait a day or two. Ormsgill must go inland
+by the road through the next valley, and if he has escaped the troops,
+there should be news of him any hour now."
+
+The others said nothing further. They knew those in authority had,
+perhaps, naturally little love for them, and would make the most of
+the opportunity if it became evident that they had sheltered a
+proscribed man. After all, they had a duty to their flock and the men
+who had sent them out. Nares, who guessed their thoughts, smiled at
+them.
+
+"It is all decided," he said. "When Ormsgill comes up I, believing as
+I do in the straitest teaching of the Geneva fathers, am going into
+the interior with him to accomplish the work he has undertaken for
+the repose of the soul of the rum trader Lamartine."
+
+Again his companions made no answer. After all, the creeds now and
+then grow vague in Africa, or, perhaps, in the anguish of life in the
+dark land they are purged of their narrowness and amplified. Besides
+this, it was evident that Nares was a trifle off his balance. There
+was silence for the next half hour. One of the men had toiled with the
+hoe among his flock that day, and the other had come back from a long
+march to a native village. The night was clear and cool and
+wonderfully still, and the peace of the garden valley crept in on
+them. One could almost have fancied the mission had been translated
+far from Africa, where tranquillity that is not tempered with
+apprehension seldom lasts very long. Then a sharp cry, harsh with
+human pain and terror, rang out of the soft darkness, and the man in
+charge of the station rose quietly from his chair.
+
+"Herrero's men are here. Our time has come at last," he said.
+
+The others rose with him, and stood very still for a moment or two
+listening until the cry arose again more shrilly, and there was a
+clamor among the unseen huts. The crash of a long flintlock gun broke
+through it, and in the midst of the uproar they heard a patter of
+naked feet. Half-seen shadowy figures swept past among the leaves, and
+a red glare that grew momentarily brighter leapt up behind the mango
+trees.
+
+"Herrero's men," said the older man again, as though in the bitterness
+of the moment that was all that occurred to him.
+
+They followed him down the stairway, though none of them knew what
+they meant to do, and, while now and then a half-naked figure dashed
+past them, down a narrow path between the trees, until the thatched
+roofs of the village rose close in front of them. One of them was
+blazing fiercely, and in another few minutes they saw a little group
+of dusky figures scurrying to and fro with burdens in the glare. A man
+among the latter also saw the newcomers, for apparently in drunken
+bravado he flung up a long gun, and there was a flash and a detonation
+as he fired at random. Nares saw him clearly, a big, brawny man
+swaying half-naked on his feet with short cotton draperies hanging
+from his waist, and his truculence was a guide to his profession. He
+was one of the hired ruffians who escort the labor recruits to the
+coast, and the African has no more grievous oppressor than the negro
+who acts as the white man's deputy.
+
+Still, the missionaries saw very little more just then, for at the
+flash of the gun a swarm of terror-stricken boys who had been lurking
+there broke out from the shadow of the outlying huts, and swept madly
+up the path. Nares ran forward to meet them, calling to them in a
+native tongue, but it was not evident that they understood him, for
+they ran on. He felt one of his comrade's hands upon his shoulder, but
+he shook it off, and clutched at one of the flying men nearest him. He
+was overwrought that night, and his patience had gone. An unreasoning
+fury of indignation came upon him, and in the midst of it he
+remembered that it was most unlikely Herrero's boys would do more
+than attempt to overawe any one who might venture to resist them with
+their guns. Yet here was a flock of sturdy men flying in wild panic
+from a handful of ruffians. Perhaps this was natural. The men had seen
+what came of resistance, and had been taught drastically that it was
+wisest to submit to the white man and those whom he permitted to
+persecute them.
+
+In any case, Nares's efforts availed him nothing, for the crowd of
+fugitives surged about him and his companions and bore them along.
+They could neither make head against it nor struggle clear, and were
+jostled against each other and driven forward until the crowd grew
+thinner abreast of the mission house where several paths that led to
+the hillslopes and the bush branched off. Then at last they reeled out
+from among the negroes, and while they stood gasping, Nares looked at
+the man in charge of the station with a question in his eyes. The
+latter made a little gesture of resignation.
+
+"That is certainly Herrero's work, and I think he has given them rum,
+but there is nothing we can do," he said. "They may burn a hut or two,
+but they can be built again, and the boys--I am thankful--have taken
+to the bush. We will go back to the house."
+
+This was not exactly to Nares' mind, but he recognized that there was
+wisdom in it, and they went up the little stairway and sat down once
+more upon the veranda. Now and then a hoarse shouting reached them,
+and the glare of burning thatch grew brighter, but nobody came near to
+trouble them. After all, a missionary's color counted for something,
+and it was a perilous thing for a negro who had not direct authority
+to meddle with him. Still, the older man's face was troubled.
+
+"They will go away by and by, and there is, fortunately, very little
+in the huts," he said. "There is only one thing I am anxious about.
+Our store shed stands in a thicket among the trees yonder close
+beneath us. We built it there not to be conspicuous, and they may not
+notice it, but it is only a few weeks since our supplies came
+in--drugs and cloth, besides tools, and goods that we could not
+replace."
+
+Nares made a little gesture of comprehension. He knew that the
+finances of the stations in that country are usually somewhat
+strained, and that when supplies went missing on the journey from the
+coast, as they sometimes did, the efforts of those they were intended
+for were apt to be crippled for many months.
+
+"The place is locked?" he said.
+
+"It is," said the younger man with a little smile. "After all, the
+boys are human. The door and building are strong enough, and the roof
+is iron. They can not burn it."
+
+Nares glanced at his older companion and saw that there was still
+concern in his face. Half an hour dragged by, and they sat still
+struggling with the uneasiness that grew upon them. There was less
+shouting in the village, and the fire was evidently dying down, but
+now and then a hoarse clamor reached them. Nares felt that to sit
+there and do nothing was a very hard thing. At last the younger man
+pushed his chair back sharply.
+
+"I think they have found where the store shed is. They are coming
+here," he said.
+
+"I wonder who has told them," said his companion.
+
+A patter of feet grew nearer, and Nares felt his mouth grow dry as he
+forced himself to sit still and listen, until several shadowy figures
+flitted out from among the trees. Then the older man's question was
+answered, for one of them dragged a Mission boy along with him. He
+carried a hide whip in one hand, and turned towards the veranda with a
+truculent laugh as he brought it down on his captive's quivering
+limbs.
+
+"Ah," said the younger man with sharp incisiveness, "I do not think
+one could blame that boy."
+
+More figures appeared behind the others, and they flitted across the
+strip of open space towards the store shed, after which there were
+hoarse shouts and a sound of hammering which ceased again. Then
+Herrero's boys came back by twos and threes, big, muscular negroes
+with short draperies fluttering from their hips, some of them lurching
+drunkenly. Three or four also carried long flintlock guns, and the one
+who had the whip still dragged the Mission boy along. They stopped in
+the clear space beneath the house, and Nares, who felt his heart beat,
+set his lips tight as one of them strode forward to the foot of the
+short veranda stairway. He was almost naked, and for a moment or two
+the white men sat still, and looked at him. It was, they felt, just
+possible that at the last moment his assurance would fail him.
+Perhaps, he understood what they were thinking, for he made a little
+contemptuous gesture.
+
+"We want the key to the store," he said in halting Portuguese.
+
+Then Nares turned to the head of the station. "You mean to give it
+him?"
+
+"No," said the older man simply. "If they are able to break into the
+shed I can not help it, but, at least, I will do nothing to make it
+easier for them. I am the Society's steward and these goods are
+entrusted to me."
+
+Nares looked at his younger companion, and saw a little smile in his
+eyes. It was clear that force would be useless, even if they had been
+willing to resort to it, but passive resistance was not forbidden
+them, and while apt to prove perilous it might avail, since it was
+scarcely probable that Herrero's boys could find the key. Then the
+younger man turned to the negro.
+
+"We will never give you the key," he said.
+
+"Then we will come and take it," said the man below.
+
+He signed to his companions, and when three or four of them gathered
+about him clamoring excitedly Nares felt his blood tingle and his face
+grow hot. Perhaps it was the fever working in him, and he was
+certainly overwrought, and, perhaps, it was a subconscious awakening
+of the white man's pride. After all, the men of his color held
+dominion, and it was an intolerable thing that one of them should
+submit to personal indignity at a negro's hand. A little quiver ran
+through him, but his restraint did not break down until the big
+truculent negro came up the stairway and laid a greasy black hand upon
+the shoulder of the worn and haggard man who ruled the station. He
+shook him roughly, grinning as he did it, and then Nares' self-control
+suddenly left him. Swinging forward on his left foot he struck at the
+middle of the heavy, animal face, and the negro staggering went
+backwards down the stairway. Then with the sting of his knuckles a
+change came over Nares, for the passions he had long held in stern
+subjection were suddenly unloosed. At last he had broken down under a
+tension that had been steadily growing intolerable, and he turned on
+his persecutors as other men of his faith have done. When men of that
+kind strike they strike shrewdly.
+
+There was also a change in the negroes' attitude. They had maltreated
+their own countrymen at their will, but they had as yet never laid
+hands upon a white man. Perhaps, it was the rum Herrero had given them
+which had stirred their courage, and, perhaps, they regarded a
+missionary as a good-humored fool who had for some inconceivable
+reason flung the white man's prerogative away. In any case, they were
+coming up the stairway, three or four of them, and now the first man
+carried a matchet, an instrument which resembles an old-fashioned
+cutlass. Nares, who asked for no directions, sprang into the room
+behind him where one of the trestle cots not unusual in that country
+stood. It had a stout wooden frame, and he rent one bar from the
+canvas laced to it. In another moment he was back at the head of the
+stairway where the man in charge of the station stood, frail, and
+haggard, but very quiet, with his thin jacket rent open where the
+negro had seized him. A foot or two below him the man with the matchet
+was coming up, naked to the waist, and half-crazed with rum. Nares
+could see his eyes in the moonlight, and that was enough.
+
+He swung the bar high with both hands, and it descended on the negro's
+crown. The man went backwards, but another who carried a long gun
+sprang over him, and the heavy bar came crashing down on his naked
+arm. Then it whirled again, and there was a curious thud as it left
+its mark upon a dusky face. There was a clamor from the men below, a
+gasp behind Nares, and a folded canvas chair struck the next negro on
+the breast. He, too, lost his balance, and in another moment the
+stairway was empty except for one of the dusky men who lay still upon
+the lower steps of it. Nares stood on the veranda, with a suffused
+face, and the perspiration dripping from him, and smiled curiously
+when the man in charge of the station glanced at him with wonder and a
+vague reproof in his eyes.
+
+"I am not sure that I have anything to regret," he said. "They are
+coming back again."
+
+Herrero's boys were once more at the foot of the stairway, trampling
+on their comrade as they scrambled over him, but there were now two
+men with extemporized weapons at the head of it who stood above them
+and had them at a disadvantage. Nares was, however, never quite clear
+as to what happened during the next few minutes, for an unreasoning
+fury came upon him, and he saw only the woolly heads and dusky faces
+as he gasped and smote, though he was vaguely conscious that now and
+then a shattered chair somebody whirled by the legs swung above his
+head. Then a long gun flashed, and the detonation was answered by a
+sharper, ringing crash. One of Herrero's boys screamed shrilly, and
+the half-naked figures went scrambling down the stairway. They had
+scarcely floundered clear of it when a man in white duck appeared in
+the space below, and flung up a rifle, and another of the boys who
+went down headlong lay writhing horribly in the sand. After that there
+was a shouting and a patter of flying feet, and further dusky men with
+matchets and Snider rifles poured out of the path that wound down the
+hillside. Nares quietly laid the bar he held against the wall, and
+turned to the others with a gasp.
+
+"It's Ormsgill," he said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+BENICIA MAKES A BARGAIN
+
+
+Except for the two unsightly objects that lay in the soft moonlight,
+there was no sign of Herrero's boys when Ormsgill walked up the
+stairway with a rifle in his hand. A little smoke curled from the
+breech which he opened before he shook hands with Nares.
+
+"It's fortunate I knew where you were, and came round to pick you up,"
+he said, and turned to the head of the station, who leaned upon the
+balustrade apparently shaken and bewildered by what had happened.
+
+"I came up behind Herrero most of the way, and when there were signs
+that we were getting closer I sent one of my boys on to creep in upon
+his camp two or three days ago. From what he told me when he came back
+I fancied there was mischief on foot, and I pushed on as fast as
+possible. Considering everything, it seems just as well I did."
+
+The other man appeared unwilling to let his gaze wander beyond the
+veranda, which was in one way comprehensible. There was shrinking in
+his face, and his voice was strained and hoarse.
+
+"It was so sudden--it has left me a trifle dazed," he said. "I am
+almost afraid the trouble is not over yet."
+
+Ormsgill smiled reassuringly. "I scarcely think--you--have any cause
+to worry. There is no doubt that Herrero inspired his boys, and
+attempts of this kind, as no doubt you are aware, have been made on
+mission stations before, but it's certain he would disclaim all
+knowledge of what they meant to do, and will be quite content to let
+the matter go no further. That is, at least, so far as anybody
+connected with the Mission is concerned."
+
+"I am afraid he may find some means of laying the blame on you."
+
+"It is quite likely," and Ormsgill laughed. "After all, it's a thing
+I'm used to, and, you see, I'm proscribed already. As it happens, so
+is Nares. He should never have left me. I have no doubt Herrero, who
+has friends in authority, will endeavor to make him regret his share
+in to-night's proceedings."
+
+Nares glanced at one of the rigid figures that lay beneath him in the
+moonlight. He saw the naked black shoulders, and the soiled white
+draperies that had fallen apart from the ebony limbs, and a little
+shiver ran through him. The heat of the conflict had vanished now, and
+the pale light showed that his face was drawn and gray.
+
+"I struck that man," he said. "I don't know what possessed me, but I
+think I meant to kill him. In one way, the thing is horrible."
+
+"Well," said Ormsgill dryly, "it is also very natural. The impulse you
+seem to shrink from is lurking somewhere in most of us. In any case,
+the man is certainly dead. I looked at him as I came up."
+
+He stopped a moment, and leaned somewhat heavily upon the balustrade
+with his eyes fixed on the dusky form of the negro. "The meanest thing
+upon this earth is the man who sides with the oppressor and tramples
+on his own kind. Still, though I think what I did was warranted, that
+was not why I shot those men. One doesn't always reason about these
+matters, as I fancy you understand."
+
+He turned, and looked at Nares who, after a momentary shrinking,
+steadily met his gaze. The man was wholly honest, and the thing was
+clear to him. He had struck at last, shrewdly, in a righteous cause,
+and nobody could have blamed him, but, as had happened in his
+comrade's case, human bitterness had also nerved the blow.
+
+"Well," he said slowly, "you and I, at least, will probably have to
+face the results of it."
+
+Again Ormsgill laughed, but a little glint crept into his eyes. "As I
+pointed out, we are both of us outlawed, with the hand of every white
+man in this country against us, but we have still a thing to do, and
+somehow I almost think it will be done."
+
+Then he turned to the man in charge of the Mission. "Nares is coming
+away with me. There are several reasons that make it advisable. It is
+very unlikely that anybody will trouble you further about this affair,
+and if the blame is laid on us it can't greatly matter. The score
+against one of us is a tolerably long one already--and if my luck
+holds out it may be longer. There is just another point. Shall I take
+those two boys below away for you?"
+
+"No," said the other man quietly. "There is, at least, one duty we owe
+them."
+
+Ormsgill made a little gesture. "The bones of their victims lie thick
+along each trail to the interior, but, after all, that is probably a
+thing for which they will not be held responsible. In the meanwhile,
+there are one or two reasons why I should outmarch Herrero if it can
+be done. When Nares is ready we will go on again."
+
+Nares was ready in a few minutes, and shaking hands with the two men
+who went down the veranda stairway with them, they struck into the
+path that led up the steep hillside. Ormsgill's boys plodded after
+them, but when they reached the crest of the ridge that overhung the
+valley Nares sat down, gasping, in the loose white sand, and looked
+down on the shadowy mission. He could see its pale lights blinking
+among the leaves.
+
+"It stands for a good deal that I have done with," he said. "It is a
+strange and almost bewildering thing to feel oneself adrift."
+
+"Still," said Ormsgill, "now and then the bonds of service gall."
+
+Nares made a little gesture. "Often," he said. "Perhaps I was not
+worthy to wear the uniform and march under orders with the rank and
+file, but I think the Church Militant has, after all, a task for the
+free companies which now and then push on ahead of her regular
+fighting line."
+
+"They march light," said Ormsgill. "That counts for a good deal. It
+has once or twice occurred to me that the authorized divisions are a
+little cumbered by their commissariat and baggage wagons."
+
+Nares sighed. "Well," he said softly, "every one must, at least now
+and then, leave a good deal that he values or has grown attached to
+behind him." He stopped a moment, and then asked abruptly, "You have
+heard from the girl at Las Palmas. Desmond would bring you letters?"
+
+"No," said Ormsgill, "not a word. She had no sympathy with my
+project--that she should have was hardly to be expected. One must
+endeavor to be reasonable."
+
+"There must have been a time when you expected--everything."
+
+Ormsgill sat silent a minute or two, and while he did so a moving
+light blinked among the trees below. It stopped at length, and negro
+voices came up faintly with the thud of hastily plied shovels. It
+seemed that the terrified converts were coming back and the
+missionaries had already set them a task. Ormsgill knew what it was,
+but he looked down at the rifle that glinted in the moonlight across
+his knee with eyes that were curiously steady. The thing he had done
+had been forced upon him. Then he turned to his companion, and though
+he was usually a reticent man he spoke what was in his mind that
+night.
+
+"There certainly was such a time," he said. "No doubt it has come to
+others. For five long years I held fast by the memory of the girl I
+had left in England, and I think there were things it saved me from.
+Somehow there was always a vague hope that one day I might go back to
+her--and for that reason I kept above the foulest mire. One goes under
+easily here in Africa. Then at last the thing became possible."
+
+He broke off, and laughed, a curious little laugh, before he went on
+again.
