Bones

by Edgar Wallace

  There is no middle island on the river about which some legend or buried treasure does not float.

  Hamilton, hurrying forward to the support of his second-in-command, stopped long enough to interview two sulky chiefs.

  “What palaver is this?” he demanded of Iberi, “that you carry your spears to a killing? For is not the river big enough for all, and are there no burying-places for your old men that you should fight so fiercely?”

  “Lord,” confessed Iberi, “upon that island is a treasure which has been hidden from the beginning of time, and that is the truth – N’Yango!”

  Now, no man swears by his mother unless he is speaking straightly, and Hamilton understood.

  “Never have I spoken of this to the Chief of the Isisi,” Iberi went on, “nor he to me, yet we know because of certain wise sayings that the treasure stays and young men of our houses have searched very diligently though secretly. Also Bosambo knows, for he is a cunning man, and when we found he had put his warriors to the seeking we fought him, lord, for though the treasure may be Isisi or Akasava, of this I am sure it is not of the Ochori.”

  Hamilton came to the Ochori city to find a red-eyed Bones stalking majestically up and down the beach.

  “What is the matter with you?” demanded Hamilton. “Fever?”

  “Not at all,” replied Bones, huskily; but with a fine carelessness.

  “You look as if you hadn’t had a sleep for months,” said Hamilton.

  Bones shrugged his shoulders.

  “Dear old fellow,” said he, “it isn’t for nothing that I’m called ‘the sleepless one’ – don’t make sceptical noises, dear old officer, but pursue your inquiries among the indigenous natives, especially Bosambo – an hour is all I want – just a bit of a snooze and a bath and I’m bright an’ vigilant.”

  “Take your hour,” said Hamilton briefly. “You’ll need it.”

  His interview with Bosambo was short and, for Bosambo, painful. Nevertheless he unbent in the end to give the chief a job after his heart.

  Launch and steamer turned their noses down the stream, and at sunset came to the island. In the morning, Hamilton conducted a search which extended from shore to shore and he came upon the cairn unexpectedly after a two hours’ search. He uncovered two tons of ivory, wrapped in rotten native cloth.

  “There will be trouble over this,” he said, thoughtfully, surveying the yellow tusks. “I’ll go down stream to the Isisi and collect information, unless these beggars can establish their claim we will bag this lot for government.”

  He left Bones and one orderly on the island.

  “I shall be gone two days,” he said. “I must send the launch to bring Iberi to me; keep your eyes peeled.”

  “Sir,” said Bones, blinking and suppressing a yawn with difficulty, “you can trust the sleepless one.”

  He had his tent pitched before the cairn, and in the shade of a great gum he seated himself in his canvas chair…

  He looked up and struggled to his feet. He was half dead with weariness, for the whole of the previous night, while Bosambo snored in his hut, Bones, pinching himself, had wandered up and down the street of the city qualifying for his title.

  Now, as he rose unsteadily to his feet, it was to confront Bosambo – Bosambo with four canoes grounded on the sandy beach of the island.

  “Hello, Bosambo!” yawned Bones.

  “O Sleepless One,” said Bosambo humbly, “though I came in silence yet you heard me, and your bright eyes saw me in the little-light.”

  “Little-light” it was, for the sun had gone down.

  “Go now, Bosambo,” said Bones, “for it is not lawful that you should be here.”

  He looked around for Ahmet, his orderly, but Ahmet was snoring like a pig.

  “Lord, that I know,” said Bosambo, “yet I came because my heart is sad and I have sorrow in my stomach. For did I not say that you had married my aunt?”

  “Now listen whilst I tell you the full story of my wickedness, and of my aunt who married a white lord–”

  Bones sat down in his chair and laid back his head, listening with closed eyes.

  “My aunt, O Sleepless One,” began Bosambo, and Bones heard the story in fragments. “…Coast woman…great lord…fine drier of cloth…”

  Bosambo droned on in a monotonous tone, and Bones, open-mouthed, his head rolling from side to side, breathed regularly.

  At a gesture from Bosambo, the man who sat in the canoe slipped lightly ashore. Bosambo pointed to the cairn, but he himself did not move, nor did he check his fluent narrative.

