Talbot Mundy

“ Germany is planning to conquer the world!—not now, but ten or a dozen years from now! She is getting ready ceaselessly! Part of the plan is to undermine British rule in Africa by means of a religious influence among the natives. That is the special duty of Professor Schillingschen. As soon as possible a great native army is to be trained, and thoroughly schooled in the fanatical precepts of Islam. But the German people are too heavily taxed already, and refuse to vote money for this miserable colony, where the great beginning must be made because it is only here that they can work unsuspected. ”

“ A stone wall had been built about three feet high to enclose that end of the pond, and all the way along both sides the granite had been broken and chipped until the edges were sheer and unclimbable.
“Look!” he said, pointing.
I looked and grew sick. On the ramp, half in the water and half out lay about a hundred crocodiles basking in the sun, their yellow eyes all open. They were aware of us, for they began to move slowly higher out of water as if they expected something.
“You see that post?” asked Schillingschen. ”

“ But the Greeks did us an unexpected good turn, though it looked like making more trouble for us at the time. They began to complain of lack of exercise, and to grow actually sick for want of it. Because of that, and jealousy, they raised a clamor about our freedom to go anywhere within township limits as against their strict confinement to the camp. The commandant came down to the camp in person to hear what they had to say, and being in a good humor saw fit to yield a point. Being a military German, though, he could not do it without attaching ignominious conditions. ”

“ We saw the chain-gang—Kazimoto last, with a shovel over his shoulder—march away at noon to dig me a grave in the sand close to where they burned the township refuse. Fred and Will went and watched them a while, contriving to slip a paper of snuff into Kazimoto’s hand while he rested and let the pick-men labor. (Snuff to a Nyamwezi is as comforting as an old sweet pipe to nine white men out of ten.)
When Schubert came that evening at five with an old sack to put my body in, and plenty of askaris to help decide disputes, I was standing up. ”

“ It was a woman’s voice, and it puzzled me indescribably, for a sick man’s wits don’t work swiftly as a rule when he lies between sleeping and waking.
“Listen!” said the voice again. “I must come to terms with you three men! You are the only hope left me! I have no friends in Muanza—and none whom I trust! Those Greeks and that Goanese would sell me to the first bidder, and these Germans are worse than dogs!”
“But who are you?” I asked stupidly.
For answer she held the lantern so that I could see her face. ”

“ I shall not! But believe me—I am certain as I sit here that they only wait for my return to British East! To have me murdered here might start inconvenient rumors that would lead to unanswerable questions! It was proposed to me to-day that I should return to British East on the launch!”
“Then why talk about escaping?” Fred wondered. “Why not go?”
“Because,” she hissed emphatically, “don’t you see, you stupid!—if they send me back it will be to my doom! My one chance is to escape from their clutches—get into touch with British officials—and save the situation by telling my own tale first!” ”

“ That is why Professor Schillingschen gets drunk and sings himself to sleep in spite of your being still at liberty! Either escape before that evidence reaches Muanza, or make up your minds for the worst! It is growing late—answer me—do you agree?”
Fred glanced once at each of us. We both nodded.
“We agree with reservations,” he said.
“What are they? Man—don’t be a fool! Don’t fritter the lives of all of us away!”
“They’re simple. We’ve a friend in the jail here. His name’s Brown.”
“That drunkard? Leave him! He’s worthless!”
“We’ve a servant on the chain-gang. His name is Kazimoto.” ”

“ It was an English missionary spending three days in Muanza on his way to Lake Tanganyika, who came to see what he could do for my wound and cleared up the mystery quite a little by reporting what he had heard in the non-commissioned mess, where he had been invited to eat a meal.
“The Greek,” he said, “is trying to curry favor by pretending he knows your plans. If he succeeds in worming into your confidence and persuading you to make plans to escape with him, they will feel justified in putting you in jail—and that, I understand, is where they want you.” ”

“ Fred asked, ignoring my growing hopelessness.
“With the lash,” said I. “I’ve seen!”
“That’s by day,” said Fred. “They’ve better ways at night. One plan is no supper or breakfast; but the champion scheme is the doctor’s. On complaint by the askaris that a man on the chain has shirked his work, or answered back, or been obstreperous, the doctor serves him out a handful of strong pills and sees him swallow them. They don’t unchain them at night. D’you get the idea?”
“Not yet.”
“Every time the man has to go outside he must wake the whole gang and take them with him! ”

“ I found the grave about a foot too short, but otherwise commensurate, and sat down on a stone beside it to consider a number of things. A convalescent man sitting beside his own grave may be forgiven for amusing himself with a lot of near-philosophy, and if I trespassed over the borders of common sense on that occasion I claim it was not without excuse.
My meditations were disturbed by the arrival on the scene of the very last man I expected. We had been told that Professor Schillingschen had gone out on a journey, leaving his “wife” in the care of the commandant ”