+
+"I went back. Whether she was ever what I thought her I do not
+know--perhaps, I had expected impossibilities--or those five years had
+made a change. We had not an idea that was the same, and the world she
+lives in is one that has grown strange to me. They think me slightly
+crazy--and it is perfectly possible that they are right. Men do lose
+their mental grip in Africa."
+
+Nares made a little gesture which vaguely suggested comprehension and
+sympathy before he looked at his comrade with a question in his eyes.
+
+"Yes," said Ormsgill quietly, "I am going on. After all, I owe the
+girl I thought she was a good deal--and to plain folks there is safety
+in doing the obvious thing." His voice softened a little. "It may be
+hard for her--in fact when I went back she probably had a good deal to
+bear with too. One grows hard and bitter when he has lived with the
+outcasts as I have done."
+
+Nares understood that he meant what other men called duty by the
+obvious thing, but the definition, which he felt was characteristic of
+the man, pleased him. He was one who could, at least, recognize the
+task that was set before him, and, as it happened, he once more made
+this clear when he rose and called to the boys who had flung
+themselves down on the warm white sand.
+
+"Well," he said, "we have now to outmarch Herrero, and there is a good
+deal to be done."
+
+They went on, Ormsgill limping a little, for his wound still pained
+him, and vanished into the shadows of the bush, two weary,
+climate-worn men who had malignant nature and, so far as they knew,
+the malice of every white man holding authority in that country
+against them. Still, at least, their course was clear, and in the
+meanwhile they asked for nothing further.
+
+It also happened one afternoon while they pushed on through shadowy
+forest and steaming morass that a little and very ancient gunboat
+crept along the sun-scorched coast. Her white paint, although very far
+from fresh, gleamed like ivory on the long dazzling swell that changed
+to a shimmering sliding green in her slowly moving shadow, for she was
+steaming eight knots, and rolling viciously. Benicia Figuera, who swung
+in a hammock hung low beneath her awnings, did not, however, seem to
+mind the erratic motion. She was watching the snowy fringe of
+crumbling surf creep by, though now and then her eyes sought the far,
+blue hills that cut the skyline. Her thoughts were with the man who
+was wandering in the dim forests that crept through the marshes beyond
+them.
+
+By and by she aroused herself, and looked up with a smile at the man
+who strolled towards her along the deck. She had met him before at
+brilliant functions in Portugal where he was a man of importance, and
+he had come on board in state a few hours earlier from a little
+sweltering town above a surf-swept beach whose citizens had seriously
+strained its finances to do him honor. He was dressed simply in plain
+white duck, a little, courtly gentleman, with the look of one who
+rules in his olive-tinted face. He sat down in a deck chair near the
+girl.
+
+"After all, it is a relief to be at sea," he said. "One has quietness
+there."
+
+Benicia laughed. "Quietness," she said, "is a thing you can hardly be
+accustomed to Senor. Besides, you are in one way scarcely
+complimentary to the citizens yonder."
+
+"Ah," said her companion, "it seems they expect something from me and
+it is to be hoped that when they get it some of them will not be
+disappointed. I almost think," and he waved a capable hand, "that
+before I am recalled they will not find insults bad enough for me."
+
+Benicia felt that this was quite possible. Her companion was she knew
+a strong man as well as an upright one, who had been sent out not long
+ago with ample powers to grapple with one or two of the questions
+which then troubled that country. It was also significant that while
+he was known as a judicious and firm administrator his personal views
+on the points at issue had not been proclaimed. Benicia had, however,
+guessed them correctly, and she took it as a compliment that he had
+given her a vague hint of them. Perhaps, he realized it, for he
+watched her for a moment with a shrewd twinkle in his dark eyes.
+
+"Senorita," he said, "I almost think you know what I was sent out here
+to do. One could, however, depend upon Benicia Figuera considering it
+a confidence."
+
+The girl glanced out beneath the awnings across the sun-scorched
+littoral towards the blue ridge of the inland plateau before she
+answered him.
+
+"Yes," she said, "it was to cleanse this stable. I almost think you
+will find it a strong man's task."
+
+Her companion made a gesture of assent. "It is, at least, one for
+which I need a reliable broom--and I am fortunate in having one
+ready."
+
+"Ah," said Benicia, "you of course mean my father. Well, I do not
+think he will fail you, and though he has not actually told me so, I
+fancy he has, at least, been making preparations for the sweeping."
+
+The man looked at her and smiled, but when a moving shaft of sunlight
+struck him as the steamer rolled she saw the deep lines on his face
+and the gray in his hair. He, as it happened, saw the little gleam of
+pride in her eyes, and then the light swung back again and they were
+once more left in the shadow. Yet in that moment a subtle elusive
+something that was both comprehension and confidence had been
+established between them.
+
+"Dom Clemente," he said, "is a man I have a great regard for. There is
+a good deal I owe him, as he may have told you."
+
+"He has told me nothing."
+
+The man spread his hands out. "After all, it was to be expected. He
+and I were comrades, Senorita, before you were born, and there was a
+time when I made a blunder which it seemed must spoil my career. There
+was only one man who could save me and that at the hazard of his own
+future, but one would not expect such a fact to count with your
+father. Dom Clemente smiled at the peril and the affair was arranged
+satisfactorily."
+
+Again he made a little grave gesture. "It happened long ago, and now
+it seems I am to bring trouble on him again. Still, the years have not
+changed him. He does not hesitate, but I feel I must ask your
+forbearance, Senorita. You have, perhaps, seen what sometimes happens
+when one does one's duty."
+
+Benicia smiled, a little bitterly. "Yes," she said, "I know that the
+man who is so rash as to attempt it in this country is usually
+recalled in disgrace. Still, it is not a thing that happens very
+frequently. Dom Clemente is to be made the scapegoat."
+
+"I think," said the man gravely, "I may be strong enough to save him
+that. It is possible, as I have told him, that he will be
+recalled--but what he has done will stand."
+
+He spoke at last as a ruler, with authority, and a trace of sternness
+in his eyes, but his face changed again.
+
+"Senorita," he said, "if it happens, I think you will not grudge it,
+or blame me."
+
+The girl saw the opportunity she had been waiting for. "As you have
+admitted, you owe my father something, and now you have asked
+something more. Is it not conceivable that you owe me a little, too. I
+am an influence here--and it would be different in Lisbon if Dom
+Clemente was sent home again. Besides, sometimes he will listen to me.
+Now and then a woman has made a change in a man's policy, and, though
+it is a little more difficult when the man is one's father, it might
+be done again."
+
+"Ah," said her companion, "you wish to make a bargain."
+
+"It would be too great a condescension, Senor," and Benicia laughed.
+"I want a promise that is to be unconditional. Some day, perhaps, I
+shall ask you to do something for me. Then you will do it whatever it
+is."
+
+The man looked up at her with a little dry smile, but, as he admitted,
+he owed her father a good deal, and he was not too old for gallantry.
+Besides that, he had the gift of insight, and a curious confidence in
+this girl. He felt she would not ask him anything that was not
+fitting.
+
+"The request," he said, "is a little vague, and perhaps, I am a trifle
+rash, but I almost think I can promise that what you ask shall be
+done."
+
+Benicia, reaching out from the hammock, touched him with her fan.
+"Now," she said, "I know what you think of me. How shall I make my
+poor acknowledgments? Still, there is another thing. You will discover
+presently that the brooms of the State are slow. There are two men not
+among its servants who have commenced the sweeping already. I think
+Dom Clemente knows this, but you will not mention it to him."
+
+Her companion glanced at her sharply with a sudden keenness in his
+eyes, but he said nothing, and the girl smiled again.
+
+"When you hear of them I would like you to remember that they are
+friends of mine," she said. "You will, of course, recognize that
+nobody I said that of could do anything that was really
+reprehensible."
+
+"I might admit that it was unlikely," said her companion.
+
+"Then," said Benicia, "when the time comes I would like you to
+remember it. That is another thing you will promise."
+
+She flashed one swift glance at her companion, who smiled, and then
+looked round as Dom Clemente and two of the gunboat's officers came
+towards them along the deck. She roused herself to talk to them, and
+succeeded brilliantly, now and then to the momentary embarrassment of
+the officers, who were young, while the man with the gray hair lay in
+a deck chair a little apart watching her over his cigar. She was
+clever, and quick-witted, but he knew also that she was like her
+father, one who at any cost stood by her friends. At the same time he
+was a little puzzled, for, in the case of a young woman, friend is a
+term of somewhat vague and comprehensive significance, and she had
+mentioned that there were two of them. That appeared to complicate the
+affair, but he had, at least, made a promise, and it was said of him
+that when he did so he usually kept it, though it was now and then in
+a somewhat grim fashion. There were also men in the sweltering towns
+beside the surf-swept beach the gunboat crawled along who would have
+felt uneasy had they known exactly why he had been sent out to them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+DOMINGO APPEARS
+
+
+The carriers had stopped in a deserted village one morning after a
+long and arduous march from the mission station, when Ormsgill, lying
+in the hot white sand, looked quietly at Nares, who sat with his back
+against one of the empty huts.
+
+"If I knew what the dusky image was thinking I should feel
+considerably more at ease," he said. "Still, I don't, and there's very
+little use in guessing. After all, we are a long way from grasping the
+negro's point of view on most subjects yet. They very seldom look at
+things as we do."
+
+Nares nodded. "Anyway, I almost fancy we could consider what he has
+told us as correct," he said. "It's something to go upon."
+
+The man he referred to squatted close by them, naked to the waist,
+though a few yards of cotton cloth hung from his hips. An old Snider
+rifle lay at his side, and he was big and muscular with a heavy,
+expressionless face. As Ormsgill had suggested, it certainly afforded
+very little indication of what he was thinking, and left it a question
+whether he was capable of intelligent thought at all. They had come
+upon him in the deserted village on the edge of a great swamp an hour
+earlier, and he had skillfully evaded their questions as to what he
+was doing there.
+
+It was an oppressively hot morning, and a heavy, dingy sky hung over
+the vast morass which they could see through the openings between the
+scattered huts. It stretched back bare and level, a vast desolation,
+towards the interior, with a little thin haze floating over it in
+silvery belts here and there, and streaking the forest that crept up
+to its edge. The carriers lay half-asleep in the warm sand, blotches
+of white and blue and ebony, and the man with the rifle appeared
+vacantly unconcerned. Time is of no value to the negro, and one could
+have fancied that he was prepared to wait there all day for the white
+men's next question.
+
+"It's not very much," said Ormsgill reflectively, referring to his
+comrade's last observation. "Domingo, it seems, is up yonder--but
+there are one or two other facts, which I think have their
+significance, in our possession. Herrero is coming up behind us, and,
+though there are no other Portuguese in the neighborhood, we find this
+village empty. I should very much like to know why the folks who lived
+in it have gone away, and I fancy our friend yonder could tell us.
+Still, it's quite certain that he won't."
+
+"Herrero evidently means to join hands with Domingo," suggested Nares.
+"It's quite possible, too, that he will do what he can to prevent us
+buying the six boys from the Headman, who, it's generally believed,
+does a good deal of business with him. It's a little unfortunate. In
+another week the thing might have been done."
+
+Ormsgill nodded as one who makes his mind up. "When in doubt go
+straight on--and, as a matter of fact, we can't afford to stop," he
+said. "Provisions are going to be a consideration. We'll push on and
+try what can be done with Domingo and the Headman before Herrero comes
+up."
+
+He turned to the negro, and Nares amplified his question.
+
+"Yes," said the man, with the faintest suggestion of a grin, "I know
+where Domingo is, and if you come to our village it is very likely
+that you will see him. I will take you to the Headman for the pieces
+of cloth you promise."
+
+He got up leisurely, and Ormsgill, who called to the boys, looked at
+Nares as they plodded into the forest that skirted the swamp.
+
+"It's quite certain the man was waiting for somebody, and it wasn't
+Herrero, or he wouldn't have gone away," he said. "That naturally
+seems to suggest he might have been on the lookout for us. In that
+case I should very much like to know what was amusing him."
+
+It was not to be made clear until some time later, and in the
+meanwhile they pushed on for a week through straggling forest with all
+the haste the boys were capable of, though Ormsgill's face grew
+thoughtful when they twice passed an empty village. The fact had its
+significance, for little labor recruiting had been done in that strip
+of country. Still, its dusky inhabitants had apparently forsaken it,
+and it became more evident that something unusual was going on. Once
+only they met a native, or rather he blundered upon their camp when
+they lay silent in the thin shadow of more open bush on a burning
+afternoon, and their guide roused himself sharply to attention when a
+patter of footsteps came out of the stillness. Somebody was evidently
+approaching in haste, and Ormsgill glanced at Nares in warning when
+the negro who lay close beside them rose to a crouching posture and
+drew back the hammer of his old Snider rifle. It was clear that
+strangers were regarded with suspicion in that country. Then the man
+drew one foot under him, and sat upon it with the arm that supported
+the rifle on his knee, and an unpleasantly suggestive look in his
+heavy face. One could have fancied that he meant to kill, and Ormsgill
+stretching out a hand laid it on his comrade's shoulder restrainingly.
+
+"Wait," he whispered. "In the meanwhile it's not our business."
+
+Nares waited, but he felt it become more difficult to do so as the
+footsteps grew plainer. He could hear the little restless movements of
+the boys, but he had eyes for little beyond the ominous half-naked
+figure clutching the heavy rifle. It dominated the picture. Tall
+trunks, trailing creepers, and clustering carriers grew indistinct,
+but he was vaguely conscious that there was an opening between the
+leaves some sixty yards in front of him, and his heart throbbed
+painfully with the effort the restraint he laid upon himself cost him.
+Then a dusky figure appeared in the opening, and stopped a moment,
+apparently in astonishment or terror, while Ormsgill was sensible of a
+sudden straining after recollection. The man was leanly muscular and
+dressed as scantily as any native of the bush, but there was something
+in his appearance that was vaguely familiar. In the meanwhile he was
+also conscious that their guide's arms were stiffening rigidly, and
+when the man's cheek sank a little lower on the rifle stock he let his
+hand drop from Nares's shoulder. As it happened, he was close behind
+the negro, and in another moment would have clutched him.
+
+Just then, however, the stranger sprang forward and a little acrid
+smoke blew into Ormsgill's eyes. There was a detonation and he
+contrived to fall with a hand on the ground instead of upon the
+crouching negro with the rifle. When he looked up again the man who
+had narrowly escaped from the peril by his quickness was running like
+a deer, and vanished amidst a crash of displaced undergrowth, while
+their guide flung back his rifle breech with clumsy haste. When he
+turned round there was no sign of the stranger and Ormsgill was
+quietly standing on his feet. Only a few seconds had elapsed since the
+man had first appeared.
+
+The guide made a little grimace which was expressive of resignation as
+he turned the rifle over and shook out the cartridge, and in another
+minute or two they were going on again. When he moved a little away
+from them Ormsgill looked at Nares.
+
+"It's probably just as well our friend does not know I meant to spoil
+his aim," he said. "I haven't the least notion why he wished to shoot
+that man, and very much wish I had, but I can't help fancying that
+I've seen him before--at one of the Missions most likely. I should be
+glad if anybody could tell me what he is doing here."
+
+There was nobody who could do it except, perhaps, their guide, but
+Ormsgill surmised that he was not likely to supply him with any
+information. He was not to know until some time later that the man in
+question had once served Herrero, who had beaten him too frequently
+and severely, and that as a result of this he met Pacheco the
+Government messenger in a deserted village after another week's
+arduous journey. In the meanwhile he pushed on, limping a little,
+through marsh and forest until their guide led them into a large
+native village where he expected to find the last of Lamartine's boys.
+This one, at least, was not deserted. In fact, it appeared unusually
+crowded and, as Ormsgill was quick to notice, most of its inhabitants
+were armed. He had, however, little opportunity of noticing anything
+else, for he was led straight into the presence of its ruler, who sat
+on a low stool under a thatched roof raised on a few rickety pillars
+in the middle of the village. He was dressed in a white man's duck
+jacket, worn open, and a shirt; and every person of consequence in the
+place had gathered about him. The guide presented the newcomers
+tersely, and it seemed to Ormsgill that the manner in which he did it
+was significant.
+
+"They are here," he said. "I have done as I was bidden."
+
+The Headman spent some time examining the collection of the sundries
+they offered him and made a few indifferent attempts to restrain the
+rapacity of his retainers, who desired something, too. Then he asked
+Ormsgill his business, and nodded when the latter explained it
+briefly.
+
+"The six boys are certainly here," he said. "Still, I do not know just
+now if I can sell you them. That will depend--" Nares understood from
+the next few words that he desired to be a little ambiguous on this
+point. "You have, it seems, some business with Domingo, too?"
+
+Nares said it concerned the boys in question, but as the labor
+purveyor had no claim upon them the matter could be arranged with the
+Headman, who grinned very much as the guide had done, while a curious
+little smile crept into the faces of some of the rest.
+
+"Then," he said, "I think he will be here in a day or two. Some of my
+people have gone for him, but I am not sure that he will have much to
+tell us when he comes. In the meanwhile you will stay with us a few
+days, and when I am ready to talk about the boys again I will send for
+you."
+
+He made a sign that the interview was over, and several of his
+followers who were armed escorted the white men and their boys to the
+hut set apart for them. They left them there with a plainly worded
+hint that it would be wise of them not to come out of it, and when
+they went away Ormsgill looked at Nares.
+
+"I suppose you're not sure what that Headman really meant," he said.
+"A man naturally has you at a disadvantage when he doesn't wish to
+make himself very clear and talks in a tongue you don't quite
+understand. I wish I knew exactly why he chuckled."
+
+Nares looked thoughtful. "He seemed to know we meant to visit him."
+
+"It's evident. How I don't quite understand. We traveled fast. Still,
+he did know. In the meanwhile we can only wait."
+
+They waited, somewhat anxiously, for several days, knowing that
+Herrero, whose presence promised to complicate affairs, was drawing
+nearer all the while. There was, however, no other course open to
+them, for when they attempted to leave the hut a big man armed with a
+matchet who kept watch outside informed them it was the Headman's
+pleasure that they should stay there until he was at liberty to talk
+to them.
