, 1888-11-18
"HE 0 TRICK.

in charge of the Akankoo mines on the
Gold Coast of Africa, at the time he came
to me. These works, originally but n
series of pits, rudely excavated and now
long deserted by the natives who had
sought the precious metal there, were
located just twenty mikes inland from the
odd Dutch coast town of AKIN. The
town, now become an English possession,
is situated Immediately upon the extreme
western limit of the Gulf of Guinea, about
40 miles north of the equator. How
drifted out there is a Long story unneces-
sary to relate, and it will suffice to say
that / seemed to have q rather mournful
TIM of it in the struggle for q comfort
less existence in a country of equatorial
seasons, with the added disadvantages of
a never absent malaria that fitted like
Deianira's shirt. Sc emitting these profit
less details, it was just after dinner upon
one of the many long afternoons of my
exile there that | found myself the re-
iuctant possessor of Humbug Sin; and
with the story of my fortune (sic), how it
came, endured and lapsed, these pages
are alone concerned.
On this particular afternoon | had car
ried a camp chair to a little Swallowed
swell, perhaps a dozen yards away to the
front of the superintendent house, and
had taken up an indolent posture there in
the half hearted hope that a mint of q
yagrant breeze might find mcknight
wander up from the ocean by way of the
river valley, and salt for a moment the
stagnant air about me. Moreover, / was
just recovering from my fifth attack of
Gold Coast fever, and was, therefore,
inclined to trail out my moments of ease
as far as conscience would allow. Ora
ham, the c%ompany's doctor, who shared
the house with me, had taken up a gun
and gone off in pursuit of a flock of par
rots that were keeping up a CHATTER in the
edge of the forest behind. In passing, |
will remark that a Gold Coast forest is n
genuine affair; in fact, all over that fiat,
reeking and all nature seems to run to
vegetation. The dense, gladeless tangle
of that silent brush is of itself disheart-
ening; and if you happen to get a few
hundred yards away from NOur path,
while hunting or prospecting through
them without a guide, you are apt to be-
come n permanent absentee, unless you
have n compass and an AK, and are an
expert at finding and avoiding the hidden
pitfalls in the way of old shafts or pros
pect holes that constantly threaten the
unwary or u~ninitiated.
Graham being absent, but for the fit
ting. distant presence of my Krew boy
cook at the back of the house, | was
alone. After | had been in the position
described and in the condition of q wan
derer's reverie gone wandering, both for
some little time, l had occasion to fish
myself out of them, in order to make a
befitting reply to the grave salutation of
Il dignitied native who had approached.
You take me, sah?" he said, indicating
by a gesture that the ~rascally little mon
key under his arm was intended TO be
transferred. BLACK man no savy 'nough.
He too trick, sab. White man hab chain,
an fit (able) to hab him. He too trick:
too much humbug. You take he, sah2"
Now | did not require or desire a mon
key. More than this, | saw no especial
seduction in the particular type of pesti
lential peskiness before me. But | could
be influenced, and the native who now
proposed to resign his ownership over the
miserable little fostering of sin in my
cr-prejpdice, had the power to sway M
natural inclinations materially. He was
the head man of the nearest village to the
mihes, and this meant a good deal to me:
Tor must have miners and laborers, and
must hire them, not .singly and individu-
ally, but in squads, and from these head
men of the native towns, In addition. !
had another reason for compliance. Old
Potsdam had succeeded in eXtricating me
from an odd sor of a difiiculty-into
which, by the way, he had also plunged
me-and my gratitude, being only two
weeks old, was therefore o potent lever.
The dilemma and rescue spoken of came
about in this fashion: 1 procured old
Potsdam TO take in charge q consignment
of forty barrels of South American NUT
ton, and to exchange it for palm oil and
gold dust at the various towns along the
river. Having furnished him with the
basis of the exchange and the necessary
boats for purposes Of transportation, l
saw him shove off and disappear. 1t is
sufficient to say in the connection that !
was pleased to the point of establishment
Mt the liberal nature of the returns made
by him three days later. Even for English
mutton-for the South American article
is a difficult commodity-I had been more
than recompensed. That was all very
well until a few days later, at which time
affairs took on quite another aspect. The
change TRANSFERRED when a crowd of boats,
tioating q freight of excited natives bent
upon oil and dust or trouble. came hurry
ing up the river.
As it happened, old Potsdam was on the
works at this time, and came upon the
scene of disturbance without delay.
why, he asked, as he stalked grandly
among the ugly tempered blacks-"why
black man come raise big palaver wild
white mani"
In reply to this, there was n storm of
angry remonstrance and furious demon
stration, out of which nothing ineligible
could be CLEANED, until one tall young
fellow succeeded in asserting his right Of
speech, to the exclusion of his disorderly
companions. From him l very shortly
gathered the fact that he esteemed the
whole affair of the mutton trade to be an
infringement of every rule of commercial
decency.
BLACK man saw 70 noIover wild ,vh;+a
man" persisted old Potsdam in all solem-
nifty, and in a tone that filed up and over
flowed with pity and reproach.
But" objected tho spokesman of the
blacks, while he fourished over mis- head
a skinny shank OF mutton to which the
hoofs yet adhered-"but," he yelled, in
that quality Of confidence and indignation
which is lent by a just cause and a deep
wrong. die too tief p~alaver! Poke hab
hawns like SOP" Here he lifted from the
bottom Of the boat a head Of an old ram,