The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-01-06

IN LIVERPOOL within six weeks at latest.
What do you think of that?"
oh. / should say 1t was reasonable
enough from the Liverpool point Of view"
Ban! There's not much OF the Coast
about you" lie tore the letters into
shreds. and folded these carefully in pipe
lights. Dear old Godfrey trusted mo
up to the hilt, and this new fellows
got to learn to do the same, or / shall
resign my commission. If lie understood
anything about running the office, lie
might know should do all the work that
was good for me-"
I'm sure you do" said Carter civilly.
Tn afraid I'm the Stacker. You let mo
have such an easy time of 1t whilst my
hrm was getting well, that I've slid off
into lazy ways. / must buck up and
II you'll load the work onto me. Mr..
Smith. you'll find I can do lot more'
Swizzle-Stick Smith dried the persplra-
ton from his eye socket fixed his glass
into a frmer hold, and stared. We'll"
he said at last. you are id fool.'
and there the talk ended
1t was that same day that Carter had
his first introduction to Royalty He
was In the retail store-"feteesh," they
call it on the Coast-weighing out bas-
kets of palm kernels, measuring Gala
bashes of orange-colored palm oil, judging
as best he could the amount OF adul-
terants the simple negro had added to
increase the bulk. and apportioning tho
value in cotton cloth. powder, fintlock
guns at twelve and six pence apiece,
and green cubical boxes of Holland gin.
Trade proceeded slowly. The interior OF
the feteesh was a stew of heat and
odors. and the white mans elaborate
calculations We're none of the most glib.
To knock some idea of the fairness OF
these into the black mans skull was u
work that required not only eloquence,
but also athletic power. The simple saw
age who did only one days shopping per
annum was willing always to let the de-
lights of 1t linger out as long as possi-
BILE. and all the white mans hustlins
could not drive the business along at mora
than a snail's pace.
BY Coast custom, work for Europeans
starts in those cool hours that know the
daybreak. and switches off between eleven
and twelve for breakfast; and thereafter
siesta is the rule till the sun once more
begins to throw a shadow. But on this
particular day. when SwizzleStic Smith
had knocked out his pipe and turned in
under his mosquito bar, Carter sluiced q
parrafin-can full of water over his red
head by way of final refreshment, ana
went down once more from the living
rooms of the factory to the heat and
the doors of the feteesh below.
The sweating customers saw him como
and reused UP out of the purple shadows.
and presently the game of haggle was
once more in full swing.
Carter had a natural gift for tongues.
and was picking up the difficult Coast
languages to the best Of his ability, but
his vocabulary was of necessity small,
and Krooboy stood by to translate in
tricate passages into idiom more likely
to penetrate the harder skulls. The
Krooboy wore trousers and singlet in
token of his advanced civilization, and
bore with pride the name OF White-Man'.;-
Trouble.
There was g!ut Of customers that
baking afternoon High-scented trado
stuffs poured into the factory in pleasing
and bundles of European pro-
duce were balanced upon woody craniums
for transportation through bush paths
to that wild unknown Africa beyond the
hinterland. The new law of X. ONeill
allowed no lingering in the feteesh. Once
a customer had been delivered of his
goods and had accepted payment. Whites
Man sTrouble dccanted him into the
scaldng sunshine outside, and babe him
hasten upon his way. X. O'Neill had
stated very plainly in typewriter LETT
ter that the leakage by theft was I'm.
pleasing to the directorate in Liverpool,
ana must be stopped. X. ONeill UNDER
stood that the thefts took place after
a customer had spent all his cash on
legitimate purchase. as then all his saw
lge intelligence was turned to pilfering.
Carter. as the man on the spot, recog-
1ized the truth of all this, and carried
'ut the instructions to the foot of the
etter
Mr.. Smith warned him he would have
,roubla over 1t. Ever since the first fac
DRY came down to blight this Coast"
smith explained. "the boys have been
allowed to hang around the feteesh and
teal what wasn't nailed down. They
ook upon it in the light OF legiti-
nate discount. and it's grown up into a
custom. Now In West Africa you may
urn forest, or blot out nation, or
tart new volcano. and nobody will
ay very much to you. but if you in
erefere with a recognized custom, you
ONE in contact with the biggest kind
4 trouble"
Still" Carter pointed out. these orr
lers are definite.''