+
+At last one morning word was brought them, and Ormsgill looked about
+him in astonishment when they walked into the wide space in the midst
+of the straggling village. All round it stood long rows of dusky men,
+most of whom were armed, but only a small and apparently select
+company sat under the thatched roof in the shadow of which the Headman
+had previously received them.
+
+"There is something very unusual going on. Half these men seem to be
+strangers, and they have Sniders," he said. "I expect Domingo could
+tell how they got them, but I don't seem to see him." Then he touched
+his comrade's shoulder. "I fancy we can expect something dramatic.
+There's a man yonder we have met before."
+
+Nares felt that the scene was already sufficiently impressive. The
+strip of empty sand in front of him flung up a dazzling glare. The sky
+the palm tufts cut against was of a harsh blue that one could scarcely
+look upon, and the village was flooded with an almost intolerable
+brilliancy which flashed upon glittering matchets and Snider barrels.
+It also smote the massed white draperies and flickered with an oily
+gleam on ebony limbs and the sea of dusky faces turned expectantly
+towards the group beneath the thatch. Most of the men there sat on the
+ground, but there were two seated figures, the village Headman, and
+the Suzerain lord of his country, the old man they had met already, on
+a slightly higher stool. He, at least, was dressed in dignified
+fashion in a long robe of spotless cotton, and a few men with tall
+spears stood in state behind him. His face was impassively grim, and
+Nares's heart beat a trifle faster as his eyes rested on him, but at
+the same time he was sensible of an expectancy so tense that it drove
+out personal anxiety. He almost felt that he was watching for the
+opening of the drama from a place of safety.
+
+In the meanwhile he moved towards the thatch with his comrade until
+they stopped a few yards' distance from the Suzerain, who leaned
+forward a little and looked at Ormsgill steadily. He was of commanding
+presence, but there was something in his attitude which suggested that
+he regarded this stranger as an equal, though he was lord of that
+country, and the other stood before him, a spare, lonely figure in
+white duck, with nothing in his hands.
+
+"The Headman has told me your business, and it seems it is very much
+the same as when I last talked to you," he said. "You are, I believe,
+not a friend of those other white men who have persecuted me?"
+
+Ormsgill turned to Nares. "You can tell him that we are both
+proscribed," he said. "Make it quite clear. I don't think there's any
+reason to be anxious about his handing us over to the folks at San
+Roque."
+
+Nares explained, and the old man made a little gesture. "Then," he
+said, "you shall have the six boys, and it is not my will that you
+offer the Headman anything for them. Domingo stole them--and we have
+satisfied our claim on him. Still, I do not know yet whether you will
+be permitted to go away with them. In the meanwhile there is another
+matter."
+
+Nares made out the gist of it, and as he hastily explained the old man
+raised his hand. "You have business with Domingo, and there are two
+other white men who have come here to meet him. Let them come
+forward."
+
+Somebody passed on the order, and there was a murmur of voices and a
+stirring of the crowd as a little group of men strode out of it. In
+front walked the Boer Gavin, a tall, lean figure in travel-stained
+duck with a heavy rifle cradled in his arm, and his manner was
+unconcerned. Behind him came Herrero, little, and yellow-faced,
+looking about him furtively, while a line of dusky men half of whom
+were armed plodded after them, obviously uneasy. The Suzerain sat
+impassively still, and looked at them in a curious fashion when they
+stopped not far from him.
+
+"You have come here to meet Domingo. You are friends of his?" he said.
+
+Herrero hesitated, but his companion laughed when an interpreter
+repeated the question.
+
+"You can say we came to meet him, in any case," he replied.
+
+"Was that wise?" asked the old man, and his voice had a jarring ring.
+"Still, as you have come you shall see him."
+
+Then he smiled grimly, and made a sign to some of those behind. Again
+there was a stirring of the crowd, and Nares felt his nerves thrill
+with expectancy. He looked at Ormsgill, who was standing very still
+with empty hands at his side, and afterwards saw Gavin, the Boer,
+glance sharply round and change his grip on the heavy rifle. In
+another moment there was a very suggestive half-articulate murmur from
+the assembly, and then an impressive stillness as two men came forward
+bearing between them a heavy fiber package slung as a hammock usually
+is beneath a pole. They laid it down, and while Ormsgill and Gavin
+moved forward at the Headman's sign one of them took something out of
+it. He held it up, and Nares gasped and struggled with a sense of
+nausea, for it was a drawn and distorted human face that met his
+shrinking gaze.
+
+"They've killed him!" he said hoarsely.
+
+Ormsgill stood rigidly still. "Yes," he said, "it's Domingo.
+Considering everything one could hardly blame them."
+
+Then the stillness was sharply broken. A cry rose from the assembly as
+Herrero's boys turned and fled. Their leader shrank back pace by pace
+from the old man's gaze, and then wheeling round sped after them. As
+he did so somebody shouted, and a couple of Sniders flashed. Their
+crash was lost in a clamor, and odd groups of men sprang out into the
+open space. Then Nares saw Gavin running hard come up with his comrade
+and grasp his shoulder. He drove him before him towards one of the
+larger huts while the Snider bullets struck up little spurts of sand
+behind them.
+
+Nares set his lips, and held his breath as he watched them. The
+shadowy entrance of the hut was not far away, but it seemed impossible
+that they could reach it before one, at least, of them was struck.
+Herrero, blind with fear, seemed to flag already, but Gavin drove him
+on, and Nares could see that his face was set and grim. They went by a
+cluster of negroes running to intercept them, and the tall man in the
+white duck seemed to fling his comrade forward into the hut. Then he
+spun round pitching up the heavy rifle. There was a flash and a
+detonation, and Ormsgill heard a curious droning sound as if a bee had
+passed above his head. In another second a man who stood close at his
+Suzerain's side lurched forward with a strangled cry. Then Gavin
+sprang into the hut, and when the old man made a sign four of his
+retainers laid hands on Ormsgill and his companion. They were big
+muscular men, and Nares looked at Ormsgill, who submitted quietly.
+
+"It's horrible," he said.
+
+Ormsgill made a little gesture. "They brought it upon themselves. I'm
+a little sorry for Gavin, but I can't get away."
+
+It was perfectly evident. Their captors held them fast, pinioning
+their arms with greasy black hands, and there were two to each of
+them, while there are very few white men who have the negro's physical
+strength, at least if they have been any time in that climate. Nares
+gasped and felt his heart throb furiously, as he waited with his eyes
+fixed on the hut.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE DAY OF RECKONING
+
+
+There was silence in the village for almost a minute after Gavin
+vanished into the hut, and the men who had pursued him stood still,
+apparently irresolute. The entrance was dark and narrow, and they
+could not see inside, but it was evident that they recognized it was a
+very determined man who awaited them in its shelter. He was also
+white, which had no doubt its effect upon the negro mind, since it
+usually happens that when a race or caste asserts its superiority
+loudly enough its claims are admitted, especially when they are backed
+by visible force.
+
+So while the seconds slipped away the negroes stood hesitating, and
+glancing at one another as well as at the hut which lay in the shadow.
+Their ebony limbs and scanty draperies were forced up against the
+glaring dust and sand in a flood of searching brilliancy. Nares, who
+felt his nerves tingle, could see the tension in their dusky faces and
+the oily gleam of their bodies as the perspiration broke from them.
+There was something curiously suggestive of pent up fury in the poses
+they had fallen into. In the meanwhile he could not move. Indeed, the
+big negro who held him fast had savagely drawn his arms behind his
+back, and the strain in the muscles was becoming almost intolerably
+painful.
+
+Then several men broke away from the others and ran towards the hut,
+and once more Nares held his breath. He could have shouted as he saw
+the first dark form bound on, clutching a long Snider rifle in both
+hands, but he restrained himself. In another moment or two a thin
+flash blazed from the doorway of the hut, and the man went down with a
+shrill scream and lay clawing at the sand. Nares heard no detonation.
+He was only conscious of the little curl of blue smoke in the entrance
+of the hut, and the black object that writhed in the pitiless glare in
+front of it. Then the fallen man's comrades stopped, and a little
+shiver ran through him as he turned to Ormsgill, who nodded as if he
+understood him.
+
+"You can only face it," said the latter. "They would scarcely listen
+to their Headman, and I can't move a limb. It's a single-shot rifle.
+They're bound to kill him." Then he broke off with a little gasp.
+"Ah," he said a moment later, "two of them are trying it now."
+
+Nares did not wish to look, but he could not help it. The scene held
+his gaze, and he saw the two figures move cautiously towards the hut,
+keeping one wall of it between them and the doorway as far as they
+could. This, however, did not serve them. The deadly fire flashed
+again, and one negro who collapsed suddenly fell on his hands and
+knees. Then there was another streak of sparks and smoke, and the
+second man staggering forward went down headlong with a thud. Several
+Sniders flashed, and there was silence again.
+
+"It's too much," said Ormsgill. "I can't stand this."
+
+He struggled furiously, and he and the men who held him swayed to and
+fro, a cluster of scuffling, staggering figures for a moment or two.
+The effort, however, was futile, and he stood still again with his
+arms pinioned fast behind his back and the perspiration dripping from
+him while the Suzerain looked at him from his stool with a little grim
+smile.
+
+"It is not your affair," he said.
+
+Ormsgill said nothing, though the veins were swollen on his forehead
+and his face was suffused with blood, and at a sign from the Headman
+the negroes who held him relaxed their grasp a trifle. Nares also
+stood still, with every nerve in him thrilling. The man inside the hut
+no doubt deserved his fate, but that did not seem to count then, and
+the missionary felt only a sympathy with him that was almost
+overwhelming in its intensity. It was one man against a multitude, for
+there was no sign that Herrero was making any effort, and, after all,
+that man sprang from the same stock as he did. Then deep down in him
+he felt a thrill of pride, for Gavin was making a very gallant fight
+of it. It was in many ways a shameful work that he and his comrade had
+done, selling proscribed arms to the people who had turned against him
+now, fomenting discord between them and their neighbors, and
+debauching them with villainous rum, but, at least, he made it clear
+that the courage of his kind was in him. This was all at variance with
+Nares' beneficent creed, but the man was dying, indomitable, a white
+man.
+
+Those who meant to kill him drew back a little farther from the hut,
+and standing and squatting flung up the long rifles. They were by no
+means marksmen, but the hut was large and built of cane and branch
+work. The heavy Snider bullets smashed through it, and for a few
+minutes the stagnant air was filled with the jarring detonations.
+There was no answering flash from the hut and Nares could see that its
+shadowy entrance was empty. Then as the ringing of the Sniders died
+away and a man here and there stole forward cautiously it seemed to
+him that a dimly seen white object dragged itself towards the doorway
+and crouched in it. He did not think it would be visible to the
+assailants, for they were keeping a little behind the hut, but it was
+clear to him that the one man against a multitude was bent on fighting
+still.
+
+The straggling figures crept on, moving obliquely towards the perilous
+entrance, that the hut might shelter them, until they massed together
+for a dash at it. Then the flash blazed out again, and one of them
+dropped. Another went down screaming a few seconds later, and then the
+foremost broke and fled, and there was a sudden scattering of those
+behind. There were a host of negroes, but they shrank from that
+unerring rifle. They were evidently willing to face a hazard, but this
+was certain death. Then the Suzerain of the village signed to the
+negroes who held Ormsgill, and they led him forward.
+
+"It seems it may cost us a good deal to kill that man," he said. "Go
+and see what terms he will make with me. An offer of a few good rifles
+would have some weight just now."
+
+Ormsgill went, and crossing the hot space of dust and sand walked into
+the hut. Dazzled as he was by the change from the glare outside, he
+could see almost nothing for a moment or two. The place was also
+filled with an acrid haze, but by degrees he became accustomed to the
+dimness and made out Gavin lying against the wall. He looked up with a
+little wry smile, but Ormsgill moving nearer saw that his face was
+gray and drawn. There was dust on his thin duck clothing, and in two
+spots a small dark-colored stain.
+
+"You are hit?" he said.
+
+"Yes," said Gavin, "I'm done." He gasped before he spoke again with
+evident difficulty. "They plugged me twice before they made the last
+attempt. I could just hold the rifle. If they'd kept it up they'd have
+got in."
+
+"Where's Herrero?"
+
+Gavin appeared to glance across the hut, and Ormsgill saw a huddled
+figure lying in the shadow. It did not move at all.
+
+"Yes," said Gavin, "I think the first bullet that came in quieted him,
+and I wasn't sorry. He was worrying me. Lost his nerve, though he
+never had very much. Well, I suppose you have come to make a bargain
+with me?"
+
+"Something like that. Our friend yonder hinted that he would probably
+do a good deal for a few rifles."
+
+Gavin smiled dryly. "It isn't worth while now. As you have no doubt
+noticed, I can hardly talk to you."
+
+He stopped for a moment with a heavy gasp. "This was my last kick, you
+see."
+
+"Ah," said Ormsgill, "is there any other little way in which I could
+be of service? Any message you would like sent on?"
+
+The man made a painful effort, but Ormsgill had now some little
+difficulty in hearing him. "None," he said. "They have forgotten me
+yonder, and, perhaps, it's just as well. Our folks--my mother was Cape
+Dutch, you know--believe in everything as it used to be, but I'm like
+my father; there was always a kick in me. One of your Colonial
+vacillations cost him his farm, for, though he said he was ashamed of
+his country, he wouldn't recognize the Boers as his rulers. I,
+however, got on with them until I vexed the authorities by something I
+did in resentment of the--arrogance of certain mine-grabbing
+Englishmen. I believe I might have made terms if I'd truckled to them
+a little, but that was a thing I wouldn't do, and so I came out here.
+There are probably more of us with the same nonsensical notions."
+
+Ormsgill said nothing for a moment or two. He had also lived among the
+outcasts, and knew what comes of disdaining to regard things from the
+conventional point of view. Something in him stirred in sympathy with
+the dying man, and he sat down in the dust and laid a hand on his
+shoulder. Gavin made no further observation that was intelligible,
+until at last he feebly raised his head.
+
+"If you wouldn't mind I'd like a drink," he said.
+
+Ormsgill rose and walked out of the hut calling in the native tongue.
+The men who squatted about it in the hot sand still clenching their
+Sniders apparently failed to understand him, or were unwilling to do
+what he asked, and some time had slipped by when at last one of them
+brought a dripping calabash. Ormsgill went into the hut with it, and
+then took off his shapeless hat as he poured out the water on the hot
+soil. Gavin lay face downwards now, clutching his deadly rifle, but
+there was no breath in him. Then Ormsgill went back quietly to where
+the Headman and his Suzerain were sitting.
+
+"I am afraid you can not have those rifles. The man is dead," he said.
+
+After that he and Nares were led back to their hut, and when it was
+made clear to them that they were expected to stay there Ormsgill sat
+down in the shadow and pulled out his pipe.
+
+"We wondered what was going on, and now the thing's quite plain," he
+said. "It's rebellion."
+
+"How was it they didn't creep round the hut from behind?" asked Nares,
+who felt a trifle averse from facing the point that concerned them
+most.
+
+"Lost their heads, most probably," said Ormsgill. "Didn't think of it.
+Any way, they'd have had to make a dash for the door eventually.
+Still, it would have saved them a man or two, and our friend the
+Suzerain noticed it."
+
+"Why didn't he point it out to them?"
+
+"I fancy he wanted to see how they'd stand fire, and break them in.
+Felt he could afford to throw a few of them away, as he certainly
+could, and he only stepped in when the thing was commencing to
+discourage them."
+
+"It's quite likely you're right," and Nares looked at his comrade with
+a little wry smile. "Still, after all, I'm not sure it's very
+material."
+
+The lines grew a trifle deeper on Ormsgill's worn face. "No," he said,
+"the real question is what our dusky acquaintance means to do with us,
+and we have to face it. Personally, I don't think he means us any
+harm, but it's certain he won't let us go until he and his friends
+have cleaned out San Roque. You see, in an affair of this kind the
+first blow must be successful, and he has probably a lurking suspicion
+that we might warn Dom Erminio. The trouble is that once the rebellion
+breaks out it will be almost impossible for us to reach the coast."
+
+He spoke quietly, but there was a strain in his voice, and Nares
+guessed what he felt.
+
+"I suppose he wouldn't be content with our assurance that we'd say
+nothing?" he suggested.
+
+"Would you make it?"
+
+Nares sat very still for a few moments, with a curious look in his
+eyes, and one hand closed, and his comrade once more recognized that
+there had been a change in him of late. He had the fever on him
+slightly, and while that is nothing unusual in those forests, he had
+grown perceptibly harder and grimmer during the last few weeks. Now
+and then he also gave way to outbreaks of indignation, which, so far
+as Ormsgill knew, was not a thing he had hitherto been addicted to
+doing. Still, the latter was aware that the white man's mental balance
+is apt to become a trifle unsettled in that land.
+
+"I can't tell. It's a question I've grappled with in one shape or
+other before," he said. "The land is full of iniquities and horrors,
+and I think that some of them can only be washed out in blood. That
+law stands as it has always done. The great trade road to the south of
+us is paved with the bones of the victims, and they still come down to
+die, worked out in a few years on the plantations. It is a thing that
+can't go on."
+
+He opened and closed a thin hand savagely while his voice rose to a
+harsher note. "For one man killed by the bullet if war breaks out a
+hundred perish yearly under the driver's lash on the great roads and,
+I think, among the coffee plants. They are dumb cattle, here and in
+the Congo. They can not tell their troubles, and they have no friends.
+How could they when the white man grows rich by their toil and
+anguish? Still, this earth is the Lord's, and there are men in it who
+will listen when once what is being done in this land of darkness is
+clearly told them. One must believe it or throw away all faith in
+humanity. I think if it rested with me I would let these bushmen come
+down and crush their oppressors, since it seems there is no other way
+of making their sorrows known."
+
+He broke off abruptly, and seemed to shrink back within himself, for
+it was, after all, but seldom he spoke in that fashion. Ormsgill
+nodded.
