Complete Works of Talbot Mundy

by Talbot Mundy

  “You are! But you can save us trouble, if you will. Name your price. Tell me your secret. Go your way. If your story proves true you shall be paid by draft on London.”

  “Are you overlooking the idea,” asked Fred, “that we might tell the secret to the British government, and be contented with our ten per cent. commission?”

  “I am not. You are expressly warned against any such foolishness. In the first place, you will be killed at once if you dare. In the second place, how do you know the British government would pay you ten per cent.?”

  “I’ve had dealings with the English!” laughed Fred.

  “Bah! Do you think this is Whitehall? Do you think the officials here are proof against temptation? When I tell you that in Whitehall itself I can bribe two officials out of three, perhaps you’ll understand me when I say that all these people have their price! And the price is low! Tell them where the ivory is — lead them to it — and they’ll swear they found it themselves, so as to keep the commission themselves! And as for you — you three” — she sneered with the most sardonic, thin-lipped smile I ever saw— “there are lions out here, and buffalo, snakes, fevers, native uprisings — more ways of being rid of you than by choking you to death with butter!”

  “Do you suppose” asked Fred, “that Lord Montdidier has no influence in

  London, that he—”

  “I know he had influence. I should have told you first, perhaps. Lord Montdidier was murdered on board ship. A telegram reached Mombasa yesterday at ten A.M. from up-coast saying that the body of an unknown, Englishman had been picked up at sea by an Arab dhow, with the face too badly eaten by fish to be recognizable. You may take it from me, that is Lord Montdidier’s corpse.”

  The calm announcement was intended to surprise us, and it did, but the result surprised her.

  “You she-devil!” said Will. “If you and your gang have murdered that fine fellow I’ll turn the tables on you! You go up-stairs, and pray he isn’t dead! Pray that corpse may prove to be some one’s else! If he’s dead I’ll guarantee you it’s the worst day’s work you ever had a hand in! Go up-stairs!”

  He flung away the cigarette she had given him and knocked his chair away.

  “Sit down, you young fool!” she said. “Don’t make all that noise!”

  But Will had none of the respect for titles acquired by marriage that made most men an easy mark for her.

  “Leave the room!” he ordered. “Go away from us! Just you hope that’s a lie about Monty, that’s all!”

  “Sit down!” she repeated. “I admit I am a little previous. The story is unconfirmed yet. Sit down and be sensible! Something of the sort will happen to all of you unless you three men get religion!”

  But Will began to pace the floor noisily, stopping to glare at her each time he turned.

  “Is there any sense in protracting the scene?” asked Fred.

  “No,” she admitted. “I see you are too hot-headed to be reasoned with. But it makes little difference! Fever — animals — climate — sun — flood — accident — natives — there are excuses in plenty — explanations by the dozen! I will say good night, then — and good-by!”

  “Yes, good-by!” growled Will, facing her with his back to the stairs.

  “You take us for men with a price, do you?”

  “All men have a price,” she smiled bitterly. “Only it is no use offering flowers to pigs! We must treat pigs another way — pigs, and young fools! And fools old enough to know better!” she added with a nod toward Fred, who bowed to her in mock abasement — too politely, I thought.

  Will got out of her way and she went up-stairs with the manner of an empress taking leave of subjects. Fred swept her food and wine from the table and stowed it in a corner, and we sat down at the table again.

  “The whole thing’s getting ridiculous.” he said.

  “Why don’t we hunt up some official in the morning,” I proposed, “and simply expose her?”

  “No use,” said Will. “She never followed us up here and tried that game without being sure of her pull. Besides — what kind of a tale could we tell without letting on we’re after the ivory? I vote we see the game through to a finish.”

  “Good!” said Fred. “I agree!”

  “The only clue we’ve got,” said I, “is Courtney’s advice about Mount

  Elgon.”

  “And what Coutlass said in Zanzibar about German East,” added Will.