  Working with feverish, fervent energy, the men of Bosambo’s party loaded the great tusks in the canoes. At last all the work was finished and Bosambo rose.

  “Wake up, Bones.”

  Lieutenant Tibbetts stumbled to his feet glaring and grimacing wildly.

  “Parade all correct, sir,” he said, “the mail boat has just come in, an’ there’s a jolly old salmon for supper.”

  “Wake up, you dreaming devil,” said Hamilton.

  Bones looked around. In the bright moonlight he saw the Zaire moored to the shelving beach, saw Hamilton, and turned his head to the empty cairn.

  “Good Lord!” he gasped.

  “O Sleepless One!” said Hamilton softly, “O bright eyes!”

  Bones went blundering to the cairn, made a closer inspection, and came slowly back.

  “There’s only one thing for me to do, sir,” he said, saluting. “As an officer an’ a gentleman, I must blow my brains out.”

  “Brains!” said Hamilton scornfully.

  “As a matter of fact I sent Bosambo to collect the ivory which I shall divide amongst the three chiefs – it’s perished ivory, anyhow; and he had my written authority to take it, but being a born thief he preferred to steal it; you’ll find it stacked in your cabin, Bones.”

  “In my cabin, sir!” said an indignant Bones; “there isn’t room in my cabin, sir. How the dickens am I going to sleep?”

  Endnotes

  [Note: Where supported by the reading device, access keys are 1-9, and then a,b etc. where needed (sometimes needing Ctrl, Alt, Cmd etc.)]

  [1] Allamandi – German territory.

  [2] That which I call the Akasava proper is the very small, dominant clan of a tribe which is loosely called ‘Akasava,” but is really Bowongo.

  [3] “Book” means any written thing. A note is a book.

  [4] The stone breaker, the native name for the Congo Government.

  [5] Probably a corruption of the word “English.”

  [6] The territories are invariably named after the principal city, which is sometimes, perhaps, a little misleading. – EW.

  [7] See A Right of Way (chapter viii).

  [8] Palaver.

  [9] The motor launch.

  [10] Chronicles II, ix. 29.

  [11] Numbers, xxi. 17.

  [12] “Lilongo” is from the noun “balongo” – blood, and means literally “he-who-breaks-blood-friendships.” – EW.

  Series Information

  Dates given are for year of first publication.

  'Lieutenant Bones' Series

  These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

  1. Bones 1915

  2. The Keepers of the King's Peace 1917

  3. Bones in London 1921

  4. Bones of the River 1923

  Refer also to the 'Sanders' Series

  'Educated Evans' Series

  These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

  1. Educated Evans 1924

  2. More Educated Evans 1926

  3. Good Evans Also: 'The Educated Man' 1921

  'The Four Just Men' Series

  These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

  1. The Four Just Men 1905

  2. The Council of Justice 1908

  3. The Just Men of Cordova 1917

  4. The Law of the Four Just Men 1921

  5.
The Three Just Men 1926

  6. Again, the Three Just Men Also: 'The Law of the Three Just Men' 1977

  'Mr. J.G. Reeder' Series

  These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

  1. Room 13 1924

  2. The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder Also: 'The Murder Book of Mr. J.G. Reeder' 1925

  3. Terror Keeper 1927

  4. Red Aces 1929

  5. Mr. J.G. Reeder Returns 1932

  'Mr. Commissioner Sanders' Series

  These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

  1. Sanders of the River 1911

  2. The People of the River 1912

  3. The River of Stars 1913

  4. Bosambo of the River 1914

  5. The Keepers of the King's Peace 1917

  6. Sandi the Kingmaker 1922

  5. Sanders Also: 'Mr. Commissioner Sanders' 1926

  5. Again Sanders 1928

  Synopses - All Titles

  Published by House of Stratus

  Admiral Carfew

  Gregory Carfew is ‘an unparalleled master of descriptive’. Felix Carfew ‘writes a vile hand’. There is a new boy on the desk at The Megaphone and it is Felix who is handed the envelope. Finding himself on Ambassador Greishen’s special train, then on a steamer to Ostend, Felix recklessly exploits the opportunity. At 3.00 a.m. Gregory gets an urgent telegram. On the quay at Ostend Felix flees and Gregory steps forward to introduce himself…