+
+"It's a very old way of claiming attention, and one that's sometimes
+effective," he said. "They might have tried it before, but, you see,
+those beneath the yoke have their hands tied, and those who aren't
+somewhat naturally don't care. That's one of the things which have
+hampered most attempts at emancipation. Only our friend the Suzerain
+has sense enough to realize that if they sit still much longer the
+yoke will be tolerably securely fastened on all of them. I think he
+has the gifts of a leader, but there is another man of the same kind
+on the coast. I mean Dom Clemente, and I'm not sure he'd be willing to
+have the land swept out in that unceremonious fashion. In fact, one
+could almost fancy that in due time he means to do the cleaning up,
+tactfully, himself."
+
+He stopped a moment, and smiled somewhat grimly before he went on
+again. "After all, this doesn't directly concern either of us. It's a
+little hard that now when the thing we have in hand is in one sense
+accomplished and neither Domingo nor Herrero can worry us, we should
+be kept here indefinitely at the pleasure of this back-country
+nigger."
+
+He glanced at the dusky men who squatted not far away in the shadow
+watching the hut. They had Snider rifles, and it was evident they were
+there to see that nobody came out. Then he sat moodily silent awhile,
+with a curious hardness in his lined face. He was lame and worn-out.
+The climate had sapped the physical strength out of him, and the wound
+in his leg still caused him pain. Also, struggle against it as he
+would, the black dejection which preys on the white man in that land
+was fastening itself on him. The thing was hard, almost intolerably
+so. He was a captive with the opportunity of accomplishing his task
+receding every moment further away from him, for it was clear that
+once the rebellion broke out it would be almost impossible for him to
+convey his boys across the track of it to the wished-for coast. Some
+time had slipped by when Nares roused himself to ask another question.
+
+"Are these people likely to meet with any opposition from the natives
+when they march?" he said.
+
+"That," said Ormsgill reflectively, "is a thing I'm not quite sure
+about. There is one Headman of some importance between them and the
+littoral. You know whom I mean, and it would make things difficult for
+our jailers if he remained on good terms with the authorities. In
+fact, in that case it seems to me these folks would have a good deal
+of trouble in getting any further. What he will do I naturally don't
+know, but if I was in command of San Roque I would make every effort
+to keep him quiet and content just now."
+
+After that he once more sat silent, apparently brooding heavily,
+until the sudden darkness fell and the pungent smoke of the cooking
+fires drifted about the village. Then, soon after food was brought
+them, he sank into restless sleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+AN ERROR OF JUDGMENT
+
+
+Fort San Roque stood, as Father Tiebout sometimes said, on the verge
+of extinction in the shadow of the debatable land, but its Commandant
+or Chefe, as he was usually termed, had become accustomed to the fact,
+and, if he did not forget it altogether, seldom took it into serious
+consideration. After all, the European only exists on sufferance in
+the hotter parts of Africa, and as a rule, once he realizes it, ceases
+to trouble himself about the matter and concentrates his attention on
+the acquiring of riches by any means available. Dom Erminio was not an
+exception, and being by no means particular, endeavored to make the
+most of his opportunities, especially as his term of office was not a
+long one. It was, perhaps, not astonishing that in his eagerness to do
+so he became to some extent oblivious of everything else, since those
+entrusted with authority over a discontented subject people have at
+other times and in other places acted as though they were a trifle
+blind to what was going on about them. Dom Erminio was cunning, but,
+as occasionally happens in the case of cunning men, he was also
+short-sighted.
+
+The evening meal had been cleared away when he lay in a canvas lounge,
+yellow in face, as white men often become in that part of Africa,
+with a cigar in his bony fingers. Darkness had just closed down on the
+lonely station, but the little rickety residency had lain for twelve
+hours under a burning sun, and now the big oil lamps raised the
+already almost insupportable temperature. The Chefe, however, did not
+seem to feel it. He lay in his chair apparently languidly content, a
+spare figure in loose and somewhat soiled white uniform, looking at
+his Lieutenant, who was fingering a glass of red Canary wine. Neither
+of them troubled themselves about the fact that there were men in that
+country who regarded them with a vindictive hatred.
+
+"I almost think we may as well call that man in," he said.
+
+The Lieutenant Luiz glanced towards the veranda, where a negro was
+patiently squatting, as he had, in fact, been doing for most of the
+day. He brought a message from a Headman of some importance in the
+vicinity, and there was no reason why he should not have been listened
+to several hours earlier, except that Dom Erminio preferred to keep
+him waiting. It was in his opinion advisable that a negro should be
+taught humbly to await the white man's pleasure, which is a policy
+that has now and then brought trouble upon the white man. Dom Luiz,
+who understood his companion's views on that subject, smiled.
+
+"He has, no doubt, complaints to make. They always have," he said.
+"Considering everything, that is not astonishing. I wonder if the
+Headman expects us to give them much consideration."
+
+Dom Erminio spread his yellow hands out. "One would have thought we
+had taught him to expect nothing. He is, it seems, a little slow to
+understand. Perhaps, we have not put the screw on quite hard enough. I
+fancy another turn would make him restive."
+
+He looked at his Lieutenant, and both of them laughed. Then the Chefe
+made a little sign.
+
+"Bring him in," he said.
+
+The negro came in, a big, heavily-built man, with an expressionless
+face. When Dom Erminio made him a sign not to come too near he
+squatted down, a huddled object with apathetic patience in its pose,
+until the Lieutenant signified that he might deliver his message.
+
+"The Headman sends you greeting. He has a complaint to make," he said,
+and another dusky man who had slipped in softly made his observations
+plain. "The soldiers have been beating the people in one of his
+villages, and carrying off things that did not belong to them again.
+The Headman asks for justice in this matter."
+
+"He shall have it," said the Chefe. "His people have been insolent,
+and they are certainly getting lazy. We will send him a requisition
+for more provisions."
+
+Nobody could have told whether the messenger felt any resentment, but,
+after all, very few white men ever quite understand what the African
+is thinking. He crouched impassively still, with the lamplight on his
+heavy face and his oily skin gleaming softly over the great knotted
+muscles of his splendid arms and shoulders. There was something in his
+attitude which vaguely suggested dormant force that might spread
+destruction when it was unloosed, but that naturally did not occur to
+the Chefe, who indicated by a little gesture that he might continue.
+
+"There is another matter," said the negro. "The Headman can not send
+in the rubber demanded. Already we have cleared the forest of half the
+trees. One has to go a long way to find any more. He will do what he
+can, but he asks that you will be content with a little less than
+usual."
+
+Dom Erminio shook his head reproachfully. "I have made this man
+concessions, and this is the result," he said. "There are many duties
+I have released him from, and I only ask a little rubber and a few
+other things for the favor."
+
+Then he straightened himself in his chair. "Tell your Headman that not
+a load of rubber will be excused him, and he must restrain his people
+from provoking the soldiers. Also, the next time he has a complaint to
+make let him come himself and lay it before me."
+
+The man stood up, splendid in his animal muscularity, but there was
+for just a moment a little gleam in his eyes which suggested that hot
+human passions were at work within him. The white men, however, as
+usual, did not notice it, and the black interpreter, whose opinion was
+seldom invited, said nothing.
+
+"I will tell him," said the messenger, and Dom Erminio looked at the
+Lieutenant Luiz when he went out with the interpreter.
+
+"I think," he said reflectively, "we will give the screw that other
+turn. It is supposed that our new rulers down yonder"--and he
+apparently indicated the coast with a stretched out hand--"are in
+favor of a more conciliatory policy, which is not what we would wish
+for just now."
+
+"It is clearly out of the question," and Dom Luiz grinned. "I think it
+would be advisable if I went out with a few files and made some
+further trifling requisition to-morrow."
+
+"You will go, and do what appears desirable," said the Chefe, who
+lighted another cigar.
+
+Dom Luiz set out on the morrow with a handful of dusky ruffians in
+uniform, and left rage and shame behind him in the villages he
+visited, which, as it happened, had results neither he nor Dom Erminio
+had anticipated. The Headman did not come to San Roque to make his
+humble complaint, but he sent an urgent message to the Suzerain of the
+village Ormsgill was confined in, and at last one morning the old man
+sent for the latter.
+
+"We march in a few hours, and as we can not leave you here you and the
+boys you asked me for will come with us," he said. "What our business
+is does not concern you, and you will go with us as prisoners. Just
+now I do not know what we will do with you afterwards. It will
+depend"--and he looked at Ormsgill with a little grim smile--"a good
+deal upon your own behavior."
+
+Ormsgill, who grasped the gist of what he said, could take a hint, and
+went back to Nares. The latter listened quietly when he told him what
+he had heard.
+
+"I believe there is no other way. Their oppressors have brought it
+upon their own heads," he said.
+
+His comrade noticed the curious hardness of his face, and the glint in
+his eyes. It was very evident to him that Nares, who had been down
+again with fever while they lay in the sweltering heat, had changed.
+He had borne many troubles uncomplainingly for several weary years,
+and, perhaps because of it, the events of the last few weeks had left
+their mark on him. After all, there is a subtle concord between mind
+and body, and in that land, at least, the fever-shaken white man who
+persists in staggering on under a burden greater than he can
+reasonably bear is apt to be suddenly crushed by it. Then his bodily
+strength or mental faculties give way once for all beneath the strain.
+Ormsgill could not define the change in his companion, but he
+recognized it. It was a thing which he had seen happen to other men.
+
+They started in the heat of that afternoon, and Ormsgill, marching
+with his boys, watched the long dusky column wind into the forest in
+front of him. There were men with Snider rifles, which they were
+indifferently accustomed to, men with glinting matchets, and men with
+flintlock guns and spears, besides rows of plodding carriers. They
+were half-naked most of them, men of primitive passions and no great
+intelligence, but they had risen at last in their desperation to
+strike for freedom. Behind them rose a tumultuous uproar of barbaric
+music, insistent and deafening, that floated far over the forest.
+Ormsgill smiled a little as it grew fainter.
+
+"I'm not sure there will be any music when they come back again," he
+said. "Still, I almost think they will accomplish--something."
+
+Nares looked straight in front of him as he plodded on, but there was
+a curious gleam in his eyes.
+
+"There is no other way," was all he said.
+
+The long dusky column pushed on steadily through dim forest, wide
+morass, and tracts of hot white sand, and it happened one evening when
+the advance guard were a considerable distance ahead that Dom Erminio
+sat alone on the veranda at San Roque. It was then about eight
+o'clock, and the night was very dark and hot. Now and then a little
+fitful breeze crept up the misty river, and filled the forest that
+rose above it with mysterious noises. Then it dropped away again, and
+left a silence the Chefe commenced to find oppressive behind it. He
+could hear the oily gurgle of sliding water, and at times a sharp
+crackle in the crazy building behind him, out of which there drifted a
+damp mildewy smell, but that merely emphasized the almost
+disconcerting absence of any other sound. Indeed, it was so still that
+the soft rustle his duck garments made as he moved jarred on him, and
+he was glad when the little muggy breeze flowed into the veranda
+again.
+
+There was nothing in all this to trouble a man who was accustomed to
+it, but the Chefe was not quite at his ease. Dom Luiz, whom he had
+sent out a few days earlier, should have been back that afternoon, but
+there was no sign of him yet, nor had the three or four dusky soldiers
+who had gone out on some business of their own with his consent as yet
+made an appearance. There were very few men in the fort, and when nine
+o'clock came Dom Erminio, who was quite aware that the natives had no
+great cause to love him, admitted that he was a trifle anxious. Still,
+he had, with what he considered a more sufficient reason, been anxious
+rather frequently. It was a thing one became accustomed to in the
+debatable land, and sitting still he lighted another cigar. He could
+see the mists that rolled up from the river, and the forest cutting
+faintly black against the sky, and wondered vaguely what was going on
+in it. That there was something going on in it he now felt tolerably
+certain, though he did not exactly know why.
+
+At last the hoarse cry of a sentry rose out of the night, and when it
+was answered he went down to the gate of the stockade. It was not a
+gate that opened in the usual fashion, but one that dropped, a stout
+affair of logs copied from the form adopted by the inhabitants of the
+plateaux to the south. When he reached it two or three black soldiers
+were heaving it up, and there was a patter of feet outside. Then a
+line of shadowy figures grew out of the darkness, and though there did
+not seem to be as many as he had expected it was with a sense of
+relief he saw Dom Luiz come in through the gap. The logs clashed down
+behind the last of his men, and Dom Erminio straightened himself
+suddenly when a sergeant came up with a lantern.
+
+Two of the row of barefooted men appeared scarcely fit to stand. Their
+garments were rent to pieces, and there was blood and mire on them,
+while neither of them carried rifles. Dom Luiz saw the question in the
+Chefe's eyes, and nodded.
+
+"Yes," he said, "I should have been here earlier. It was these two who
+detained me. I sent them on to the village in the thicker bush two
+days ago, and they came back dragging themselves with difficulty--as
+you see them. It seems the villagers had beaten them, and they did not
+know what had become of their rifles."
+
+Dom Erminio's face became suddenly intent. "Ah," he said, "they shall
+be beaten again to-morrow. You will hand them to the guard. I suppose
+you saw nothing of the Sergeant Orticho?"
+
+"No," said Lieutenant Luiz, who was a trifle puzzled by the sudden
+change in the Chefe's manner, "I saw no sign of him."
+
+He called to his men, and as they filed by him loaded heavily with
+miscellaneous sundries, Dom Erminio smiled significantly.
+
+"They have, it seems, been successful, which is fortunate," he said.
+"I almost think it will be some little time before they make any more
+requisitions of the kind again."
+
+He turned back towards the house, and was once more sitting on the
+veranda when the Lieutenant Luiz rejoined him.
+
+"It would no doubt be advisable that I should set out again in the
+morning with a stronger party and chastise those villagers who have
+beaten our men?" said the latter.
+
+"No," said the Chefe dryly, "you will probably be busy here. When the
+natives venture to beat our men it is, I think, wiser to keep every
+man we have inside the fort."
+
+"Ah," said his companion, "you believe they have courage enough to go
+further?"
+
+Dom Erminio smiled. "I believe we both admitted that the natives might
+resent our attitude. We were, I think, for several reasons not
+unwilling that they should do something to make their resentment
+evident."
+
+He stopped a moment, and the manner in which he spread out his yellow
+hands was very expressive. "Now I fancy we have got what we wished
+for--and, perhaps, a little more than could reasonably have been
+expected. It is rather a pity that we have lost several men with
+sickness lately."
+
+Dom Luiz straightened himself in his chair. "There are very few of us,
+and I am not quite sure that one or two of the fresh draft could be
+depended on. Still, Orticho has most of them well in hand."
+
+Dom Erminio made a little gesture. "I think we can not count upon
+Orticho in this affair. It is scarcely likely that he and the men who
+went out with him will come back again. What he has heard in the bush
+I do not know, but it is evident that he regards this thing very much
+as I do. In fact, I fancy he is heading as fast as possible for the
+coast by now."
+
+"Ah," said Dom Luiz, and looked at his companion inquiringly.
+
+"The business we have in hand is perfectly simple," said Dom Erminio.
+"We were sent here to hold San Roque, and it must be done. When these
+bushmen call upon us we shall be ready. With that in view you will set
+about moving the quick-firing gun from where it is now, and when that
+is done you will open a loophole for it at the rear of the stockade.
+It is not quite so strong at that point, and our friends, who know
+where the gun stood, will probably attack us there. It would be
+advisable to have it done before the dawn comes."
+
+Dom Luiz rose and set about it. There was no uneasiness in his
+companion's manner, but there was a look which had not been there for
+some little time in his eyes. He was, perhaps, in several respects a
+rogue, but, like other men of that kind, he had his strong points,
+too, and nobody had ever accused him of being deficient in manhood,
+which, unfortunately, is not always quite the same thing as humanity.
+He was also Chefe, Commandant and Administrator, which he never
+forgot, and he sat on the veranda smoking cigarette after cigarette
+while Dom Luiz toiled for once very strenuously half the night. It
+was very dark and hot, the logs he handled were heavy, and the dusky
+soldiers seemed unusually slow at understanding. Still, when the dawn
+broke the little quick-firing gun stood at the rear of the stockade,
+which had been strengthened wherever it was possible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+THE CHEFE STANDS FAST
+
+
+It was an hour after midnight when the Headman sent for Ormsgill, who
+found him sitting with his overlord beside a little fire that burned
+redly in the thin mist. The night was almost chilly, and the Suzerain
+crouched close beside the blaze, huddled in his loose garments, with
+the uncertain light on his impassive face. It seemed to Ormsgill that
+he looked worn and old, and he became conscious for the first time of
+a vague pity for him. The task he had undertaken was, the white man
+felt, one he could not succeed in. It was merely another futile
+protest, for the yoke that was being fastened on his people's necks
+could not be flung off that way. Ormsgill stood silent a moment or two
+until the old man turned to him.
+
+"You have no cause to love those white men in San Roque," he said.
+"Well, I will give you forty boys with rifles. We want leaders who
+know how the white men fight."
+
+Ormsgill shook his head. "No," he said, "I can not lead them. This
+affair is no concern of mine."
+
+The negro appeared to ponder over his answer, for it was with
+difficulty they understood each other, though another man crouching in
+the wood smoke flung in a word or two.
+
+"Are you all against us because we are black?" he said. "Those men at
+San Roque would shoot you if they could."
+
+"It is very likely," and Ormsgill smiled a little. "Still, I think we
+are not all against you--though I can not lead your men. There are
+white men among the Portuguese who know that you have wrongs. Some day
+they will have justice done."
+
+The negro spread out a dusky hand. "That is what the missionaries tell
+us, but we have waited a long time, and there is no sign of it yet. We
+can not wait for ever, and very soon all my people will be at work
+upon the white men's plantations. They get greedier and greedier. Now
+at last we strike."
+
+Once more Ormsgill, standing still in the shadow watching him, was
+stirred by a vague compassion. He knew that revolt was useless, and
+wondered whether the old belief that there was a ban upon the negro
+and that he was made to serve the white man was not, after all,
+founded on more than superstition and self-interested sophistry. Other
+primitive peoples had, he knew, died off before the white man, but the
+Africans had thriven in their bondage, filling Brazil and the West
+Indies and the cotton-growing States. They were prolific, cheerful,
+adaptable to all conditions, and yet even where liberty had been
+offered them they remained a subject people, and made no effort to
+shake off the white man's yoke.
