Talbot Mundy

“ Fred had to pry him off by main force.
“Into the boat with you!” Will ordered them. “Chain-gang first! Get down below, and lie down! The first head that shows shall be hit with a club! Quickly now!”
Clanking their infernal chain like all the ghosts from all the haunted granges of the Old World, they climbed overside and disappeared. There were more figures left on shore than than we expected. Brown we could make out dimly in the dark: he was chattering nervously, and admitted that but for Kazimoto he would not be there. ”

“ But Fred wasted no time on argument, and took the upper hand.
“Take us or leave us, Lady Waldon, as we are! We’ve an unwritten rule that none of us has ever thought of breaking, that binds us to obey the member of the party whose plan we have adopted. On this occasion we have agreed to Mr. Yerkes’ plan, and you’ve got to obey him implicitly if you want to have part with us! We will not leave our men or Brown of Lumbwa behind, and we will not change the plan by a hair’s breadth! Will you or won’t you obey?” ”

“ Less than one second after we saw the first indications of the holocaust a regular volley of shots broke out from the boma as the sentries on duty gave the general alarm. Less than five minutes after that the whole of the southern, grass-roofed section of the town was going up in flames, and every living man, black, white, gray, mulatto, brown and mixed, was running full pelt to the scene of action.
We waited ten minutes longer, rather expecting the Greeks to double back and begin denouncing us at once. In that case we intended to stretch them out with the first weapons handy. ”

“ It was Kazimoto in the end who kept Brown up to the mark, and shamed him into action by superior courage. Fred found a chance to speak to him as the long string rested at noon under the narrow shade of a cactus hedge, and warned him in about fifty words of what was intended. (The askaris, almost as leg-weary as the gang, were sprawling at the far end of the line, gambling at pitch-and-toss.)
“Be sure you sleep as near to the partition as you can. Get details of the plan from Mr. Brown, and then drill the porters one by one! Don’t let them tell one another. You tell each one of them yourself!” ”

“ The fools—the “easy people”—the “folk who gave without a price”—the “truth tellers”—the “men who wish to forget”—the unwise, cocksure, cleaner-living, unbelievably credulous, foolishly honest British officials would be all gone. The Pickelhaube and the lash, blackmail and coercion would take the place of generosity. Africa would better be back under the Arabs again, for the Arabs had no system to speak of and were inefficient. Some Arabs have a heart—some a very soft heart. ”

“ Flames went up from the dry grass roof of one of the rectangular Swahili huts. Within thirty seconds the askaris on guard at the boma began firing their rifles in the air as fast as they could pull the trigger and reload. Within two minutes the chain-gang was headed for jail, where it was locked behind doors, in order that every askari in Muanza might be free to pile arms and hurry to the fire. ”

“ If our porters run away, you’ll blame us. We don’t care to be blamed for what is none of our fault. So if you don’t put ’em all on a chain and lock ’em up nights, we’re going to discontinue paying for their keep. That’s flat! You can work ’em if you like. Let ’em help keep the township clean. We’ll pay their board and wages as long as you’re responsible for their not escaping! And say! If you want to get real work out of ’em I’ll give you a tip. There never was a savage like that Kazimoto of ours for getting results out of that gang. ”

“ Knock him on the head from behind!”
“Thank you!” grinned Will, exchanging glances with us. “We shall have about enough on our consciences setting fire to half the township. We’ll not kill except in self-defense.”
“But you won’t set the town on fire! The Greeks will do that!”
“Don’t let’s argue ethics!” Fred interrupted, for Will’s ears were getting red. “Can you tell us for certain, Lady Waldon, whether all the askaris and German sergeants really run to a fire? ”

“ They are such supremely cocksure fools that they can not be made to believe that another so-called civilized nation would act as they, in their egoism, would be ashamed to act! Civilization! That is a fine word, full of false meanings! ”

“ What followed was more impressive because of the determination we had heard of to bring all Africa under the German yoke. In vain should the wretched natives in after years escape by the hundreds northward in the hope of living under British government. ”

“ The crowd grew bright-eyed, little children straining forward between their elders in the bull-fight frenzy—that same intoxication of the senses that held the Roman freemen spellbound at the sight of suffering. ”

“ At last she told us that one of the commandant’s rifles and one of Schillingschen’s stood leaning in a corner of the living-room beside a book-case. Whether she could make away with one or both of those without detection she did not know, and she would have to use her wits regarding ammunition. It was always kept locked up.
“Why not kill an askari and take his rifle and cartridges?” she asked. “The sentry on duty watching the Greeks will be in the way. ”

“ Presently, however, the warp tightened, and then by the strain on it I knew that Coutlass was trying to haul us back inshore. Failing to do that, for the strength of the wind was increasing, he seized the Syrian woman by the waist and plunged into the water with her. I saw them disappear and hauled on the warp hand-over-hand with all my might, Lady Waldon leaning over to strike at my hands until I shouted to Fred to come and hold her. Then she begged Fred again for the rifle, promising to kill the two of them and reduce our problem to that extent if we would only let her. ”

“ You men give me the word at midday of the day of the start, and I will spread red, white and blue laundry on the roof of the commandant’s house for the Greeks to see.”
“Good enough!” agreed Will. “Now one more stunt! We simply must have firearms. The Germans have taken ours away and locked them up. At a pinch I suppose we could manage with one rifle, provided we had lots of ammunition. We would rather have one each. In fact, the more the merrier. One we must have! ”

“ But fortunately we had a couple of hundred feet of good half-inch manila in camp with us, and that Fred and Will took out and stowed in the hold the night following.
We bought such things at the D.O.A.G. as we could without arousing suspicion, as, for instance, a quantity of German dried pea-soup—not that the porters would take to it kindly, but it would go a long way among them at a pinch. Live stock we did not dare buy, for fear of the noise it would make; but we laid in some eggs and bananas. Most of the thirty-pound loads were rice. ”

“ But go on!”
“We’ve plenty of money,” said Will, “so there’s no need to worry about too many supplies to begin with. But we’ll need scant rations for ourselves and all our men until we reach some place where more are to be bought. And we’ve got to get them on board the dhow secretly. The first question is, how to do that.”
She told us at once of a path going round by the back of the hill behind us, that would make the trip to the dhow in the dark a matter of over two miles, but that avoided all sentries and habitations. ”

“ It troubled us sorely to leave our good tents, beds, and equipment behind, yet all we could take was the blankets and one Gladstone bag packed with clothes for us all. Kettles and pots and pans were a noisy nuisance, yet we had to have them, and blankets for all those porters, who would escape from jail practically naked, were an essential ”

“ The white officials were more than interested, and had no time for anything but thought for the blaze. As we crossed the shoulder of the far side of the hill we could see them standing on the drill-ground all together, clearly defined against the crimson flare. ”

“ Put him on the same chain with the lot of ’em, and we’ll all be satisfied! I don’t presume to be running your jail, but I’m telling you facts that’ll hurt nobody. Those porters ’ud be a darn sight better off with plenty of exercise. ”