Harold Bindloss

“ Low-hanging withes of creepers smote them as they passed, thorns scarred their bare ankles, and rent the loose cotton robes that fluttered about them, while the way they trod was miry, and the black darkness thickened by drifting steam. They were not men who loved exertion, but Gillatly usually travelled in haste, and, sick or well, they were afraid of him. Black men passing through that forest without headman Tuesday's permit, were also not infrequently shot in the back with a gaspipe gun, and the bearers were woolly-haired aliens from Liberia. ”

“ Still, it had left its mark on him, for he was gaunt, hollow-faced, and grim, a silent, self-contained man, who had made himself respected in a savage land, and, what was more to the purpose, had made the factory pay, in spite of the enmity of the bush magicians and Tuesday, the Mendi headman. It was, however, no fault of theirs that Gillatly was living still, for white men who incur the disapprobation of the dusky potentates occasionally die without apparent cause in that country, where there is nobody to hold an autopsy. ”

“ I think they mean it this time, and it's the first blow that counts," he said. "Unless Phillips has come up, there's only Jardine at the outpost."
It seemed to Carter that his superior was very ill that night, but Gillatly did not care to be worried about his health, so the book-keeper said: "You fancy Tuesday would risk a dash at the outpost?"
Gillatly nodded. "Every nigger who has a gun would join him if he burnt the place; and Jardine's very young. If you will order out the hammock-boys, I'll go along and warn him." ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1945, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 77 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”