+
+"You may sack San Roque," he said. "Still, I think you will never
+reach the coast."
+
+The Headman started at this boldness, and there was a vindictive
+gleam in his eyes, but his overlord sat silent a space, apparently
+brooding heavily, and gazing at the mist. Then he turned to Ormsgill
+with a somewhat impressive deliberateness.
+
+"At least," he said, "I go on. You will not lead our men, but you can
+not warn the white men at San Roque. When we have sacked the fort I
+will send for you again."
+
+Ormsgill made him a little formal inclination before he turned away,
+for the attitude of this negro was one he could understand. He had
+himself attempted things that could not be done, expecting to be
+defeated, but undertaking them because he felt that, at least, was an
+obligation laid on him. Nares, and Father Tiebout, and no doubt
+countless host of others, had also done the same, and Nares the
+optimist had said that though they failed signally the protest of
+their futile efforts would be listened to some day. It seemed that the
+dusky man crouching beside the fire realized how much there was
+against him, but, as he had said, he was going on. Perhaps it is
+because men of all creeds and colors have pressed on downwards through
+the ages to face ax and stake and firing platoon that there are not
+even more of the overburdened in the world to-day. The cost of
+progress is heavy, and the upward struggle is very grim and slow.
+
+In the meanwhile Ormsgill went back past the long rows of weary men
+lying in the sand to where his comrade was sitting in the clammy mist.
+Nares was a little feverish that night.
+
+"Well?" he said.
+
+"I have been offered a command," said Ormsgill. "Naturally, I refused
+it. I also ventured to tell our friend that he would fail. It says a
+good deal for him that I escaped the usual fate of the prophets. He
+did not even ask me for my reasons."
+
+"You have them?"
+
+"Yes," said Ormsgill. "The thing's quite evident in a general way and
+to be precise he has to reckon with Dom Clemente. You remember the man
+our guide fired at? I can't help thinking he has passed on any
+information he may have picked up to the coast by now, and Dom
+Clemente is a man who can move to some purpose when it's advisable.
+Still, I have no doubt we shall sack San Roque before to-morrow. Our
+friend hinted that measures would be taken to prevent us warning the
+Chefe."
+
+Nares turned and pointed to several men with rifles who sat half-seen
+not very far away. Then he seemed to shiver.
+
+"There was a time when I could have warned them in San Roque, though I
+scarcely think they would have listened to me. Now I do not know that
+I would do it if I had the opportunity." His voice grew sterner. "They
+have brought it upon themselves. There are iniquities which can not be
+borne."
+
+His companion said nothing further, but sat down gnawing at an empty
+pipe until they started again. The Headman or his Suzerain had drilled
+his followers into some kind of order, and Ormsgill found something
+impressive in the silent flitting by of half-seen men. They came up
+out of the soft darkness with a faint patter of naked feet in sand,
+and were lost in it again ahead of him. Now and then there was a
+crackle of undergrowth or a clash of arms, but for the most part the
+long column went by like a crawling shadow, for these were men
+accustomed to flit through dim forests thick with perils noiselessly,
+and they did not proclaim their presence as white troops would have
+done. When they struck it would be in silence, and Ormsgill fancied
+that San Roque was not much more than a league away.
+
+Still, it was rough traveling through loose sand and tangled scrub,
+and several hours had passed when the long sinuous column stopped
+suddenly. The men in charge of Ormsgill handed him and Nares over to a
+few others, who had only flintlock guns, and these led them forward to
+a more open space, where they sat down. The night had grown a trifle
+clearer, and Ormsgill could see a wide break in the bush in front of
+him. A broad belt of mist hung about one side of it, and the gurgle of
+sliding water came out of the vapor, against which there rose a
+shadowy ridge.
+
+"The stockade," he said. "We have arrived. Dom Erminio has either no
+vedettes out, or our vanguard has stalked them and cut their throats."
+
+He broke off, but in another moment or two he spoke again with a
+little tension in his voice. "It's curious, and no doubt in one way
+unreasonable, but I feel the desire to warn him getting almost too
+much for me. I don't know how one could do it, and it certainly
+wouldn't be any use, since I believe our friends are ringing the fort
+in. Dom Erminio must fight for his life to-night."
+
+The clang of a rifle, a Portuguese rifle, cut him short, and a cry
+rose out of the vapor. After that there was silence until a crackling
+commenced in the bush, and the two sat still and waited while the
+tension grew almost intolerable. Ormsgill, who felt his mouth grow
+parched and dry, fancied he could see the stockade a trifle more
+plainly, and the forest seemed to be growing blacker, though the mist
+was a little thicker than it had been. It was also perceptibly colder.
+
+"It will be daylight in half an hour," he said, and his voice struck
+on his companion's ears curiously strained and hoarse.
+
+Then another rifle flashed, there was a sudden shouting, and a
+tumultuous patter of naked feet, and a shadowy mass of running figures
+hurled themselves at the stockade. A good many of them never reached
+it, for the dusky barrier blazed with twinkling points of light, and a
+withering volley met them in the face. Then the drifting smoke was
+rent by brighter snapping flashes in quick succession, and the jarring
+thud of heavier reports broke through the crash of the rifles. This
+lasted for perhaps two minutes, and then there was by contrast a
+silence that was almost bewildering. It seemed emphasized when once or
+twice the ringing of a rifle came out of the streaks of drifting vapor
+that hung about the stockade.
+
+"They're going back," said Ormsgill hoarsely. "The Chefe's men will
+stand." Then he laughed, a harsh, strained laugh. "They know they
+have to. Our friends are not likely to have much consideration for any
+of them who fall into their hands."
+
+Nares, who shivered a little, said nothing, and a minute or two later
+a crackle of riflery broke out in the bush. It came from the
+Suzerain's men, for there was no mistaking the crash of the heavy
+Sniders. Once or twice the jarring thud of the machine gun broke in,
+and here and there a twinkling flash leapt from the stockade, but with
+that exception there was no answer from the fort.
+
+"It seems," said Ormsgill, "Dom Erminio has his men in hand. It's a
+little more than I expected from him. Presumably our friend wishes to
+keep him occupied while he seizes the canoes. Anyway, his boys will be
+considerably more dangerous when they've wasted their ammunition."
+
+The fusillade continued, in all probability, harmlessly, for awhile,
+and then Ormsgill rose to his feet. "I think they'll get in this time.
+They're trying it again."
+
+Once more vague, shadowy objects flitted out of the bush, and swept
+towards the stockade. They ran without order, furiously, while more of
+their comrades emerged from the shadows behind them, until the narrow
+strip of cleared space was filled with running figures. There appeared
+to be swarms of them, and Ormsgill held his breath as he watched. He
+saw them plunge into a crawling trail of low lying mist, that seemed
+torn apart suddenly when once more the face of the stockade was
+streaked with little spurts of flame. It closed on them again until
+all was hidden but the intermittent flashing, and the jarring thud of
+the machine gun rent the din. One could not tell what was going on,
+and it was by a tense effort Ormsgill held himself still with every
+nerve in him quivering. How long the tension lasted he did not know,
+but at length the ringing of the rifles died away again, and as a
+little puff of chilly breeze rolled the haze aside it became evident
+that the space before the stockade was once more empty. He could see
+the stockade clearly, and the edge of the forest now cut sharply
+against the sky.
+
+"The Headman can't afford to fail again," he said. "It is breaking
+day."
+
+Then there was silence for a space, while the light grew clearer until
+the residency beyond the stockade grew into shape. A smear of pale
+color widened in the eastern sky, and as Ormsgill turned his eyes
+towards the house a limp bundle of fabric rose slowly up the lofty
+staff above it. It blew out once on the faint breeze, and then hung
+still again, but as he watched it, Ormsgill felt a little thrill run
+through him.
+
+"Rather earlier than usual. Dom Erminio means to fight," he said.
+
+Just then, however, a negro who came up gasping with haste signed to
+Nares. "The Headman sends for you," he said. "You are to take a
+message to those people yonder."
+
+Ormsgill looked at his comrade, who smiled curiously. "Yes," he said,
+"I shall certainly go. Whether I am in any way responsible for all
+this I do not know, but I may, perhaps, save a few of them."
+
+He raised himself somewhat stiffly, and turned away, but two negroes
+held Ormsgill fast when he would have gone with him. He sat down again
+when they relaxed their grasp, and at last saw Nares appear again on
+the edge of the bush some distance away. He was alone, and walked
+quietly towards the stockade with his wide hat in his hand, and a
+figure in white uniform appeared in the notch where the palisades had
+been cut down for the quick-firing gun. Just then a ray of brightness
+struck along the trampled sand, and Ormsgill saw his comrade stop and
+stand still, spare and gaunt and ragged, with the widening sunlight
+full upon him. What was said he did not know, but he did not blame Dom
+Erminio afterwards for what followed. Perhaps, some black soldier's
+over-taxed nerve gave way, or the man had flung off all restraint and
+gone back to his primitive savagery, for a rifle flashed behind the
+stockade, and Nares staggered, recovered his balance, and collapsed
+into a blurred huddle of white garments on the trampled sand.
+
+Then as Ormsgill sprang to his feet the bush rang with a yell, and a
+swarm of half-naked negroes poured tumultuously out of it. There was
+no firing among them. They ran forward with glinting matchets and
+spears and brandished flintlock guns, and Ormsgill knew that now, at
+least, they would certainly get in. In another moment he was running
+furiously towards them, and so far as he could remember afterwards
+none of the men in whose charge he had been troubled themselves about
+him. It was some way to the front of the stockade, and when he got
+there he was hemmed in by a surging crowd. There was smoke in his
+eyes, and a bewildering din through which he heard the thudding of the
+quick-firing gun, but where Nares was he did not know. He could only
+go forward with the press, and he ran on in a fit of hot vindictive
+fury.
+
+Here and there a man about him screamed, and now and then a half-seen
+figure collapsed in front of him, but this time no one stopped or
+turned. They were all crazed with primitive passion, and were going
+in. Ormsgill, pressing onwards with them, saw that he had now a
+matchet in his hand, though he had no recollection of how it came
+there. Then the thudding of the gun ceased suddenly and the air was
+rent by a breathless gasping yell. The stockade rose right over him,
+and he went headlong at the gap in it from which there protruded the
+muzzle of the gun. Somebody behind him hurled him through the opening,
+and he dropped inside. As he scrambled to his feet he saw a swarm of
+men running towards the residency, and he went with them, partly
+because he wished to get there and also because those who poured
+through the gap behind him drove him along. He had afterwards a fancy
+that he saw a white man lying not far from the gun, but he could not
+be certain, for the negroes were thick about him, and he was not in a
+mood to interest himself in anything of that kind just then. He was
+possessed by an unreasoning fury, and an overwhelming desire to reach
+the men who had treacherously shot his comrade.
+
+They came gasping to the foot of the outer stairway, and by this time
+Ormsgill had almost come up with the foremost of his companions. A
+glance showed him the barricade of bags and boxes apparently filled
+with soil on the veranda, and the black faces and rifle barrels above
+them. There seemed to be a good deal of smoke in the air, but he saw
+Dom Erminio standing amidst it in white uniform. He had a naked sword
+in his hand, and apparently saw Ormsgill, for his drawn face contorted
+into a very curious smile. So far as the latter could make out, he had
+still a handful of men under his command. Escape was out of the
+question. The score he had run up was a long one, and now the
+reckoning had come.
+
+Then several rifles flashed among the bags, and the negroes went up
+the stairway with a yell. Ormsgill fancied that two or three men went
+down about him, and had a vague remembrance of trampling on yielding
+bodies, but he went up uninjured, and leapt up upon the barricade. The
+veranda was thick with smoke now, but he saw Dom Erminio suddenly lean
+forward with the long blade gleaming in his hand, and a black soldier
+who crouched close beside his feet tearing at his rifle breech. That,
+however, was all he saw, for in another moment he leapt down, and a
+swarm of half-naked men with spears and matchets swept into the
+veranda. What he did next he knew no more than those about him
+probably did, but when at length he reeled out of the smoke-filled
+building and down the stairway the matchet was no longer in his hand,
+and he wondered vaguely that there was so far as he could discover not
+a scratch on him. Still he felt a trifle dazed, and as his head ached
+intolerably he sat down gasping.
+
+There was no firing in the residency now, and half-naked men were
+pouring out of it, but Ormsgill felt no desire to go back and see what
+had become of Dom Erminio and his soldiery. He sat still for several
+minutes, and then rising with an effort walked stiffly across the
+compound. He had some trouble in climbing the stockade, and when that
+was done came upon Nares lying face downwards in the trampled sand. He
+raised him a trifle with some difficulty, and saw a little hole in the
+breast of his thin jacket. Then laying him gently down again he took
+off his shapeless hat. He was still standing beside him vacantly when
+one of the Headman's messengers laid a hand on his shoulder. Ormsgill
+looked down once more on his comrade, and then turned away and went
+with the man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+DOM CLEMENTE STRIKES
+
+
+There was a chill in the air and the white mist crept in and out among
+the shadowy trunks when the foremost of the rebels went slipping and
+floundering down the side of a river gorge just before the dawn.
+Ormsgill marching, well guarded, with his carriers and the six boys he
+had liberated in the rear could just discern the dim figures flitting
+on in front of him, and wondered if the next hour would see them
+safely across the river. He had been subjected to no ill usage though
+he had been carefully watched, and he fancied that the rebel leader
+expected to find him useful when the time to make terms with the
+authorities came, but that was a point he was never quite clear about.
+In the meanwhile he was worn-out and badly jaded, for his leg still
+pained him, and the rebels had pushed on as fast as possible after the
+sacking of San Roque.
+
+Ormsgill fancied he understood the reasons for this. The body was not
+a very strong one, and though there were petty Headmen on the inland
+plateau who had long cherished grievances against the white men, they
+were no doubt prudently waiting to see what their friends were likely
+to accomplish before they joined them. In an affair of that kind a
+prompt success counts for everything, since it brings the waverers
+flocking in, and while the seizing of San Roque was scarcely
+sufficient to do this in itself, the first of the white men's
+plantations was now not so very far away. There was another fact that
+made delay inadvisable. The river flowed rapidly between steep banks
+just there, and Ormsgill felt it was just the place he would have
+chosen had it been his business to dispute the rebels' passage. He
+fancied their leader was anxious to get across before the news of the
+fall of San Roque brought troops up from the coast.
+
+In the meanwhile he plodded onwards wearily, aching all over and wet
+with the dew, while the sound of sliding water grew steadily louder.
+Now and then the long straggling column stopped for a minute or two,
+and there was a hoarse clamor which he fancied indicated that a scout
+had come in, but the men promptly went on again, and his guards, who
+carried flintlock guns, saw that he did not linger. The path grew
+steadily steeper, and he stumbled in loose sand while the half-seen
+trees went by until at last a sharp crackling mingled with the patter
+of naked feet as the head of the column smashed through the thick
+undergrowth and tall reeds in the river hollow. Then his guards made
+it evident that he was to stay where he was, and he sat down among his
+boys in the loose sand where he could look down on the men in front of
+him. There was now a faint light, though the mist lay in thick white
+belts in the hollow, and the air was very still. He could dimly see
+dusky figures moving amidst the grass and reeds, and here and there a
+faint gleam of water in front of them, while now and then a confused
+clamor rose out of the haze. The rebels, he fancied, were disputing
+about their orders, or urging some course upon their leaders, and he
+wondered vaguely whether they were likely to do more than involve
+themselves in disaster, and where Dom Clemente was.
+
+This was, however, as he recognized, no concern of his. He was a
+prisoner, and he could see only difficulties in front of him. Had he
+been free at that moment and the boys he had liberated safely sent
+away, the outlook would not have been much brighter, for he would
+still have to face a duty he shrank from. That Ada Ratcliffe had no
+great love for him he now felt reasonably sure, but it was clear that
+she and her mother expected him to marry her, and, since she had kept
+faith with him, he could not break the pledge he had given her. After
+all, he reflected grimly, she would probably not expect too much from
+him, and be content with the material advantages he could offer her.
+Then he thought of Benicia Figuera, and set his lips tight as he once
+more strove to fix his attention on the men below.
+
+At last there was a soft splashing and he could dimly see them wade
+into the river. Their disputes were over, and they were going across
+in haste. Then the foremost of them plunged into a belt of mist, and
+for several minutes he watched their comrades press onwards from the
+tall grass and reeds. The water was gleaming faintly now, and they
+looked like a long black snake crawling through the midst of it until
+the filmy haze shut them in. At times a shouting came up through the
+splashing and crackle of undergrowth. In the meanwhile the tail of the
+straggling column still winding down the side of the gorge was
+steadily growing plainer, and the haze commenced to slide and curl
+upwards in long filmy wisps, until at last Ormsgill scrambled to his
+feet with every nerve in him thrilling. The ringing of a bugle rose
+from beyond the river and was answered by another blast apparently
+from the rise behind him.
+
+Then the splashing ceased suddenly, and there was for a few moments a
+tense and almost intolerable silence, during which he stood still with
+one hand clenched until a clamor rose from the midst of the river, and
+he heard the dull thud of a flintlock gun. It was answered by a clear
+ringing crash of riflery, and then while the flintlocks and Sniders
+joined in, thin pale flashes blazed amidst the reeds and in the
+sliding mist. This lasted for, perhaps, a minute or two, until it
+became evident that the rebels were splashing back again. Ormsgill
+could see them streaming out of the mist, and as he watched them
+another patter of riflery broke out upon the higher ground behind him.
+A bugle rang shrilly, and he fancied he heard a white man's voice
+calling in the bush. Then looking round as one of the boys touched
+him, he saw that his guards were no longer there. They had evidently
+fled and left him to shift for himself. He stood a minute considering,
+with the boys clamoring about him, and then made up his mind. The
+rebels were streaming back up the gorge, and it seemed to him just
+possible that if he separated himself from them he might slip away
+unobserved in the press of the pursuit. Once across the river he might
+still reach the coast.
