Complete Works of Talbot Mundy

by Talbot Mundy

  If built-over Mombasa is a small place, so is Africa. So is the world. Striding down the hill from the other hotel, the rival one, the Royal, came a man so well known in so many lands that they talk of naming a tenth of a continent after him — the mightiest hunter since Nimrod, and very likely mightier than he; surely more looked-up to and respected — a little, wiry-looking, freckled, wizened man whose beard had once been red, who walked with a decided limp and blinked genially from under the brim of a very neat khaki helmet.

  “Why, bless my soul if it isn’t Fred Oakes!” he exclaimed, in a squeaky, worn-out voice that is as well known as his face, and quickened his pace down-hill.

  “Courtney!” said Fred. “There’s only one man I’d rather meet!”

  The little man laughed. “Oh, you and your Montdidier are still inseparable, I suppose! How are you, Fred? I’m glad to see you. Who are your friends?”

  At that minute out came the collector from his office — stood on the step, and stared. Fred introduced us to Courtney, and I experienced the thrill of shaking hands with the man accounts of whose exploits had fired my schoolboy imagination and made stay-at-home life forever after an impossibility.

  “I missed the steamer, Fred. Not another for a week. Going down now to see about a passage to Somaliland. I suppose you’ll be at the club after dinner?”

  “No” said Fred. “We’ve an invitation, but I think we’ll send a note and say we can’t come. We’ll dine at our hotel and sit on the veranda afterward.”

  I wondered what Fred was driving at, and so did the collector who was headed across the street and listening with all ears.

  “That so? Not a bad idea. They’ve very kindly made me an honorary member of the club, but I rather expect there’s a string to that — eh, Fred, don’t you? They’ll expect stories, — stories. I get tired of telling the same tales so many times over. Suppose I join you fellows, eh? I’m at the Royal. You at the other place? Suppose I join you after dinner, and we have a pipe together on the veranda?”

  “Nothing I’d like better,” said Fred, and I felt too pleased with the prospect to say anything at all. Growing old is a foolish and unnecessary business, but there is no need to forego while young the thrills of unashamed hero-worship; in fact, that is one of the ways of continuing young. It is only the disillusioned (poor deceived ones) and the cynics, who grow old ungracefully.

  We went upstreet, through the shadow of the great grim fort. The trolley-car trundled down among the din, smells and colors of the business-end of town. Looking over my shoulder I saw Courtney talking to the collector.

  “We’re getting absolution, Fred!” said I.

  “I’m not sure we need it,” Fred answered. “I hope Courtney won’t tell too much!” So quickly does a man jump from praying for friends at court to fearing them!

  “Courtney looked to me,” said Will, “like a man who would give no games away.”

  “Glad you think that of him,” said Fred.

  “Why?”

  “Tell you later, maybe.”

  But he did not tell until after dinner. (It was a good dinner for East Africa. Shark steak figured in it, under a more respectable name; and there was zebu hump, guinea-fowl, and more different kinds of fruit than a man could well remember.) When it was over we sat in deep armchairs on the long wide veranda that fronts the whole hotel. The evening sea-breeze came and wafted in on us the very scents of Araby; the night sounds that whisper of wilderness gave the lie to a tinkling guitar that somewhere in the distance spoke of civilized delights. The surf crooned on coral half a mile away, and very good cigar smoke (from a box that Monty had sent ashore with our belongings) supplemented coffee and the other aids to physical contentment. Then, limping between the armchairs, and ashamed that we should rise to greet him — motioning us down again with a little nervous laugh — Courtney came to us. Within five minutes of his coming the world, and the clock, and the laws of men might have all reversed themselves for aught we cared. Without really being conscious he was doing it Courtney plunged into our problem, grasped it, sized it up, advised us, flooded us with priceless, wonderful advice, and did it with such almost feminine sympathy that I believe we would have been telling him our love-affairs at last, if a glance at the watch he wore in a case at his belt had not told him it was three A. M.

  “There’s trouble” he began when he had filled his pipe. “You boys are in trouble. What is it?” he asked, shifting and twitching in his seat — refusing an armchair — refusing a drink.

