Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-09-27
BACK TO AFRICA.
WRITTEN FOR THE EVENING STAR BY
WILLIAM wEsTALL
ICopyrightsdl
CHAPTER L

CHAPTER
N MAKE the following statement-or con-
III fession-for it partakes Of the nature OF
IS 3oth, with great reluctance, being I'M
III pelled thereto solely by sense of duty
~ and q desire to throw light on q terrible
mystery, q mystery which has not alone
bafiled the police, but Of which neither the
trained detectives of Scotland Yard nor the
amateur detectives of the press have suggested
solution that meets the facts.
1t may be asked why the same sense Of duty
did no: constrain me TO make the revelation
sooner. and while the facts were still fresh in
the public recollection. Tho question is easily
answered / am only just recovering from a
condition OF nervous prostration so protracted
and severe that for nearly two years l was
unable either to write a coherent sentence or
recall the past. Even yet, though live in a
lonely Alpine valley. far from the haunts Of
men. fear to cross the threshold OF my cot
sago. and the echo OF a strange footstep fills
me with namelcss dread.
But to my stOry-which, with one exception,
shall be told without reserve. For reasons that
will be obvious to the reader 1 am compelled
TO hide NV identity under an assumed uamc.
NV father was q London physician, a man of
high scientific attainments and weII-known
writer.
One Of my duties at home. duty in which
took great pleasure. was to help my father
with his extensive md sometimes burdensome
correspondence.
One Monday morning opened letter bear
Ing the Zanzibar post mark. Ii ran thus: Just
line TO say that Herbert has been heard OF.
More oy next mail. Yours truly, L. Robinson"
Though short. this missve was tho most i'm
portant IN the whole delivery, and / Land 10 on
the top OF the pile.
Ny father pounced on it at once.
Herbert heard OF. George Herber: heard
OF" he exclaimed eIcitedly. He il alive.
then. / was right after all. / would not give
him up. though everybody else did. This is
the best news I have heard for many q day
Nyra. His death would have been an immense
loss to scTenco and a great grief to me. Such
Q tinc fellow! GOu remember when he was our
guest five or six years ago.
No / was at college. / never saw him,
and though am aware that he is q very dis
tInguished man and your particular friend. /
really know very little about him. You forget
how much have been from home"
lie Is indeed distinguished man, and
singularly devoted to science. We became
great friends, and i. was who first directed
his attention to ethnology, winch he took up
with characteristic artlor. Having no in:en-
ton either TO practice or TO teach. and being
blessed with more money than he could spend,
he decided to travel III the wilder and less
known parts of the earth, with q view to the
collection of facts bearing on the variations of
the human race. He spent two years in ths
unexpiored regions of Brazil and Peru, and
sent home some very valuable papers, not only
on ethnolOSy but on botany ana biology. And
he does his work 50 thorOugbiy-lises with the
people. learns their language hunts with them.
fishes with them and sets down nothing as a
fact which he has no. personally verified. Five
years ago he went Oh a similar expedition to
Central Africa. For n while / had letters regu-
larry. Then they suddenly ceased. and until
now-though We were continually making in
quiries at Cape Town. Zanzibar and elsewhere
he had not be en- heard of or from for nearly five
Years. Most of his friends gave him up for
lost i alone continued to hope"
How old is he:"
Not much more than thirty; a regular Her-
cules ami with n constitution OF iron"
He will have much to tell when he comes
back"
Yes. we shall have another and still moro
interesting book than the last"
DO you think he has followed the same sys-
TEN in Africa as he did in South America-liy-
Ing with the natives?"
Certainly; and this is what diferentiates
his work from that OF ordinary travelers l
wonder when we shall have him here. Not for
some time, fear, unless he Is near the coast
Travelling in Central Africa is tedious bust
ness"
i also wondered when we should see DIR. Her
bert and for the remainder OF the day thought
Of little else. Ny fathers account of him had
fired my imagination. There was some thing in
his achievements which seemed to me positively
heroic. Brave and learned, young. rich and of
fine physique, distinguished even before he
passed M ideal much as any other man l
knew came short of il.
CHAPTER IL