+
+Calling to the boys he set out at a stumbling run, and for awhile
+skirted the ridge of bluff. The rebels were too intent on their own
+affairs to trouble about him, even if any of them noticed him, which
+appeared very doubtful. He struck the river half a mile below the spot
+where the negroes had attempted the crossing, and plunged in with the
+boys still about him. He could see them clearly now, and the bush
+showed sharp and black against the sky. There was a desultory patter
+of riflery behind him, but except for that he could hear very little,
+and he pushed on with the water rising rapidly to his waist. It was as
+much as he could do to keep his feet, for the stream ran strong. Then
+one of the boys clutched him and held him up, and for the next few
+minutes they struggled desperately in a swifter swirl of current until
+the water sank again suddenly, and he stood, gasping, knee-deep in the
+yellow stream, looking about him.
+
+It was broad daylight now, and he could see a steep bank clothed with
+thick bush and brushwood close by. There was a little hollow in it up
+which the mist that still drifted about the river was flowing, and
+calling to his boys he headed for it. Nothing seemed to indicate that
+there were any troops in the vicinity. They floundered dripping
+through a belt of tall grass, and were clambering up the slope when
+one of the boys laid a wet hand upon his arm and the rest stood still
+suddenly. Ormsgill felt his heart beating a good deal faster than
+usual, though he could see nothing but trees in front of him. He was
+on the point of pushing on again when a voice came out of the sliding
+haze.
+
+"Stand still," it said sharply in Portuguese. "We will shoot the first
+who stirs."
+
+Ormsgill made a sign to the boys, and in another moment several black
+soldiers appeared among the trees. A white sergeant in very soiled
+uniform moved out from among them and stood surveying him with a
+little sardonic grin.
+
+"There are half a dozen rifles here," he said. "You surrender
+yourselves?"
+
+Ormsgill made a little gesture. "Senor," he said, "it is evident that
+we are in your hands."
+
+The man beckoned him to come forward with the boys, and a few more
+black soldiers who rose out of the undergrowth closed in on them.
+Ormsgill turned quietly to the sergeant.
+
+"You have been too much for the bushmen," he said. "Who is commanding
+you?"
+
+"Dom Clemente," said the sergeant. "He has trapped those pigs of the
+forest. That is a wonderful man. You will wait here until I can send
+you to him. Whether he will have you shot I do not know."
+
+In spite of this observation he appeared a good-humored person, and
+presently offered Ormsgill a cigarette. The latter, who sat down near
+the sergeant and smoked it, waited until a patrol came along, when the
+black soldier in command marched him and the boys through the
+undergrowth, and at length led him into the presence of Dom Clemente.
+He sat in state at a little table, immaculate in trim white uniform,
+with two black men with rifles standing behind him. Another white
+officer and a dusky interpreter who stood close by had apparently been
+interrogating a couple of rebel prisoners. They squatted upon the
+ground gazing at the white men with apprehension in their eyes. Dom
+Clemente made Ormsgill a little formal salutation, and then leaned
+back in his chair.
+
+"This meeting reminds me of another occasion when you were brought
+before me, Senor and you were then frank with me," he said. "I might
+suggest that candor would be equally advisable just now. I hear that
+San Roque has fallen, and it appears that you were there. I must ask
+you to tell me in what capacity."
+
+"As a prisoner in the hands of the rebels," said Ormsgill.
+
+Dom Clemente nodded. "It is on the whole fortunate that I think one
+could take your word for it," he said. "You are desired to tell us
+what happened at San Roque."
+
+Ormsgill did so quietly, though he said as little as possible about
+his own share in the proceedings, and afterwards answered the
+questions the other officer asked him until Dom Clemente turned to him
+again.
+
+"It seems that Dom Erminio has, at least, acquitted himself creditably
+in this affair," he observed. "All things considered, I do not know
+that one has much occasion to be sorry for him. Dom Luiz, too, went
+down beside his gun. Well, that is, after all, what one would have
+expected from him."
+
+Then he made a little gesture. "You will understand that there are
+matters which demand my attention, and I may have something more to
+say later. In the meanwhile you will give me your parole. The boys
+will be looked after."
+
+Ormsgill pledged himself to make no attempt at escape, and was led
+away to a little tent where food was brought him and he was told he
+was to stay. He realized that Dom Clemente had struck the rebels a
+crushing blow, one from which there was little probability of their
+recovering, but what was being done about the pursuit he did not know,
+though he fancied that a body of troops had crossed the river. Still,
+that did not greatly concern him, and worn-out and dejected as he was
+he was glad to fall asleep. It was evening when he awakened as a black
+soldier looked into the tent, and a few minutes later Dom Clemente
+came in and sat down in the camp chair the soldier had brought.
+Ormsgill sat on the ground sheet, heavy-eyed, tattered, and haggard,
+and waited for him to speak.
+
+"I shall go on to-morrow when more troops come up, and you will come
+with us. There are matters that require attention yonder," he said.
+"In the meanwhile I have had the boys you brought down interrogated,
+and the story they tell me is in some respects a fantastic one. It is,
+I fancy, fortunate for your sake that I am acquainted with several
+facts which seem to bear it out."
+
+Ormsgill was a trifle astonished, but Dom Clemente smiled. "It is," he
+said, "advisable that one in authority should hear of everything, but
+it is not always wise that he should make that fact apparent. One
+waits until the time comes--and then, as was the case this morning,
+one acts."
+
+He spread out one slender, faintly olive-tinted hand and then brought
+it down upon the table closed with an unexpected sharpness that was
+very expressive.
+
+"Senor," he said, "though I have heard a little from the boys, you
+have not told me yet exactly how you came to fall into those bushmen's
+hands."
+
+Ormsgill, who did not think that reticence was likely to be of much
+service, briefly related what had befallen him, and his companion
+nodded.
+
+"I have the honor of your acquaintance, and it is perhaps, permissible
+to point out that you have a troublesome fondness for meddling with
+other people's business," he said. "Further, you are a trifle
+impulsive and precipitate."
+
+"There was nobody else who seemed anxious to undertake the affair in
+question," said Ormsgill dryly.
+
+Dom Clemente made a little gesture. "It is generally wiser to wait
+until one is certain. Well, I think I may venture to take you into my
+confidence to some extent. The doings of the trader Herrero--who has
+lodged complaints against you--and his friend Domingo have long been
+known to me. They were merely being permitted to involve themselves in
+difficulties while we waited until the time was ripe. It is now very
+probable that I shall suppress both of them."
+
+"One can sometimes wait longer than is advisable," said Ormsgill with
+a little dry laugh. "Herrero and his friend are dead."
+
+Then for the first time he narrated all that had been done in the
+inland village, and Dom Clemente, who listened carefully, smiled.
+
+"It only proves my point," he said. "One waits and the affair
+regulates itself. Well, they are dead, and I do not think there is
+anybody who will greatly regret them. It will clear the ground for
+what we mean to do up yonder. There is, you understand, to be a change
+in our native policy, and I"--he straightened himself a trifle--"have
+been entrusted with its inauguration. From now we shall, at least,
+endeavor to modify some of the difficulties which are, perhaps, not
+inseparably connected with this question of the labor supply."
+
+"The whole system should be done away with."
+
+Dom Clemente spread his hands out. "In this country one is content
+with accomplishing a little now and then. But there is another matter.
+Certain complaints have been made against your friend the American,
+and we have decided that there is nothing against him. I bring him
+permission to go back to his station."
+
+"Nares," said Ormsgill quietly, "will not profit by it. He has been
+promoted. He was killed endeavoring to make peace at San Roque."
+
+"Ah," said Dom Clemente, "that is a matter of regret to me. Perhaps,
+he was a little imprudent. Some of these missionaries are sadly
+deficient in diplomacy, and that may have been the case with him. I do
+not know. Still, when all is said, he was a brave man, and I
+think"--he made a little grave gesture--"what he has done for these
+black men will be remembered where he is now."
+
+It was not a great deal, but Ormsgill who noticed the quick change in
+the little soldier's voice was satisfied with it. After all, one can
+not say much more of any man than that he has done what he could for
+his fellow men. Then Dom Clemente turned to him again.
+
+"I have not asked you yet what you did during the attack on San
+Roque," he said.
+
+"If you fancy I have done anything for which I could be held
+accountable it is for you to establish it. It seems to me that would
+be a little difficult since I believe every man in the fort is dead."
+
+"Still--if the thing appeared advisable--it might be possible."
+
+Ormsgill made no attempt to dispute this, but changed the subject.
+"There is a thing I don't quite understand," he said. "I almost fancy
+the man who led the rebels must have known you held the bank when he
+pushed his men across."
+
+"Yes," said Dom Clemente, "I believe he did. Still, there are men who
+can recognize when they must fight or fail ignominiously. One has a
+certain respect for them. I do not think it was that negro's fault
+that he was driven back. Flintlocks and matchets are not much use
+against our rifles."
+
+Then he rose. "In the meanwhile you will be detained. My instructions
+were to arrest you, and, as you know, I only hold subordinate
+authority. Still, so far as my duty permits it, I think you can
+regard me as a friend."
+
+He went out of the tent, and an hour or two later Ormsgill contrived
+to go to sleep again. He was roused by the bugles at daylight, and
+went back with the rear guard into the forests he had lately left, and
+in due time marched with them into sight of the ruins of San Roque. It
+was early morning when they reached the fort, but before the sun was
+high the three white men who had fallen there were laid to rest in
+state. The black troops who had with reversed rifles swung into hollow
+square stood listening vacantly round the bank of raw steaming soil
+where Father Tiebout recited words of ponderous import in the sonorous
+Latin tongue. Then there was a crashing volley, and as the patter of
+marching feet commenced again Ormsgill and the priest and Dom Clemente
+stood looking on while a few black soldiers raised the three rude
+crosses. On one of them a dusky armorer had under Ormsgill's
+supervision cut the words, "_In hoc signo._"
+
+Father Tiebout glanced at them and nodded gravely. "It is fitting," he
+said. "He did what he could--and we others do not know how much it
+was. After all, it is only a grain of understanding that is now
+vouchsafed us, but"--and he once more broke into the sonorous Latin,
+"I look for the resurrection of the dead."
+
+Dom Clemente smiled. "There are men of your profession, Father, who
+would not have ventured to do what you have done," he said. "Still, I
+think when that day comes some of us may, perhaps, have cause to envy
+this heretic."
+
+Then they turned away, and in another hour once more pushed on into
+the forest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+ORMSGILL BEARS THE TEST
+
+
+The black troops were coming home again when they halted at a
+coffee-planter's fazienda within easy march of the coast to allow the
+rear guard to come up. They had met with no resistance since they
+crossed the river. The rebels had melted away before them and vanished
+into the forests and marshes of the interior, and the troops had
+pushed on into a waste and empty country finding only a few deserted
+villages here and there. This was, however, very much what their
+leader had expected, for he knew that in an affair of this kind
+everything usually turns upon the first success, and he had made his
+plans with that fact in view. Dom Clemente Figuera was, at least, a
+capable soldier.
+
+The fazienda was old and somewhat ruinous. Its prosperity had
+departed, though plantations of coffee and cocoa still stretched about
+the rambling white house and dusky laborers' sheds, and a little
+coarse sugar was made chiefly for the sake of the resultant rum. Cocoa
+could no longer be grown there by antiquated methods at a profit, and
+there had of late been trouble about the labor supply. Standing where
+it did within easy reach of the coast, the fazienda was open to
+inspection, and the rulers of that colony had of late been making
+inquiries as to the way in which the legislation that permitted the
+planters to engage the negroes brought down from the bush was carried
+out. Indeed, its owners realized with concern that there was likely to
+be a change in their ruler's views. Dom Clemente had, in fact, issued
+one or two proclamations which filled them with alarm, for they knew
+that what he said was usually done.
+
+Still, during the few days the troops halted there the white planters
+had many guests, men who had, for the most part, axes to grind. They
+wished to discover how the changes Dom Clemente appeared to be
+contemplating might affect their trade, which like everything else in
+that country depended upon the labor supply. Some of them wanted
+concessions, and to be the first to benefit by any reprisals that
+might be made upon the rebels, and others had grievances against the
+inland officials whom they supposed Dom Clemente was not altogether
+satisfied with. It was also, they felt, desirable to gain his ear, or,
+at least, those of his subordinates, before affairs were debated
+officially when he reached the coast, but perhaps, Dom Clemente was
+aware of this, for he had most vexatiously remained behind, and those
+under him had, it seemed, instructions to observe a judicious
+reticence. In this case, at least, they also considered it advisable
+to carry their instructions out.
+
+Ormsgill, however, knew very little about what was going on, and late
+on the second afternoon after he reached the fazienda he sat
+listlessly in a half-ruinous shed which was partly filled with bags
+of coarse sugar. The door was shut, and he fancied there was a sentry
+on guard outside it, but from where he sat he could look out through
+an unglazed window across the tall green cane towards the wooded ridge
+that shut the plantation in. It is also possible that he could have
+got out that way and slipped into the cane without anybody noticing
+him, for black sentries are not invariably watchful, but he had given
+Dom Clemente his parole, and he would have had to leave behind the
+boys he had brought down. Besides, he was utterly listless. He had for
+several months overtaxed his physical strength, and the fever of the
+country had rudely shaken him, and left behind it an apathetic
+lassitude, as it frequently does.
+
+It was very hot in the shed which had lain since morning under a
+scorching sun, and the glare that still streamed in through the window
+hurt his heavy eyes. He sat on an empty case, ragged and
+travel-stained, brooding heavily while the perspiration trickled from
+his worn face. Nothing seemed to matter, and it would have afforded
+him little pleasure had he been offered his liberty. He would, he
+knew, leave all he valued behind him when he left that country, and
+worn out in body as he was, and enervated in will, he shrank from the
+duty that awaited him, for if he ever reached Las Palmas, which seemed
+somewhat doubtful, Mrs. Ratcliffe would certainly expect him to carry
+out his promise. He was in one way sorry for Ada Ratcliffe, but he
+fancied that she would, after all, probably be satisfied with the
+things he could offer her. Since that was the case, and she had kept
+faith with him, it was evident that he could not draw back now.
+Perhaps he was foolish, but he was one who kept his word, and at least
+endeavored to live up to his severely simple code.
+
+At last the glare outside the window commenced to die away, and he
+could see an odd palm tuft cut with a restful greenness against the
+paling sky. It was very hot still, but evening was at hand and by and
+by one of the younger lieutenants who had shown him some kindness on
+the march would probably come in and talk to him. He fancied he heard
+the man's footsteps when another half hour had slipped away, and then
+his voice rose sharply as he said something to the black sentry, but
+he did not come in, and Ormsgill rose with every nerve quivering when
+he heard another voice he recognized. Still, he contrived to lay a
+restraint upon himself when the door opened and Benicia Figuera stood
+in the entrance.
+
+She was clad in thin draperies that gleamed immaculately white, and
+the fine lines of the figure they flowed about were silhouetted
+sharply against the light. Her face was in shadow, but Ormsgill saw
+the sudden compassion in her eyes, and the blood crept to his
+forehead. Then she turned for a moment towards the portly, black-robed
+lady who appeared behind her, and apparently addressed the invisible
+lieutenant.
+
+"It is very hot here, and I think the Senora Castro would find it more
+comfortable if you brought her a chair outside," she said. "You can
+leave the door open. It is scarcely likely that I shall run away with
+your prisoner."
+
+The man outside apparently made no demur and when the portly lady
+disappeared Benicia turned towards Ormsgill.
+
+"Now we can talk," she said. "You are looking very ill."
+
+Ormsgill drew forward the empty case, and laid some matting on it. "A
+prisoner's quarters are not usually very sumptuous, and that is the
+only seat I can offer you," he said. "I was a little astonished when I
+saw you."
+
+Benicia sat down, and smiled when he found a place among the sugar
+bags.
+
+"Astonished--that was all?" she said.
+
+The man felt his forehead grow warm, but he laughed. "Well," he said,
+"I'm not sure that quite expresses everything. Still, I certainly was
+astonished. I wonder if one could ask what brought you here?"
+
+"I came to meet my father--for one thing," and the little pause might
+have had its significance, though Benicia who unrolled her fan was
+handicapped by the fact that she was speaking English and had to
+choose her words carefully. "I am told that he is expected here some
+time to-night--but you are ill. It is needless to say--is it
+not?--that I am sorry."
+
+She looked sorry. In fact, her manner was exquisitely expressive of
+sympathy, but Ormsgill contrived to answer lightly.
+
+"The thing is not altogether unnatural," he said. "A good many of your
+father's troops are sick, too. After all, there are worse troubles
+than a slight attack of African fever, and I shall no doubt get well
+again presently."
+
+"And you are still--a very little--lame."
+
+It did not strike Ormsgill as significant that she should have noticed
+this, though he had only moved a pace or two when she came in. Indeed,
+nothing of that kind would have occurred to him then, for while his
+blood stirred within him he was struggling fiercely to retain his
+self-control.
+
+"It is possible that I shall always be a little lame," he said, and
+laughed somewhat bitterly. "Still, I'm not sure that it matters. You
+see, I don't even know what will be done with me when we reach the
+coast."
+
+"You have certainly enemies there--as well as friends. There are
+gentlemen of some influence who had an interest in Herrero's business,
+and it seems they have made rather serious complaints against you. It
+is even suggested that you brought about his death. We, of course,
+know that such complaints are absurd."
+
+"I wonder why?"
+
+Benicia leaned forward a little with her eyes fixed on him. "It is
+only strangers one wastes compliments upon," she said. "I think you
+and I are friends."
+
+She had, it seemed to Ormsgill, not gone far enough, and there was an
+elusive something in her manner which conveyed the impression that she
+realized it. He felt his heart beat unpleasantly fast, but he
+controlled himself, and while he sat silent Benicia's fan closed with
+a curious little snap. One could have fancied that she had expected
+him to speak.
+
+"Still," she said, "there are others who might believe those
+complaints, and--though you have friends--justice is not always
+certain in this country. Are you wise in staying here?"