  “Tell us first what’s the matter with you,” said Fred.

  “Oh, nothing. An old wound. A lion once dragged me by this shoulder half a mile or so. At this time of year I get pains. They last a day or two, then pass — Go on, tell me!”

  He never sat really still once that whole evening, yet never once complained or made a gesture of impatience.

  “I propose,” said Fred, with a glance at Yerkes and me, “to tell

  Courtney everything without reserve.”

  The little old hunter nodded, watching us with bright blue eyes. I received the impression that he knew more secrets than he could tell should he talk down all the years that might be left him. He was the sort of man in whom nearly every one confides.

  “We’re after Tippoo Tib’s ivory!” said Fred, plunging into the middle of things. “Monty has gone to drive a bargain with the King of Belgium. Do you think it’s a wild goose chase?”

  Courtney chuckled. “No,” he said. “I wouldn’t call it that. They’ve been killing elephants in Africa ever since the flood. Ivory must have accumulated. It’s somewhere. Some of it must be so old and well seasoned as to be practically priceless, unless rats have spoiled it. Rats play old Harry with ivory, you know.”

  “Have you a notion where it is?” demanded Fred.

  Courtney laughed. “Behold me leaving the country!” he said.

  “If I knew I’d look. If I saw I’d take!”

  “Can you give us a hint?”

  “There are caves near the summit of Mount Elgon that would hold the world’s revenues. None of them have ever been thoroughly explored. Cannibals live in some of them. Cannibals and caverns is a combination that might appeal to Tippoo Tib, but there’s no likelihood that he buried all that ivory in one place, you know. I suspect the greater part is in the Congo, and that the Germans know its whereabouts within a mile or two.”

  “How did they discover it?”

  “Why don’t they dig it out?”

  “What keeps ’em from turning their knowledge into money?”

  We had forgotten our own troubles. Courtney, too, seemed to forget for the moment that he had began by asking us a question.

  “Remember Emin Pasha? When was it—’87—’88—’89 that Stanley went and rescued him? Perhaps you recall what was then described as Emin’s ingratitude after the event? British government offered him a billet. Khedive of Egypt cabled him the promise of a job, all on Stanley’s recommendation. Emin turned ’em all down and accepted a job from the Germans. Nobody understood it at the time. My own idea is that Emin thought he knew more or less where that hoard is. He didn’t really want to come away with Stanley, you know. Being a German, I suppose he preferred to share his secret with his own crowd. I dare say he thought of telling Stanley but judged that the ‘Rock breaker’ might demand a too large share. The value of the stuff must be so enormous that it’s almost worth going to war about, from the point of view of a nation hungry for new colonies. Emin is dead, and it’s likely he left no exact particulars behind him. To my personal knowledge the Germans have had a swarm of spies for a long time operating beyond the Congo border.”

  “Were you looking for the stuff yourself?” I asked.

  “Oh, no,” he laughed. “But when I’m hunting I look about me. I’ll tell you where the stuff may possibly be. There’s a section of country called the Bahr el Gazal that the Congo people claim, but that I believe will eventually prove to lie on the British side of the boundary. It was good
elephant country — which is to say bad living and traveling for man — since the earth took shape out of ooze. Awful swampy, malarious, densely wooded, dangerous country, sparsely inhabited by savages not averse to cannibalism when they’ve opportunity. The ivory may be there. If the Germans know it’s there they’re naturally afraid the British government would claim the whole district the minute the secret was out. Their plan may possibly be to wait until a boundary dispute arises in the ordinary course of time (keeping a cautious eye on the cache meanwhile, of course) and then take the Congo government side. If they can contrive to have it acknowledged as Congo territory, they might then pick a quarrel with the Congo government — or come to some sort of terms with them.”

  “They’ve patience,” I said, “if they’re playing that game!”

  Courtney raised his eyebrows until his forehead was a mass of deep wrinkles. Then he blew a dozen smoke rings.