  “Tell you what,” said Fred, rapping the table excitedly. “Instead of falling foul of this government by slipping over the dead-line, why not run down to German East — pretend to search for the stuff down there — and go from German East direct to Mount Elgon, giving ’em all the slip. Who’s got the map?”

  “It’s up-stairs,” I said. “I’ll fetch it.”

  There was nothing like silence in the rooms above. Men were smoking and drinking in one another’s rooms. Some doors were open to make conversation easier across the landing, and nobody was asleep. But I was surprised to see Georges Coutlass leaning against the door-post of the room he shared with the other Greek and the Goanese, obviously on guard, but against whom and on whose behalf it was difficult to guess.

  “Are you off to bed?” he asked, piercing me with his unbandaged eye.

  “Why don’t the others go, too?”

  It dawned on me what he was after.

  “Take the wine if you want it,” I said. “None of us will prevent you.”

  He went down-stairs in his stocking feet, leaving his own door wide. I glanced in. The other Greek and the Goanese were asleep. Hassan lay on the floor on a mat between their cots. He looked up at me. I did not dare speak, but I smiled at him as friendly as I knew how and made a gesture I hoped he would interpret as an invitation to come and attach himself to our party. Then I hurried on, for Coutlass was coming back with a bottle of wine in each hand.

  I was five minutes in our bedroom. In a minute I knew what had happened. We had left the door locked, but the lock was a common one; probably the keys of other doors fitted it, and there was not one thing in the room placed exactly where we had left it. Everything was more or less in place, but nothing quite.

  I returned empty-handed down-stairs, locking the bedroom door behind me.

  “Listen, you chaps!” I said. “While we waited for that woman she and her maid went through our things again!”

  “How d’you know it was she?” asked Fred.

  “No mistaking the scent she uses. Where’s our money?”

  “Here in my pocket.”

  “Good. The map’s gone, though!”

  Will showed big teeth in the first really happy smile for several days.

  “Good enough!” he said. “Let’s go to bed now. I’ll bet you my share of the ivory they’re poring over the map with a magnifying-glass! D’you remember the various places we underscored? They’ll think it’s a cryptogram and fret over it all night! Come on — come to bed!”

  CHAPTER SIX

  THE SONG OF THE GREAT GAME RESERVE

  Noah was our godfather, and he pitched and caulked a ship

  ‘With stable-room for two of each and fodder for the trip,

  Lest when the Flood made sea of earth the animals should die;

  And two by two he stalled us till the wrath of God was by.

  But who in the name of the Pentateuch can the paleface people be

  Who ha’ done on the plains of Africa more than he did at sea?

  A million hoofs once drummed the dust (Kongoni led the way!)

  From river-pool to desert-lick we thundered in array

  Until the dark-skin people came with tube and smoke and shot,

  Hunting and driving and killing, and leaving the meat to rot.

  And we didn’t know who the hunters were, but we saw the herds grow thin

  That used to drum the dust-clouds up with thousand-footed din.

  We were few when the paleface people came — scattered and few and afraid.

  Few
er were they, but they brought the law, and the dark-skin men obeyed.

  The paleface people drew a line that none by dark or day

  Might cross with fell intent to hunt — capture or drive or slay.

  But who can the paleface people be with red-meat appetites

  Who ruled anew what Noah knew — that animals have rights?

  And now in the Athi Game Reserve — in a million-acre park

  A million creatures graze who went by twos into the Ark.

  We sleep o’ nights without alarm (Kongoni, prick your ear!)

  And barring the leopard and lion to watch, and ticks, we’ve nought

  to fear,

  Zebra, giraffe and waterbuck, rhino and ostrich too —

  But who can the paleface people be who know what Noah knew?

  The lions awoke us a little before dawn as the proprietor had promised. They seemed to have had bad hunting, for their boastfulness was gone. They came in twos and threes, snarling, only roaring intermittently — in a hurry because the hated daylight would presently reverse conditions and put them at disadvantage.