+
+"I'm not sure that I can help it. You see there is a sentry yonder."
+
+Benicia laughed a little. "Pshaw!" she said, "that could be arranged
+without any great difficulty. One could require, perhaps, two minutes
+to slip away into the cane, and I think nothing would be discovered
+until the morning."
+
+"On the contrary, there are several difficulties. For instance, it
+would probably become evident that the thing had been--arranged. Could
+I allow you to involve yourself in an affair of that kind?"
+
+"It is by no means certain that I should involve myself. In fact, it
+is most unlikely," and Benicia laughed again, though she fixed her
+eyes on him with a curious intentness. "Is it not worth the hazard,
+Senor, if it set you at liberty to go back to--Las Palmas?"
+
+"No," said Ormsgill with sudden vehemence, while the veins showed
+swollen on his forehead. "It certainly isn't."
+
+A little gleam of exultation sprang into the girl's eyes, for she
+recognized the thrill of passion in his voice, and she already knew it
+was not the woman who awaited him at Las Palmas that he loved. Still,
+it was, perhaps, fortunate he had answered her in that decisive
+fashion, for the Latin nature is curiously complex and always a trifle
+unstable. Though she could not have told exactly why she had led him
+on, it is just possible that had he shown any eagerness to profit by
+the suggestion she had made her tenderness would have changed to
+vindictive anger. That she would be willing to restore him to the
+other woman at her peril was, after all, rather more than one could
+reasonably have expected from her. Benicia Figuera was in several
+respects very human.
+
+"Ah," she said, with a curious slow incisiveness, "then you are not so
+very anxious to go back--to her?"
+
+Ormsgill sat still for almost a minute with set lips while the
+perspiration dewed his lined face. He read what the girl thought in
+her eyes, and his passion came near shaking the resolution he strove
+to cling to out of him. Ada Ratcliffe, who did not love him, was far
+away, and this girl who he felt would, as Desmond had said, stand by
+the man she loved through everything, sat within a yard of him. He
+seemed to realize that if he flung aside every consideration that
+restrained him and boldly claimed her she would listen. Her mere
+physical beauty had also an almost overwhelming effect on him, and the
+tinge of color in her cheeks and the softness in her eyes was very
+suggestive. Then with a little strenuous effort he straightened
+himself.
+
+"After all," he said, "that is scarcely the question?"
+
+"Still," the girl insisted, "I have offered you liberty, and you do
+not seem to want it. Since that is so, one could almost fancy it would
+not grieve you very much if you never went back."
+
+Ormsgill stood up. "Senorita, that is a thing I can not very well
+answer you. Besides, it does not seem to count. You see, I have
+pledged myself to go."
+
+"Ah," said the girl, and, though this was no news to her, her fan
+snapped to again. "Would nothing warrant one breaking such a pledge?"
+
+Then for a few seconds they looked at one another with no disguise
+between them, and all their thoughts in their eyes. The girl's face
+was white and intent, the man's drawn and furrowed, and the passion
+that was fast overmastering all restraint was awake in both alike. It
+is more than likely that Benicia did not remember that her companion
+had borne as heavy a stress once before at least. When she came in she
+had no intention of subjecting him to it again. She had possibly only
+meant to do him a kindness, perhaps merely wished to see him, though
+this was a point on which she was never sure; but the fiery Latin
+nature had been too strong for her. Restraint is, after all, not a
+characteristic of the people of the South. At length Ormsgill made an
+effort.
+
+"The thing would be impossible," he said. "I am guarded. There is a
+sentry at the door."
+
+The girl saw that his control was slackening, for she knew it was not
+the pledge she had mentioned but the hazard she would run in setting
+him at liberty he was referring to, and she laughed, almost
+exultantly.
+
+"No," she said, "it would be so easy. The sentry is called away for a
+few minutes. As I said--it could be arranged. Then you slip away into
+the cane. It is not difficult to reach the city--and you have friends
+there."
+
+She broke off abruptly, but Ormsgill saw that she had flung her pride
+away, and, since it was clear that it was not that he might go back to
+Las Palmas she was willing to connive at his escape, he felt it only
+remained for him to supply what she had left unsaid. The desire to do
+so shook him until he closed one hand in an intensity of effort, and
+for almost half a minute there was a silence that grew almost
+intolerable.
+
+Then the girl slowly straightened herself, and her eyes gleamed
+curiously, though her face was very pale.
+
+"The hazard appears too great for you, Senor?" she said.
+
+"Yes," said Ormsgill quietly, noticing the sudden change in her
+attitude, "in one way it does." Then he made a little abrupt gesture.
+"As I said, I am pledged to go back to Las Palmas if I am set at
+liberty--but it is a matter in which I can not permit you to do
+anything for me."
+
+Benicia stood up very straight, and her eyes had still a curious gleam
+in them. "Then there is nothing more to be said. It seems you will not
+listen to any suggestion I can make--and, perhaps, you are right."
+
+She spread out her hands in a vaguely forceful fashion as she turned
+from him and moved towards the door, but before she reached it she
+stopped and glanced at him again. Ormsgill who set his lips tight said
+nothing at all. Then there was a sound of footsteps outside, and Dom
+Clemente, who appeared in the entrance, stood still looking at them
+curiously. It was a moment or two before he turned to Benicia.
+
+"Ah," he said, "I did not know you were here until a few minutes ago
+and I will not keep you now. I think the Senora is waiting for you."
+
+He stood aside when she swept past him and vanished with a rustle of
+filmy draperies. Then he turned to Ormsgill.
+
+"Senor," he said, "I am inclined to fancy that you have something to
+say to me."
+
+The blood rose to Ormsgill's face, and his voice was strained. It was
+an almost intolerable duty that was laid upon him.
+
+"I am afraid your surmise is not correct," he said. "I have nothing to
+say."
+
+Dom Clemente let one hand drop on the hilt of his sword. "Senor," he
+said, "I am informed by my Secretary that the Senorita Benicia Figuera
+has obtained certain concessions concerning you from a man whose
+authority we submit to. You are, it seems, to be treated with every
+consideration, and he will investigate the complaints made against you
+personally. That," and he made a little impressive gesture, "is
+evidently the result of the Senorita Benicia's efforts on your behalf.
+I am here to ask you why she has made them?"
+
+Ormsgill looked at him steadily, though it cost him an effort to
+answer.
+
+"I have the honor of the Senorita's acquaintance," he said. "It seems
+she is one who does what she can for her friends. I can offer no other
+explanation."
+
+"Ah," said Dom Clemente with incisive quietness, "I once informed you
+that it seemed to me you were doing a perilous thing in going back to
+Africa. It is possible you will shortly realize that what I said was
+warranted."
+
+Then he turned and went out, and Ormsgill sat down again with a little
+gasp, for the tension of the last few minutes had been almost
+insupportable.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+ON HIS TRIAL
+
+
+Several hours had passed since Dom Clemente left Ormsgill's quarters
+when he sat with one of his staff under a lamp in a room of the
+fazienda. He had laid his kepi on the table, and leaned back in his
+chair looking at a strip of paper with a little grim smile in his
+eyes. A negro swathed in white cotton squatted against the wall
+watching him uneasily, and a black soldier who had led the man in
+stood with ordered rifle at the door. At length Dom Clemente tossed
+the paper across to the officer sitting opposite him.
+
+"I should be glad of your opinion," he said.
+
+"It is discreet," said his companion, who examined the paper
+carefully. "The writer evidently foresaw the possibility of his
+message falling into the wrong hands. It is also indifferent
+Portuguese, but I think it is the writing of an educated man."
+
+"Exactly! The question is why should an educated man express himself
+in that fashion?"
+
+The officer shook his head. "That," he said reflectively, "is a thing
+I do not understand."
+
+Dom Clemente smiled a little, and took up another strip of paper.
+"This," he said, "is a message of the same kind which has also fallen
+into my hands. Does anything else occur to you when you put the two
+together?"
+
+"They are from the same man," and then a light seemed to break in upon
+the officer. "He does not write like a native of the Peninsula."
+
+"No," said Dom Clemente. "I do not think he has ever been there.
+Still, he had, no doubt, reasons for attempting to write in
+Portuguese." Then he turned sternly to the crouching negro. "Who gave
+you this message. Where were you to take the answer?"
+
+"A man of a tribe I do not know," said the messenger who was evidently
+in a state of terror. "I was to meet him before the morning at a spot
+about a league away."
+
+"Then," said Dom Clemente, "there is a little service I want from you.
+You will take some of my soldiers with you when you meet this man. If
+you attempt to warn him you will probably be shot."
+
+He turned to his companion. "I think it would be advisable for you to
+go yourself. You will take a reliable sergeant and several files, and
+arrest the man who wrote this letter. I think you will find that he is
+the leader of a big game expedition."
+
+The officer raised his eyebrows. "There is no big game in this part of
+the country."
+
+"That," said Dom Clemente, "is a point the man in question has
+probably forgotten. In any case, you will arrest him and bring him
+here. It is, however, advisable that the thing should be done
+quietly."
+
+The officer signed to the black soldier who moved forward and touched
+the messenger's shoulder, and Dom Clemente smiled grimly as he once
+more busied himself with the papers in front of him when they went
+out.
+
+In the meanwhile Ormsgill lay half-asleep upon a few empty sugar bags
+in the ruinous shed. His head ached, for the fever still troubled him
+now and then and the place was almost insufferably hot, but the strain
+he had borne that afternoon had left him a trifle dazed and insensible
+to physical discomforts, and at length he sank into fitful slumber.
+Several times he wakened with a start and closed a hot hand as his
+troubles returned to him, but he was too limp in mind to grapple with
+them. It was rather late in the morning when a patter of naked feet
+and the shouting of orders roused him. It suggested that the troops
+were being paraded, and looking out through the window he saw Dom
+Clemente and several officers descend from the planter's house. After
+that there was a stir and bustle, and by and by he saw a man whom he
+did not recognize being led towards the house by a group of
+deferential officers. This, however, did not appear to concern
+Ormsgill, and leaving the window when his breakfast was brought him he
+sat down on the sugar bags for another hour or two. Then the door of
+the shed was flung open and he saw a black sergeant who stood outside
+beckoning to him.
+
+"Your presence is required," he said in Portuguese.
+
+Ormsgill stood still a moment blinking in the brightness when he left
+the shed, for the glare of sunlight on trampled sand and white walls
+set his heavy eyes aching, but when the sergeant made a sign he
+followed him to the planter's house. He was led into a big scantily
+furnished room which had green lattices drawn across two of the open
+windows, but a dazzling shaft of sunlight streamed in through one that
+was not covered, and he saw a grave-faced gentleman sitting in state
+at a table. He was, though Ormsgill did not know this, the man who had
+talked to Benicia on board the gunboat, and had arrived at the
+fazienda that morning. Two black soldiers with ordered rifles stood
+motionless behind him, and Dom Clemente sat on the opposite side of
+the table. Beside him there were also two other officers, one of whom
+seemed to be acting as secretary, for there was a handful of papers in
+front of him, and several of Ormsgill's boys squatted, half-naked,
+impassive figures, against the wall.
+
+Ormsgill stood still, looking at the men at the table with heavy eyes.
+His thin duck garments were more than a trifle ragged and stained with
+travel, and his face was haggard. He was, it seemed, to be tried, but
+he felt no great concern. The result was almost a matter of
+indifference to him since it only remained for him to go back to Las
+Palmas if he was set at liberty. There was a momentary silence when he
+was led in, and then Dom Clemente handed one or two more papers to the
+secretary.
+
+"There are, as you are aware, several somewhat serious complaints
+against you," he said in Portuguese. "It is now desirable that they
+should be investigated. I will have them read to you."
+
+Ormsgill listened gravely while the officer read aloud. He was, it
+appeared, charged with abducting a native woman from the trader
+Herrero, and taking away by force labor recruits who had engaged
+themselves to the latter's associate Domingo. There were also charges
+of supplying the natives with arms and inciting them to mutiny.
+
+"You have heard?" said the man at the head of the table. "If you do
+not admit the correctness of all this we will hear what you have to
+say. You will, however, be required to substantiate it."
+
+Ormsgill roused himself for an effort. After all, liberty was worth
+something, and it was a duty to attempt to secure it, and for the next
+quarter of an hour he concisely related all that he had done since he
+came back to the country after the death of Lamartine. None of those
+who heard him made any comment, but he could see the little smile of
+incredulity which now and then flickered into the eyes of the younger
+officers. The man who sat in state at the head of the table, however,
+listened gravely, and Dom Clemente's face was expressionless.
+
+"That is all," said Ormsgill at last. "It is very possible that what I
+have told you may appear improbable, and I can not substantiate it.
+Most of those concerned are dead. Still, you have some of my boys
+here, and you can question them."
+
+There was a little silence until the man at the head of the table
+leaned back in his chair.
+
+"It is a very astonishing story," he said. "There are one or two
+points I should like made clearer, but in the meanwhile we will hear
+the boys."
+
+An interpreter was brought in, and with his assistance two of the boys
+told what they knew. Then he went out again, and Dom Clemente turned
+to his companion.
+
+"I must admit that I have information which partly bears out what has
+been said about the native woman Anita," he said. "If this assurance
+is not sufficient she could be examined later. I have,"--and he looked
+hard at Ormsgill--"at least no cause to be prejudiced in the
+prisoner's favor. In the meanwhile one might ask if he can think of
+nobody else who would support what he has said?"
+
+"No," said Ormsgill dryly, "as I mentioned, most of those concerned
+are dead."
+
+He saw Dom Clemente glance at the man opposite him who smiled.
+
+"There is one point on which we have not touched," said the latter,
+who turned to Ormsgill. "How did you get the first eight boys you say
+you set free out of the country?"
+
+"That," said Ormsgill, "is a thing I can not tell you. It was, at
+least, not with the connivance of anybody in the city."
+
+Dom Clemente made a little sign to his secretary, who went out, and
+there was silence for a while. The room was very hot, and Ormsgill
+felt himself aching in every limb. He had been standing for half an
+hour now, and his leg was becoming painful. Then there were footsteps
+outside, and he gasped with astonishment as a black soldier led
+Desmond in. The latter, however, turned to the officers.
+
+"You have had me brought here against my will, gentlemen, and it is
+very possible that you will have grounds for regretting it," he said
+in English. "It would be a favor if you will tell me what you want?"
+
+The gentleman at the head of the table leaned forward in his chair. "A
+little information--in the meanwhile," he said quietly. "You recognize
+the prisoner yonder?"
+
+Dom Clemente translated, and Desmond carefully looked Ormsgill over.
+
+"Well," he said, "I have certainly met him before--in Las Palmas--and
+other places. He doesn't seem to have thriven since then."
+
+"We would like to know what you were doing at the spot where the
+soldiers arrested you?"
+
+"That," said Desmond sturdily, "is my own business; and a thing I have
+not the least intention of telling you."
+
+Two of the officers frowned, but the man at the table waved his hand.
+
+"Well," he said, "we will try another question. It is desirable that
+we should know how a certain eight boys whom the prisoner brought down
+to the coast were smuggled out of the country."
+
+Desmond looked at Ormsgill, who nodded. "I think you may as well
+tell him," he said. "There is reason for believing that our friend
+yonder who speaks excellent English"--and he indicated Dom
+Clemente--"is acquainted with it already. I don't think they can
+hold--you--responsible."
+
+Then Desmond spoke boldly, answering their questions until almost
+everything was explained. Dom Clemente's eyes twinkled, and his
+companion leaned back in his chair with a curious little smile.
+
+"What I have heard is so extraordinary as to be almost
+incomprehensible," he said. "It seems that you and your friend must
+have spent a very large amount of money to set these fourteen boys at
+liberty."
+
+He waved his hand towards the squatting negroes. "Senores," he said
+turning to the officers, "I would ask you to look at them, and tell me
+if the thing appears reasonable."
+
+The manner in which the officers smiled was very expressive. It was,
+they were assured, for these thick-lipped, woolly-haired bushmen
+crouching half-naked against the wall, without a spark of intelligence
+in their heavy animal-like faces, that the two English gentlemen had
+spent money broadcast, faced fatigue and peril, and hazarded the anger
+of the Government. The thing certainly appeared incomprehensible to
+them. Desmond guessed their thoughts, and a red flush crept into his
+sea-bronzed face and a little portentous glint into his eyes.
+
+"I admit that it sounds nonsensical," he said. "Still, Senores, I have
+the honor of offering you my word."
+
+Then somewhat to the astonishment of all except Dom Clemente, who
+smiled, the man at the head of the table made Desmond a little
+punctilious inclination.
+
+"Senor," he said, "I think your word would go a long way. In the
+meanwhile we will hear what the priest has to tell us."
+
+Ormsgill started a little when Father Tiebout was brought in a minute
+or two later. He sat down and nodded when Dom Clemente had spoken to
+him.
+
+"Most of what I know is at your service," he said. He commenced with
+the death of the trader Lamartine, and told his tale quietly but with
+a certain dramatic force. When he came to the point where he and Nares
+had written to Ormsgill after Domingo's raid he stopped a moment, and
+the pause was impressive.
+
+"You will understand, Senores, that we had faith when we wrote to this
+man," he said.
+
+"You believed he would come back and undertake the task at his peril?"
+
+"The thing," said Father Tiebout quietly, "was, to us at least,
+absolutely certain."
+
+There was blank astonishment in two of the officers' faces, but the
+man at the head of the table made a sign of concurrence, and once more
+a little gleam crept into Dom Clemente's eyes. Then the priest went
+on, and when at last he stopped there was a full minute's silence.
+After that the man at the head of the table spoke to Ormsgill, and his
+voice had a curious note in it.
+
+"How was it you did not ask us to send for this priest and hear him in
+your defense?" he said.
+
+Ormsgill smiled dryly. "It is not as a rule advisable for a
+missionary to meddle with affairs of State."
+
+"Ah," said the other man, "it would, I think, make our work easier if
+none of them did. Well, you have given us a reason, and it is one I
+could consider satisfactory--in your case."
+
+Then he turned to Desmond. "Senor, I had the honor of asking you a
+question a little while ago. Perhaps, it may not appear desirable to
+withhold the information I desired any longer."