  Angel of Terror

  Jack Glover of Rennet, Glover and Simpson does not believe his cousin Meredith killed Bulford. Meredith’s father was an eccentric and unless Meredith is married by the age of thirty his sister inherits everything. She is dead and Meredith, now in prison, is thirty next Monday. Meanwhile Lydia Beale is struggling to pay her dead father’s creditors. When Glover offers her money she is shocked. However, despite the strange conditions attached, it is a proposal she cannot afford to ignore.

  Avenger

  Francis Elmer has vanished, and all that is found is a typed note signed ‘The Head Hunter’. Elmer’s niece Adele Leamington is an extra at the Knebworth Film Corporation. The actress Stella Mendoza keeps the whole set waiting to shoot, in the best Hollywood tradition, but her starring role is given to Adéle. Surprised by Mike Brixan as she is learning her lines, Adele drops the typed script. The ‘v’ letters are blurred and the ‘g’ is indistinct. Mike turns white…

  Barbara On Her Own

  A thrilling tale of commerce and intrigue starring Barbara, god-daughter and Private Secretary to Mr Maber. Unlike the old-fashioned Maber & Maber department store, the modern Atterman’s store is a successful, profitable business. At a take-over meeting Barbara gives Messers Atterman and Minkey a piece of her mind. On the evening before the deal is to be finalised something happens to Mr Maber…the police summon Barbara – now she is on her own!

  Big Foot

  Footprints and a dead woman bring together Superintendent Minton and the amateur sleuth Mr Cardew. Who is the man in the shrubbery? Who is the singer of the haunting Moorish tune? Why is Hannah Shaw so determined to go to Pawsy, ‘a dog lonely place’ she had previously detested? Death lurks in the dark and someone must solve the mystery before BIG FOOT strikes again, in a yet more fiendish manner.

  Black Abbott

  They say the ghost of the Black Abbot has been seen near the old abbey, and Cartwright the grocer claims to have seen it too. Meanwhile Harry Alford, eighteenth Earl of Chelford is engaged to Leslie Gine, sister of Arthur, solicitor and gambler with the family fortune. The Earl had originally asked his secretary Mary Wenner to be his bride, but his half brother Richard intervened to stop the marriage. Plotting revenge, Mary proposes she and Arthur marry. Her dowry, she insists, will be fifteen tons of Spanish gold – the missing Chelford treasure.

  Bones

  It is a time when the major world powers are vying for colonial honours, a time of ju-ju, witch doctors and an uneasy peace with Bosambo, impressive chief of the Ochori. When Commissioner Sanders goes on leave, the trusty Lieutenant Hamilton takes over administration of the African territories. However, yet again, the trouble-prone Bones, while meaning to assist, only manages to spread his own unique style of innocent and endearing mischief.

  Bones in London

  The new Managing Director of Schemes Ltd has an elegant London office and a theatrically dressed assistant – however Bones, as he is better known, is bored. Luckily there is a slump in the shipping market and it is not long before Joe and Fred Pole pay Bones a visit. They are totally unprepared for Bones’ unnerving style of doing business, unprepared for his unique style of innocent and endearing mischief.

  Bones of the River

  ‘Taking the little paper from the pigeon’s leg, Hamilton saw it was from Sanders and marked URGENT.

  Send Bones instantly to Lujamalababa… Arrest and bring to head-quarters the witch doctor.’

  It is a time when the world’s most powerful nations are vying for colonial honour, a time of trading steamers and tribal chiefs. In the mysterious African territories administered by Commissioner Sanders, Bones persistently manages to create his own unique style of innocent and endearing mischief.

  Clue of the New Pin

  Jesse Trasmere is a miser with a deep distrust of the bank. He has made a fortune in China, but keeps it hoarded in his prison-like house. Although his nephew, Rex Lander, receives a generous allowance from his uncle, it is not enough for his extravagant lifestyle. One day Trasmere breaks with routine and informs his valet, Walters, that he is going out of town for a while to avoid an acquaintance from his past. So how does this explain Trasmere’s body later found in a locked vault?