“ Why should they not be willing to make temporary concessions, when all Africa is to be theirs in ten years’ time! They will give to-day, and with the help of the money that ivory will bring they will create an army that shall take away to-morrow! ”

“ There were strict orders against talking, and four askaris armed with rifles marched behind to enforce the rule as well as keep guard over Brown. But the drums were so thunderous and the shrill fifes so lusty that the askaris could not hear conversation pitched in low tones.
“Brown says,” said Fred, returning from the first march, “that he sleeps with only a sheet of corrugated iron between him and the ward where the chain-gang lies. He can talk with Kazimoto when he happens to be at that end of the chain. They’ve nothing but planks to lie on, any of them. ”

“ Day after day, twice a day, whether it rained or shone, it seemed to be the law that this “band” should patrol the whole township limits, playing its only tune, lifting the tops of men’s heads with its infernal drumming, and delighting nobody except the players and the township urchins, who marched in its wake rejoicing.
The Greeks and the Goanese were given leave to march with the band twice a day for the sake of exercise. They refused indignantly. The commandant flew into the rage that is the birthright of all German officials, but suddenly checked himself ”

“ No weaker-backed camel could exist! The German Michael is wiser! Islam is the key to the native mind—Islam and the lash—they understand that! In a few years there will be nothing in Africa that is not German from core to epidermis! ”

“ They are simply using this long wait for Major Schunck, who is supposed to be coming from the coast, to gather additional evidence against you. They have men out following your trail back by the way you came, and if they can find no genuine evidence they will invent what they need; the purpose is to get you legally behind the bars; and if you ever come out again alive that would not be their fault!”
“What do you propose?” asked Fred.
“Escape!” she answered excitedly. Then another thought made her clench her fists. “Is it possible you told Professor Schillingschen your secret to-day? ”

“ No woman pleading at the bar of justice could have seemed more in earnest. Of one thing I was quite sure: she had found it worth her while to convince us if that were possible. She was playing no half-hearted game. ”

“ They mean first to crush competitors, and then monopolize! They hope the ivory is in this country. In that case their task will be easy. But if it should be found in British East, they are all ready with the necessary men of influence to apply for a mining or agricultural concession, and they will fence that place off so thoroughly that no one will ever be the wiser until they have carried the ivory out of the country!”
“They could never get it out of British East without the government knowing,” objected Fred ”

“ They tried to register one letter, but registration was refused.
“Why don’t they jail us simply, and have done with it?” Will kept wondering aloud.
“They will when it suits their books,” said I. “For the present they scarcely dare. Word might reach the British government. They’re breaking no international law by holding us here and keeping tabs on us.”
Before many days I grew unable to leave the hard cork mattress on the camp-bed in Fred’s tent. They went again to the commandant, this time determined to force the issue. ”

“ They’re never grateful. They don’t see things from the white man’s standpoint. They don’t expect ideal treatment. Leave him his wages and tell him to follow when they let him off the chain!”
“And we have a string of porters,” Fred continued. “We will not leave Muanza without the porters, our man Kazimoto, and Mr. Brown of Lumbwa!” ”

“ Yet he did not dare to approach our camp, for fear lest Fred should carry out his threat and fight. The fight would certainly be reported by the askari on watch at the crossroads, and that would destroy his chance of making believe to be in our confidence. So he kept sending notes to me when the others were absent, even the native boy who brought them—not daring to enter our camp, but fastening the message to a stone and throwing it in through the tent door. ”

“ Being quite sure that he had a plan in mind that nothing would prevent him from unfolding, I did not waste effort or words on prompting him, but sat still. My silence and apparent lack of curiosity disturbed him; there is nothing your bully likes better than to force his victim into a war of words.
“I will be short and blunt with you!” he began again. “I know your history! You were in Portuguese Africa with Lord Montdidier. There he came in possession of the secret of Tippoo Tib’s ivory ”

“ If worse came to the worst, they are ready with an offer to exchange ten times the territory elsewhere for just that small section of the country. They would give up German New Guinea, or Southwest Africa—anything! ”

“ They have fooled the French and Russian governments until they are ready to bring pressure to bear on England diplomatically to induce her to make almost any bargain of that kind that the Germans want. ”

“ They had been trying to get tobacco to Brown, and sweetmeats to Kazimoto, had failed in both efforts and were short-tempered. He explained after they had insulted him sufficiently, and they walked down to the camp one on either hand, apologizing all the way. I imagine they had criticized missions of all denominations pretty thoroughly.
In the end he decided not to read the letter at all.
“I have reached the conclusion you three men are gentlemen,” he said, “and would not take advantage of me. ”