+
+Desmond laughed, and looked at him steadily.
+
+"Well," he said, "since you have no doubt guessed my purpose, I will
+tell you. I came up here to take my friend out of your hands, and if
+it hadn't been for the thick-headed boy who let the soldiers creep in
+on us while we were asleep I think I would in all probability have
+managed it."
+
+"Ah," said the other man spreading out his hands, "I almost believe it
+is possible."
+
+Then he turned to his companions. "One naturally expects something
+quite out of the usual course from men like these."
+
+After that he sat silent for at least a minute, until he leaned
+forward and spoke awhile in a low voice with Dom Clemente who once or
+twice made a sign of concurrence.
+
+Then he turned to Ormsgill.
+
+"I shall probably have something to say to you again," he said. "This
+is an affair that demands careful consideration, and in the meantime
+there are other matters which can not be delayed."
+
+Dom Clemente spoke sharply, and a black sergeant at the door who
+beckoned Ormsgill and Desmond to follow him went with them to their
+quarters in the ruinous shed.
+
+"There are, I think, very few men in this country who would have
+spoken to that man or Dom Clemente as you have done," he said. Then he
+grinned in a very suggestive fashion. "It is probably fortunate that
+he seemed to believe you, though if he had been any other man I would
+have called him very foolish."
+
+Ormsgill said nothing, but sat down among the empty sugar bags, and he
+and Desmond looked at one another when the patter of the sergeant's
+feet grew indistinct. Both were glad they were alone, but for a minute
+or two neither of them broke the silence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+BENICIA UNDERTAKES AN OBLIGATION
+
+
+Ormsgill, who reclined among the sugar bags, lighted a cigarette one
+of the officers had given him before he turned to Desmond.
+
+"I don't know if you are comfortable on that case, but, as you see, I
+haven't another seat to offer you, and these bags are a trifle
+sticky," he said. "I understand that my jailers were instructed to
+show me every consideration."
+
+Desmond laughed as he glanced around the half-ruinous shed. "It's
+hardly worth while making excuses of that kind," he said. "I'm quite
+willing to admit that the one thing that's worrying me is the question
+what your friends mean to do with us."
+
+"It's possible they may set us at liberty, but in the meanwhile you
+know as much as I do. How did you fall into their hands?"
+
+"I was at Las Palmas when I heard that they were having trouble in the
+interior. The news wasn't very definite, but it seemed to me I might
+be wanted and I brought the yacht across as hard as we could drive
+her."
+
+"Ah," said Ormsgill quietly, "that is, of course, very much the kind
+of thing one would expect you to do. You were at Las Palmas--but go
+on. I may ask you something later."
+
+Desmond understood him, and though he had driven the _Palestrina_
+mercilessly day after day under the uttermost pressure her boilers
+would stand he was satisfied. He had not thought it worth while to
+mention how they had shaken every rag of canvas out while the yacht
+rolling viciously and shivering in every plate swept along with the
+spray-clouds flying over her before the big trade breeze combers, or
+the more arduous days when, while the firemen gasped beneath an almost
+intolerable heat, they still drove her south at topmost speed over an
+oily blazing sea across the line. He also fancied he knew what
+Ormsgill wished to ask him, and a trace of uneasiness crept into his
+face as he proceeded somewhat hastily.
+
+"Well," he said, "when we got the anchor down I heard that the
+fighting was over and the troops were coming back again. Somebody told
+me they had a white prisoner who had evidently been encouraging the
+rebels, and it seemed to me advisable to set out up country on a
+shooting trip. There was a rather capable boy among those I hired, and
+he hadn't much difficulty in making friends with one of the camp
+followers or carriers when we came up with the troops. After that we
+followed their track, keeping about a league away from them for almost
+a week, and I sent you two messages. I suppose you never got them?"
+
+"No," said Ormsgill. "I almost think it's evident that somebody else
+did."
+
+Desmond made a little sign of concurrence. "The boy probably sold us,
+or your friend Dom Clemente was too clever for him. One could fancy
+that is a very capable man. Anyway, while I was considering how we
+could arrange to get you off we went to sleep last night in a belt of
+grass. I took the precaution of sending two sentries out, and I don't
+know yet why they didn't warn me, but when I awakened early this
+morning there was a white officer standing over me. As he had several
+black soldiers with him and we were evidently at his mercy I came
+along with him. I don't think there was any other course open to me."
+
+"You have done what you could. You brought me no message from Las
+Palmas?"
+
+Desmond, who once more appeared uneasy, sat silent for a moment or
+two. Then he leaned forward a trifle with a flush in his face.
+
+"I don't know how you'll take it, but, as a matter of fact, I did," he
+said. "I brought a letter which Mrs. Ratcliffe gave me, and I believe
+there was another from Miss Ratcliffe inside it. Unfortunately, one of
+your friends here confiscated it not long ago as well as every other
+scrap of paper in my possession."
+
+"They sent me no word when you left Las Palmas before," said Ormsgill
+with a portentous quietness, though there were signs of tension in his
+face. Then he straightened himself suddenly. "You are keeping
+something back. It concerns Ada?"
+
+"It does, and I'm particularly sorry your friends seized that letter.
+This is an affair I should greatly have preferred to leave in Mrs.
+Ratcliffe's hands. She"--and Desmond made a little vague gesture--"is
+a lady of considerable ability and has no doubt explained the thing
+much more satisfactorily than I could do."
+
+"Go on," said Ormsgill with sharp incisiveness.
+
+Desmond, who still hesitated, looked at him in a curious deprecatory
+fashion.
+
+"Well," he said, "the fact is Miss Ratcliffe was married the day
+before I left Las Palmas."
+
+In another moment Ormsgill was on his feet, and his laugh jarred on
+Desmond's ears.
+
+"Married!" he said hoarsely, clenching one hand tight. "And I've
+thrown away everything to keep faith with her."
+
+Desmond made a little restraining gesture. "Well," he said, "it's not
+my business, but I think I understand what you are referring to--and,
+perhaps, it's scarcely wise to be too sure. With all deference to Mrs.
+Ratcliffe I can't help fancying you are well out of the other matter.
+After all, to mention no other reason, it would require a certain
+amount of courage to recognize that lady as one's mother-in-law."
+
+Ormsgill, who made no answer, turned towards the door, and spoke a few
+words to the sentry. The latter called to one of his comrades, and
+Ormsgill, after giving the man a message came back again and sat down
+quietly.
+
+"I have asked if I may have the letter," he said.
+
+It was brought him ten minutes later unopened, and he sat very still
+for awhile after he had read it. Then there was bitterness in his
+laugh.
+
+"It is in one sense a masterly production," he said. "In fact, both of
+them are. I am assured that Mrs. Ratcliffe recognized all along that
+we were never made for one another." He turned, and grasped his
+companion's shoulder. "Can you tell me anything about this paragon
+who, it seems, has married Ada?"
+
+A little twinkle crept into Desmond's eyes. "I never heard him called
+anything of that kind before. Lister, you see, is an unlicked colt,
+and nobody could have said very much to his credit until lately.
+Still, he seems to be making an effort to rub out certain defects in
+his character, and if Miss Ratcliffe can only keep it up they may get
+along tolerably well together."
+
+"Keep it up?"
+
+Desmond smiled again. "It's probably somewhat delicate ground, but the
+thing has its whimsical aspect. You see he, perhaps, naturally,
+regards Miss Ratcliffe as the incarnation of honor and every other
+estimable equality, which is apt to make her role rather a difficult
+one. I have no doubt her mother has asked you very tactfully not to
+say anything that might render it harder still if you ever come across
+Lister, which, if she has any hand in his arrangements, is most
+unlikely."
+
+"There is a suggestion of that kind here," and Ormsgill gazed at him
+very grim in face. "You mean that they have not mentioned me to
+Lister."
+
+"I should consider it very improbable," said Desmond dryly. "As I
+ventured to suggest, you have, perhaps, after all, no very great cause
+for regret."
+
+Ormsgill, who said nothing, rose and walked several times up and down
+the shed, and then moved suddenly towards the door. He spoke a few
+words to the sentry, after which he sat down and waited for some
+little time, while Desmond smiled once or twice as he watched him.
+Then the door was opened, and a black sergeant who appeared in the
+entrance signed to Ormsgill.
+
+"Dom Clemente can spare you a few minutes," he said.
+
+Ormsgill rose and followed him across the compound and up the veranda
+stairway into a room where Dom Clemente was sitting alone. He looked
+up when Ormsgill came in.
+
+"You have some complaint--of the accommodation we have provided you
+with?" he said.
+
+"No," said Ormsgill, "my business is of a very different nature. You
+asked me last night, Senor, if I had anything to say to you. I wonder
+if you will now listen to me for a little while?"
+
+His companion's gesture signified compliance, and Ormsgill proceeded,
+speaking with a terse directness which, as it happened, served him
+well. When at last he stopped Dom Clemente looked at him with a little
+dry smile.
+
+"Senor," he said, "in one sense the explanation is sufficient, though
+there are, you can understand, respects in which it leaves a little to
+be desired."
+
+"I make no excuse," and a faint flush crept into Ormsgill's face.
+"Only, in this case my mind will always be the same."
+
+The little officer sat still, looking at him steadily, while half a
+minute slipped away, and Ormsgill felt the silence becoming
+oppressive. Then he spread one hand out.
+
+"After all," he said, "there are, probably, very few among us who are
+quite exempt from some folly of this kind, and I think it is to your
+credit that when you recognized that it was a folly you were willing
+to carry it out. I may mention that I had the honor of meeting the
+lady."
+
+Then he made a little expressive gesture. "Senor, you are, at least,
+one whose word can be relied upon, and that counts for a good deal. It
+is, however, to be remembered that you are not yet at liberty."
+
+"I think my liberty largely depends upon you. One could fancy that you
+know how far the complaints against me are credible. In fact, I do not
+understand why you ever gave them any consideration."
+
+Dom Clemente smiled. "One has usually a motive, Senor, and it is
+generally wiser not to make it too apparent until the time is ripe. In
+this case I think the results have warranted everything I have done.
+Herrero and Domingo, not to mention one or two others, have
+accomplished their own destruction, though that is, after all, not
+quite the question. The matter you have laid before me is, it seems to
+me, one that Benicia must decide."
+
+He rose with the little twinkle still in his eyes. "I will leave you
+to make it as clear as you can to her."
+
+He went out, and Ormsgill waited, with his heart beating a good deal
+faster than usual, until Benicia came in. He stood looking at her a
+moment, with a faint flush in his haggard face.
+
+"Senorita," he said, "I would like you to listen to a story--though it
+is a little difficult to tell."
+
+For a moment Benicia met his gaze, and saw the little glint in his
+eyes. She also saw how worn his face was, and the gauntness of his
+frame, and her compassion was stronger than her pride.
+
+"Ah," she said, "I know it already. I have known it all along."
+
+"Still," said Ormsgill, "there is a little more to be said. I am not
+going back to Las Palmas if I am set at liberty."
+
+He saw the crimson creep into her forehead. "Benicia," he said, "the
+woman I was pledged to has cast me off. I am going back to England,
+and--after all you know--I wonder if I dare venture to ask you if you
+will come with me."
+
+"Ah," said the girl with a simplicity that had a certain stateliness
+in it, "I think I would go anywhere with you."
+
+Then Ormsgill strode forward masterfully, and it was a minute later
+when she smiled up at him. "This," she said, "is not what I meant to
+do--at least, just now--but when I saw you looking so worn and anxious
+and remembered that you were still a prisoner I forgot how I hated
+that Englishwoman. I only remembered how I loved you."
+
+A little later there were footsteps outside, and the black sergeant
+once more appeared in the doorway, while when he led Ormsgill away
+Benicia went straight to a room guarded by a dusky soldier, and
+demanded to see the officer within. He sent his secretary away, and
+then looked up at her with a little smile.
+
+"You have a promise to keep," she said. "I have come to ask you to set
+these two Englishmen at liberty."
+
+"Ah," said the man, "there are, no doubt, one or two reasons for this
+that you can suggest?"
+
+"You know they have done no wrong."
+
+"It is possible. Still, we have not altogether settled that question
+yet. Is there nothing else that you can urge in their favor?"
+
+"They are friends of mine."
+
+The officer made a little grave gesture. "That," he said, "goes a long
+way, but, after all, I am not sure that it goes quite far enough."
+
+Benicia's face grew a trifle warm, but she smiled. "One," she said,
+"is the man I am going to marry."
+
+Her companion's eyes twinkled. "Well," he said, "in that case we must
+certainly see what can be done before we march to-morrow."
+
+Benicia asked nothing further, for she was satisfied, and soon after
+she left the officer Ormsgill sat down opposite Desmond in the
+half-ruinous shed. He said a few disjointed words, and Desmond laughed
+cheerfully.
+
+"I knew how it was as soon as I saw you," he said. "Well, I believe we
+could get hold of an American missionary, and the _Palestrina_'s
+ready."
+
+The rest of that day passed very slowly with them both, but early next
+morning they were once more led into the presence of Dom Clemente and
+the gray-haired officer. When they came in the latter signed to his
+secretary, and Father Tiebout, who quietly went out. A few minutes
+afterwards the secretary led Benicia in, and the officer turned to
+Ormsgill.
+
+"We have," he said, "again carefully considered the complaints against
+you. As the result of it I think I can venture to set the Senor
+Desmond at liberty, and to place you at the Senorita Benicia's
+disposal. She"--and he smiled gravely--"will be held accountable for
+your behavior while you remain in this country. If it is permissible,
+I might advise her not to countenance any further undertakings of the
+kind that brought you back to Africa."
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+The following typographical errors present in the original edtion
+have been corrected:
+
+On the title page, "THE CATTLE-BARON S DAUGHTER" was changed to "THE
+CATTLE-BARON'S DAUGHTER".
+
+In the Table of Contents, the page number for Chapter XVIII, DOM
+CLEMENTE LOOKS ON, was changed from 231 to 213.
+
+In Chapter I, "Maderia chair on the veranda" was changed to "Madeira
+chair on the veranda", "since you have no carries" was changed to "since
+you have no carriers", "took of his hat" was changed to "took off his
+hat", and commas were added after "a good magazine rifle" and "it was so
+still that Nares".
+
+In Chapter II, a comma was added after "Herrero has gone South
+somewhere".
+
+In Chapter III, a period was added after "almost too startled to
+understand that you had arrived", and "I believe you are smilling" was
+changed to "I believe you are smiling".
+
+In Chapter IV, a comma was changed to a period after "with a little
+flush in her face", and a single quotation mark (') was changed to a
+double quotation mark (") after "your prospective mother-in-law will be
+pleased with you?".
+
+In Chapter V, a period was changed to a question mark after "become a
+trifle civilized", and a period was changed to a comma after "you are
+determined to go".
+
+In Chapter VI, "He could forsee that" was changed to "He could foresee
+that", and a missing quotation mark was added before "It would be an
+interesting spectacle."
+
+In Chapter VII, a period was changed to a comma after "and Nares added",
+and a comma was deleted after "Anybody who wishes to go inland".
+
+In Chapter VIII, "two somewhat ragged white men lay listessly" was
+changed to "two somewhat ragged white men lay listlessly", and "Still
+they can't shoot as I can" was changed to "Still, they can't shoot as I
+can".
+
+In Chapter IX, a single quotation mark (') was changed to a double
+quotation mark (") after "I should probably not have been welcome?", and
+"I am not sure that is quiet sufficient in itself" was changed to "I am
+not sure that is quite sufficient in itself".
+
+In Chapter X, "statutesque modeling" was changed to "statuesque
+modeling", and a comma was added after "while you stay here".
+
+In Chapter XI, a period was changed to a question mark after "try to
+influence the girl".
+
+In Chapter XII, a comma was added after "though far from likely", and
+"Still you have made a few changes lately" was changed to "Still, you
+have made a few changes lately".
+
+In Chapter XIII, "Thomas Ormsgills could only offer her them" was
+changed to "Thomas Ormsgill could only offer her them".
+
+In Chapter XIV, "The Commandant or Chefe as he was usually called" was
+changed to "The Commandant, or Chefe as he was usually called".
+
+In Chapter XV, a period was changed to a comma after "I have to say",
+and also after "I will see to it", and "until Dom Luix turns up" was
+changed to "until Dom Luiz turns up".
+
+In Chapter XVI, a quotation mark was added after "stands without the
+correction", "and they recognizing it" was changed to "and they,
+recognizing it", "Ormsgill who had already stationed his sentries
+extinguished" was changed to "Ormsgill, who had already stationed his
+sentries, extinguished" and a comma was changed to a period after "stir
+the invisible trees".
+
+In Chapter XVIII, a comma was added after "as he now and then laughingly
+admitted".
+
+In Chapter XIX, "'It is', he continued tranquilly" was changed to "'It
+is,' he continued tranquilly", and a comma was added after "where the
+messenger Pacheco is".
+
+In Chapter XXI, a comma was added after "climbing a low elevation".
+
+In Chapter XXIII, a comma was changed to a period after "changed the
+subject abruptly", "one thing I am axious about" was changed to "one
+thing I am anxious about", and "an intrument which resembles" was
+changed to "an instrument which resembles".
+
+In Chapter XXIV, commas were added around "who swung in a hammock hung
+low beneath her awnings", "one of two of the questions which then
+troubled that country" was changed to "one or two of the questions which
+then troubled that country", and a misformed quotation mark was fixed
+after "I think".
+
+In Chapter XXV, a comma was added after "whose presence promised to
+complicate affairs", and a missing quotation mark was added before "It's
+probably just as well".
+
+In Chapter XXXII, a comma was changed to a period after "twinkle still
+in his eyes", "the gauntess of his frame" was changed to "the gauntness
+of his frame", and a quotation mark was deleted before "I have known it
+all along."
+
+The punctuation in the original edition was erratic and often
+ungrammatical, and many words were spelled inconsistently. Corrections
+have been made where the author's intent seemed clear, or where the
+original text was clearly incorrect or particularly confusing. Oddities
+that did not affect the correctness or readability of the text have been
+retained.
+
+
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