  Clue of the Silver Key

  This thrilling murder mystery features some veritable characters: inventor and heir-at-law Dick Allenby, and banker and speculator Leo Moran. Add Dornford, Hennessey and the actress Mary Lane, and Washington Wirth who gives parties and loves flattery. Hervey Lyne, Binny and the indomitable Surefoot Smith. Of them all only Tickler is innocent. Leaving gala night at the Litigation Club, Dick and Surefoot are discussing guns…but there before them a cab has been left in the middle of the road. The man inside has been shot.

  Clue of the Twisted Candle

  Kara hates candles. He also believes that there is a great criminal lost in John Lexman, the detective-story writer involved in a plot more fantastic than any of his own ingenious mysteries. It is no secret that Kara had hoped to marry the beautiful Grace, but she is now Lexman’s wife. But Lexman owes Vassalaro, the Greek moneylender, and Vassalaro has threatened to kill him. A tense and powerful tale that moves dramatically between London and the Balkans.

  Coat of Arms

  It is a small world and the possibility of old criminal acquaintances meeting at a Surrey roadhouse is by no means remote. Sketchley, where the Coat of Arms roadhouse stands, is a place of strange happenings. There are thefts of valuable gold plate, a suspicious old man, seen but not caught, a burglar who returns stolen valuables. When the local manor burns down the owner and guests move to the roadhouse, old vendettas intensify. Interests clash. Murder is committed.

  Council of Justice

  There are crimes for which no punishment is adequate, offences that the written law cannot efface. Herein lies the justification for The Council of Justice – a meeting of great and passionless intellects. These men are indifferent to world opinion. They relentlessly wage their wits and cunning against powerful underworld organisations, against past masters of villainy and against minds equally astute. To breakers of the unwritten laws they deal death.

  Crimson Circle

  When James Beardmore receives a letter demanding £100,000 he refuses to pay – even though it is his last warning. It is his son Jack who finds him dead. Can the amazing powers of Derrick Yale, combined with the methodical patience of Inspector Parr, discover the secret of the Crimson Circle? Who is its all-powerful head and who is the stranger who lies in wait? Twice in a lifetime
a ruthless criminal faces the executioner.

  Daffodil Mystery

  When Mr Thomas Lyne, poet, poseur and owner of Lyne’s Emporium insults a cashier, Odette Rider, she resigns. Having summoned detective Jack Tarling to investigate another employee, Mr Milburgh, Lyne now changes his plans. Tarling and his Chinese companion refuse to become involved. They pay a visit to Odette’s flat. In the hall Tarling meets Sam, convicted felon and protégé of Lyne. Next morning Tarling discovers a body. The hands are crossed on the breast, adorned with a handful of daffodils.

  Dark Eyes of London

  Inspector Holt is enjoying the Café de la Paix and the Boulevard des Italiens. He and his valet Sunny are planning a visit to Monte Carlo when an urgent telegram arrives from the Chief Commissioner of Scotland Yard. Mr Gordon Stuart has been found drowned in suspicious circumstances. Holt returns on the same boat as Flash Fred Grogan, continental crook and gambler. Attempting to solve the mystery leads Holt into a string of exciting adventures – including romance.

  Daughters of the Night

  Jim Bartholomew is a young manager of a branch of the South Devon Farmers’ Bank with a love of hunting, horses and a dislike of routine. What does he have in common with Margot, the beautiful Mrs Markham and a handsome American? And what do the Daughters of the Night – the three Roman deities who brought punishment to evil-doers – have to do with this tale?

  Debt Discharged

  Thomas Maple lives on Crystal Palace Road with his niece Verity. He works for a firm of bank note engravers. However, the dollar bills he shows Wentworth Gold are forgeries – perfect except for the missing Treasury sign. When Verity meets her new employer she develops serious misgivings, and arriving back home she can hear a menacing voice. What power do these men hold over her uncle? Who is the mysterious he? She hesitates, then follows them.