  I grew restless and got up. The air being chilly, I put my clothes on and sat for a while by the window. So it happened I caught sight of Hassan, very much afraid of lions, but obviously more afraid of being seen from the hotel windows. He was sneaking along as close to the house as he could squeeze, his head just visible above the veranda rail.

  For no better reason than that I was curious and unoccupied, I slipped out of the house and followed him.

  Once clear of the hotel he seemed to imagine himself safe, for without another glance backward he ran up-street in the direction of the bazaar. I followed him down the bazaar — a short street of corrugated iron buildings — and out the other end. Being fat, he could not run fast, although his wind held out surprisingly. If he saw me at all he must have mistaken me for a settler or one of the Nairobi officials, for he seemed perfectly sure of himself and took no pains whatever now to throw pursuers off the track.

  It soon became evident that he was making for an imposing group of tents on the outskirts of the town. As he drew nearer he approached more slowly.

  It now became my turn to take precautions. There was no chance of concealment where I was — nothing but open level ground between me and the tents. But now that I knew Hassan’s destination, I could afford to let him out of sight for a minute; so I turned my back on him, walked to where a sort of fold in the ground enabled me to get down unseen into a shallow nullah, and went along that at right angles to Hassan’s course until I reached the edge of some open jungle, about half a mile from the tents. I noticed that it came to an end at a spot about three hundred yards to the rear of the tents, so I worked my way along its outer edge, and so approached the encampment from behind.

  I had brought a rifle with me, not that I expected to shoot anything, but because the lion incident of the previous afternoon had taught me caution. It had not entered my head that in that country a strange white man without a rifle might have been regarded as a member of the mean white class; nor that anybody would question my right to carry a rifle, for that matter.

  The camp was awake now. There were ten tents, all facing one way. Two of them contained stores. The central round tent with an awning in front was obviously a white man’s. One tent housed a mule, and the rest were for native servants and porters. The camp was tidy and clean — obviously belonging to some one of importance. Fires were alight. Breakfast was being cooked, and smelled most uncommonly appetizing in that chill morning air. Boys were already cleaning boots, and a saddle, and other things. There was an air of discipline and trained activity, and from the central tent came the sound of voices.

  I don’t know why, but I certainly did not expect to hear English. So the sound of English spoken with a foreign accent brought me to a standstill. I listened to a few words, and made no further bones about eavesdropping. Circumstances favored me. The boys had seen I was carrying a rifle and was therefore a white man of importance, so they did not question my right to approach. The tent with the mule in it and the two store tents were on the right, pitched in a triangle. I passed between them up to the very pegs of the central tent from which the voices came, and discovered I was invisible, unless some one should happen to come around a corner. I decided to take my chance of that.

  The first thing that puzzled me was why a German (for it was a perfectly unmistakable German accent) should need to talk English to a native who was certainly familiar with both Arabic and Kiswahili. When I heard the German addressed as Bwana Schillingschen I wondered still more, for from all accounts that individual could speak more native tongues than most people knew existed. It did not occur to me at the time that if he wished not to be understood by his own crowd of boys he must either speak German or English, and that Hassan would almost certainly know no German.

  “A good thing you came to me!” I heard. The accent was clumsy for a man so well versed in tongues. “Yes, I will give you money at the right time. Tell me no lies now! There will be letters coming from people you never saw, and I shall know whether or not you lie to me! You say there are three of the fools?”

  “Yes, bwana. There were four, but one going home — big lord gentleman, him having black m’stache, gone home.”

  There was no mistaking Hassan’s voice. No doubt he could speak his mother tongue softly enough, but in common with a host of other people he seemed to imagine that to make himself understood in English he must shout.

  “Why did he go home?”

  “I don’t know, bwana.”

  “Did they quarrel?”

  “Sijui.”* [* Sijui, I don’t know: the most aggravating word In Africa, except perhaps bado kidogo, which means “presently,” “bye and bye,” “in a little while.”

  “Don’t you dare say ‘sijui’ to me!”

