used to say tapping his stick against the when i was a young man i was one of twenty thousand who came out of the city and rode round the plain here i was the leader of a hundred then of a thousand then of five thousand and now � he pointed to his two servants but from the beginning to to day i would cut the throats of all the in the land if i could hold me fast lest i get away and return to those who would follow me i forgot them when i was in but now that i am in my own country again i remember everything do you remember that you have given me your honour not to make your a hard matter said the yes to you only to you said to you because you are of a pleasant countenance if my turn comes again i will not hang you nor cut your throat thank you said the gravely as he looked along the line of guns that could pound the city to powder in half an hour let us go into our own quarters come and talk with me after dinner on the city wall would sit on his own cushion at the s feet drinking heavy scented brandy in great and telling strange stories of fort which had been a palace in the old days of and tortured to death � ay in the very chamber that now served as a mess room would tell stories of that made the s cheeks flush and with pride of race and of the rising from which so much was expected and the of which was shared by a hundred thousand souls but he never told tales of because as he said he was the s guest and is a year that no man black or white cares to speak of once only when the seed brandy had slightly affected his head he said speaking now of a matter which lay between and the affair of the it was ever a wonder to us that you stayed your hand at all and that having stayed it you did not make the land one prison now i hear from without that you do great honour to all men of our country and by your own hands are destroying the terror of your name which is your strong rock and defence this is a foolish thing will oil and water mix now in � i was not born then said the and to his quarters the would tell me of these conversations at the club and my desire to see increased but sitting in the of the house on the city wall said that it would be a cruel thing to do and pretended that y on the city wall i preferred the society of a old to hers here is tobacco here is talk here are many friends and all the news of the city and above all here is myself i will tell you stories and sing you songs and will talk his english nonsense in your ears is that worse than watching the animal yonder go to morrow then if you must but to day such and such an one will be here and he will speak of wonderful things it happened that to morrow never came and the warm heat of the latter rains gave place to the chill of early october almost before i was aware of the flight of the year the captain commanding the fort returned from leave and took over charge of according to the laws of the captain was not a nice man he called all natives which besides being extreme bad form shows gross ignorance what s the use of telling off two to watch that old said he i fancy it his vanity said the the men are ordered to keep well out of his way but he takes them as a tribute to his importance poor old wretch i won t have line men taken off regular guards in this way put on a couple of native said the lifting his eyebrows � they re all alike these black and the captain talked to in a manner which hurt that old gentleman s feelings fifteen years before when he had been caught for the second time every one looked upon on the city wall him as a sort of tiger he liked being regarded in this light but he forgot that the world goes forward in fifteen years and many are promoted to the captain pig is in charge of the fort said to his native guard every morning and the native guard said yes in deference to his age and his air of distinction but they did not know who he was in those days the gathering in s little white room was always large and talked more than before the said who had been my books the inhabitants of the city of where they were always hearing and telling some new thing secluded their women � who were fools hence the glorious institution of the women � is it not � who were amusing and not fools all the greek philosophers delighted in their company tell me my friend how it goes now in greece and the other places upon the continent of europe are your also fools i said you never speak to us about your women folk and we never speak about ours to you that is the bar between us yes said it is curious to think that our common meeting place should be here in the house of a common � how do you call her he pointed with the pipe mouth to is nothing but i said and that was perfectly true but if you took your place in the world and gave up dreaming dreams � on the city wall i might wear an english coat 