  “Patient — perhaps. It’s my impression they’re as remorseless and persistent as white ants — undermining, digging, devouring everywhere while the rest of the world sleeps. Do you remember there was a mutiny of native troops in Uganda not many years ago? Some said that was because the troops were being paid in truck instead of money, and like most current excuses that one had some truth in it. But the men themselves vowed they were going to set up an African Muhammedan empire.”

  “What had that to do with Germans?” asked Fred.

  “Nothing that I can personally prove” said Courtney. “But I’ve a broad acquaintance among natives, and considerable knowledge of their tongues. Muhammedanism is spreading among them very rapidly. Over and over again, beside camp-fires, and in the dark when they thought I was not listening, I have heard them talk of missionaries from German territory who spread a doctrine of what you might call pan-Islam for lack of a better name. I said at the time of the Uganda mutiny that I believed Germans were behind it. I’ve seen no reason to change my opinion since. It’s obvious that if the mutiny had by some ill chance succeeded Uganda would have been an easy prey for Karl Peters and his Germans. If that ivory of Tippoo Tib’s is really in the Bahr el Gazal at the back of Uganda, then the German motive for stirring up the Uganda mutiny would be obvious.”

  “But doesn’t our government know all this?” demanded Fred.

  “That depends on what you mean by the word know,” answered Courtney.

  “I’ve made no secret of my own opinion!”

  “But they wouldn’t listen?”

  “Some did, some didn’t. The Home government — which was the India Office in those days — took no notice whatever. One or two men out here believed, but I think they’re dead. When the Foreign Office took the country over I don’t suppose they overhauled old reports very carefully. I dare say my letters on the subject lie inches deep in dust.”

  “England doesn’t deserve to keep her colonies!” vowed Fred, caught in a sudden flood of indignation.

  Courtney laughed.

  “When you’ve seen as many of the other nations’ colonies as I have you’ll qualify that verdict! We do our best. God gave us our work to do, and the devil came and made us stupid! Take this country, for instance.”

  “Yes!” agreed Fred. “Take this country! We came ashore today — left Monty on board ship on his way to Europe. Nobody knew a thing about us. A female woman, known to the police in Zanzibar and so notorious in Europe that she’s in no hurry to go home — said, too, on every hand to be in the pay of the German government — chose to tell lies about us to the chuckle-headed puppies in charge of Mombasa. Net result — what do you suppose?”

  “I know,” said Courtney. “I’ve been told this evening.” His eyes changed, and his voice took on the almost feminine note of appeal that came strangely from a big game hunter. “You boys must overlook things. These boys you’re angry with are younger than you, Fred. That collector you’ve contrived to pick a quarrel with has fought Arabs and cannibal troops — odds against him of fifty or a hundred to one, mind you — all across the Congo and back again. He fought in the Uganda mutiny. He’s a man. He’s a merchant, though, with a merchant’s education. He was taken over with the rest of the clerks when the British government superseded the British East Africa Trading Company. He has never had the advantage of legal training. Went to a common school. No advantages of any kind. Poorly paid and overworked. There’s no money in the country yet. Nobody to tax. Salaries — expenses and so on come from home, voted by Parliament. As long as that condition lasts they’re all going to feel nervous. They know they’ll get the blame for everything that goes wrong, and precious little credit in any case. Parliament advertised the country in answer to their complaints of no revenue. Parliament called for settlers. But they’re not ready for settlers. They don’t know how to handle them. They’ve no troops — nothing but a handful of black police. How shall they keep in order colonials armed with repeating rifles? They’re not ready. The Uganda Railway isn’t finished yet; trains get through to Victoria Nyanza once a week, but there’s endless work to be done yet on the line, and Parliament grudges them every penny they spend on it. Yet the railway was rushed through by order of Parliament to prevent Doctor Karl Peters and the Germans from claiming occupation of the head-waters of the Nile and so dominating Upper Egypt. You boys must be considerate.”

  “All right,” said Fred. “I’ll grant all that.”

  “But what gets me” Will interrupted, “is that they should condemn us out-of-hand — on sight — untried — on the say-so of this Lady Saffren Waldon. She carries German letters of credit. She’s so notoriously in league with Germans that you’d think even these little Napoleons ‘ud know it. I’m American myself, thank God, but these two men are their own kith and kin. Why should they judge their own countrymen unheard on the say-so of a woman like that? That’s what rattles me!”