  “Maybe they quarrel, maybe not. They all quarreling with Lady Saffunwardo — staying in same hotel, Tippoo Tib one time his house — she wanting maybe go with him to London. He saying no. Others saying no. All very angry each with other an’ throwing bwana masikini, Greek man, down hotel stairs.”

  “What had he to do with it?”

  “Two Greek man an’ one Goa all after ivory, too. She — Lady Saffunwardo afterwards promising pay them three if they come along an’ do what she tell ’em. They agreeing quick! Byumby Tippoo Tib hearing bazaar talk an’ sending me along too. She refuse to take me, all because German consul man knowing me formerly and not making good report, but Greek bwana he not caring and say to me to come along. Greek people very bad! No food — no money — nothing but swear an’ kick an’ call bad names — an’ drunk nearly all the time!”

  “What makes you think these three men know where the ivory is?” said the German voice. It was the voice of a man very used to questioning natives — self-assertive but calm — going straight each time to the point.

  “They having map. Map having marks on it.”

  “How do you know?”

  “She — Lady Saffunwardo go in their bedroom, stealing it last night.”

  “Did you see her take it?”

  “Yes, bwana.”

  “Did you see the marks on it?”

  “No, bwana.”

  “Then how do you know the marks were on it? Now, remember, don’t lie to me!”

  “Coutlass, him Greek man, standing on stairs keeping watch. Them three men you call fools all sitting in dining-room waiting because they thinking she come presently. She send maid to their room. Maid, fool woman, upset everything, finding nothing. ‘No,’ she say, ‘no map — no money — no anything in here.’ An’ Lady Saffunwardo she very angry an’ say, ‘Come out o’ there! Let me look!’ And Lady Saffunwardo going in, but maid not coming out, an’ they both search. Then Lady Saffanwardo saying all at once, ‘Here it is. Didn’t you see this?’ An’ the maid answering, ‘Oh, that! That nothing but just ordinary pocket map! That not it!’ But Lady Saffunwardo she opening the map, an’ make little scream, a
n’ say, ‘Idiot! This is it! Look! See! See the marks!’ So, bwana, I then knowing must be marks on map!”

  “Good. What did she do with it?”

  “Sujui.”

  “I told you not to dare say ‘sijui’ to me!”

  “How should I know, bwana, what she doing with it?”

  “Could you steal it?”

  “No, bwana!”

  “Why not?”

  “You not knowing that woman! No man daring steal from her! She very terrible!”

  “If I offered you a hundred rupees could you steal it?”

  “Sujui, bwana.”

  “I told you not to use that word!”

  “Bwana, I—”

  “Could you steal it?”

  “Maybe.”

  “That is no answer!”

  “Say that again about hundred rupees!”

  “I will give you a hundred rupees if you bring me that map and it proves to be what you say.”

  “I go. I see. I try. Hundred rupees very little money!”

  “It’s all you’ll get, you black rascal! And you know what you’ll get if you fail! You know me, don’t you? You understand my way? Steal that map and bring it here, and I shall give you a hundred rupees. Fail, and you shall have a hundred lashes, and what Ahmed and Abdullah and Seydi got in addition! The hundred lashes first, and the ant-hill afterward! You’re not fool enough to think you can escape me, I suppose?”

  “No, bwana.”

  “Then go and get the map!”

  “But afterward, what then? She very gali* woman.” [*Gali, same as

  Hindustani kali — cruel, hard, fierce, terrible.]

  “Nonsense! Steal the map and bring it here to me. Then I’ve other work for you. Are you a renegade Muhammedan?”

  “No, bwana! No, no! Never! I’m good Moslem.”

  “Very well. Back to your old business with you! Preach Islam up and down the country. Go and tell all the tribes in British territory that the Germans are coming soon to establish an empire of Islam in Africa! Good pay and easy living! Does that suit you?”

  “Yes, bwana. How much pay?”

  “I’ll tell you when you bring the map. Now be going!”