  Courtney blew six smoke rings.

  “You’ll have to forgive them, lad. Too many of the Englishmen who have come here were bad bats from the South, so hot-footed that they burned the grass. Then — don’t forget that the Germans have a military government to the south of us — all experienced men — a great many of them unmitigated rascals, but nearly all of them clever — students of strategy and psychology and tactics — some of them brilliant men who have had to apply for colonial service because of debt or scandal. They’re overmanned where we are under-manned — backed up from home where our boys are only blamed and neglected — well supplied with troops and ammunition, where our police are kept down to the danger point and now and then even without cartridges. The Germans have no railway yet, but they’ve a policy and they keep it secret. We have a railway, and no policy except retrenchment and economy. I’m convinced the German government has no scruples. We have. So you must sympathize with our young men, not quarrel with them.”

  “Believe me,” I said, “we didn’t start out to quarrel with anybody. That woman lied about us. There’s no excuse for believing her without giving us a hearing.”

  “Oh, yes there is. I spoke with her myself this evening,” said Courtney. “She’s staying at my hotel, you know. She’s a match for much more experienced men than our young officials. They’ve been fighting Arabs, not flirting. She had the impudence to try to flatter me. I don’t doubt she’s telling a crowd of men tonight that I’m in love with her — perhaps not exactly telling them that, but giving them to understand it. Why don’t I stroll down to the club and deny it? For the same reason that you don’t openly denounce her! It’s semi- or wholly-sentimental chivalry — rank stupidity, if you like to call it that, but it’s national, I’m glad to say, and I’m as proud of it as any one.”

  “Doesn’t it look to you,” said Fred, “that if she and the German government are so infernally anxious to spoil our chances — and they suspect what we’re after, you know — doesn’t it look to you as if there may really be something in this quest of ours?”

  “Undoubtedly,” said Courtney. “There’s ivory in it, tons and tons and tons of ivory. Somebody w
ill find it some day.”

  “Join us then!” said Fred. “Cancel your trip to Somaliland and come with us! I can speak for Monty. I know he’ll welcome you into the partnership!”

  “I believe I could almost speak for Monty, too,” laughed Courtney. “He and I were at Eton together, and we’ve never ceased being friends. But I can’t come with you. No. I’m making a sort of semi-official trip. I shall hunt, of course, but there are observations to be made. The pan-Islamic theory is said to be making headway also in Somaliland.”

  “Do you feel you have any lien on the Elgon Caves and Bahr el Gazal clues?” Fred asked.

  “No. I make you a present of those ideas. I’m sure I hope you find the stuff. I’m wondering, though — I’m wondering.”

  “I’ll bet you a dollar I’m thinking of the same thing,” said Will.

  “Out with it, then.”

  “What’s to prevent the Germans from making their own dicker with the King of the Belgians or with the Congo government, and rifling the hoard on a fifty-fifty or some such basis?”

  “Correct,” said Courtney. “I confess myself puzzled about that. But I know no European politics. There may be a thousand reasons. And then, you know, the King of the Belgians has the name of being a grasping dealer. The management of his private zone on the Congo is unspeakable. It’s possible the Germans may prefer not to risk putting His Majesty on the scent.”

  “Well, we’ve our work cut out,” said Fred, laughing and yawning. “That woman has started us off with a bad name.”

  “That is one thing I can really do for you,” Courtney answered. “I’ve no official standing, but the boys all listen to me. I’ll tell them—”

  “For the love of God don’t tell them too much!” Fred exclaimed.

  “I’ll tell them you’re friends of mine,” he went on. “I believe that will solve the sporting license and ammunition problem. As for the woman — if I were in your shoes I would steal a march on her. I wouldn’t be surprised if your licenses and ammunition permits were here at the hotel by ten tomorrow morning. I see they’ve sent your guns already. Well, there’s a train for Nairobi tomorrow noon, and not another for three days. I’d take tomorrow’s train if I were you. I always find in going anywhere the start’s the principal thing. You’ll go?”