Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-20

Great Britain And unless the hand OF
the foreign office is absolutely forced, they
always do as the anti-Britishers ask. You
see the anti-British party is noisy and
hysterical, and always shrieking that II
can command countless votes Mr.. Smith
limped across the hut and sat on a green
case and emphasized his further remarks
with a powder-staned forefnger.
We'll" he said. its Old game with
me, and after all the official kicks I've had
l ought to have dropped it years ago.
But somehow | couldn't resist the tempta-
ton. The King if Okky is our man by
geography and agreement. | have made
rcpl esentatiOns to the F. o., till | am sick
of putting pen to paper, that he ought to
be recognized and patted on the back. They
don't even take the trouble to reply, much
less carry out the suggestion. Therefore the
French, who have taken hold of the hinter
lane. have done the obvious. They sent
Gown e sort of fourth-rate tin-pOt sous
Officer ana right for France they'd give
hin q commission and a $40 francs gra-
tui.y and as he'd absolutely no COMPETE
tors * naturally did the trick
What n beastly shame!'' Carter blurted
out and then felt surprised a himself.
1t was about the first time in his life that
the Englishman that was within him had
ever peepcd out upon the surface.
Il know what tae mans expedition
cost-practically nothing. l saw the
presents he gave old Kallee-e5o would
have covered them. And for that. and
a mOuthtul Of empty words. he gets half
a million square miles of territory and
trade of present value of 100000 and
"a potential value of e750,0o0 at a low
estimate. Well. MI Carter. I'm Drawer
than our F. O. I'm going to buck
against the anti-British party, and I'm
going to see that We keep in our own
hands what rightly belongs to us. L
shall be called Il pirate, but that doesn't
disturb me. l lost all the reputation l
had to lose al this same game years ago.
was doing my duty here then in West
Africa. a SNUG little beast of a news
paper man got up in the house of COM
mons and demanded my dismissal. He
would never have been heard of if he
hadn't been consistently antiBritiSh on
every occasion when the country was in
disagreement with any one else. But it
was his dirty line, and it brought him
certain disgraceful notoriety, which
what he was after. He could command
votes, or said he could, and the govern
ment believed him. They didn't care
particularly for England; their one inter
est was keeping their party in Office;
and as 1 was a nuisance l had to go. 1t
wasn't case of peIng actually broke,
you must understand, Mr. Carter, but
they made things so awkward that l had
to send in my papers all the same. They
tried the same game with Rhodes and
Curzon, and Miner, The dirty little ours
They hate man who tries to uphold
Great Britains dignity or give her
other acre of territory.
But here now, thank the Lord, 1 per-
sonally am unofficial, and I'm doing ex-
actly what I know 20 be best without
fear or favor of ANYBODY.
How far does your territory extend
sir?"
LAS far as 1 can make it, said Mr.
Smith dryly.
Are you going to let it be developed
by the white MANI"
"Assuredly.
Then said Carter, I'VE shan't clash
and I'm sure you will give me my pass
ports. l don't know whether the place
q M z n FL iS 10 arrifn
the next kings, but I'm going there
purely for purposes OF development.
tell you frankly, | haven't a bit of am
bition at present beyond making a pile
If ever I find myself a rich man / NAV
take hand in the thankless game you
are on at here But that's in the future.
In the meanwhile, If the question is not
indiscreet might one ask if it was a
Frenchman you Were having that rifle
duel with just now?
The Frenchman's down with fever l
was exchanging shots with a soldier of
fortune who is, / believe, Old acquaint-
ance of your. Kwaka his name is
Great Christopher. What a small place
West Africa is. Old Kallee sent Kwaka
down to borrow my head for his collection,
and after the way l bamboozled that man
l shouldn't have been surprised if he d been
struck off the Okky army list. Did you
er-make clean job of him.
Winged only, 1 think. He kept very well
to cover
You were both blazing away for long
enough.
Well chuckled Mr.. Smith, I'm afraid
he hardly had fair chance at me. You
see, I'd a boy with a trade gun lying under
a log dozen yards to my right and I'd a
string from my foot to his trigger. When
loosed off the Winchester l pulled the
other gun too, and Kwaka shot for the
smoke every time, and made very good
practice of it. That log would be worth
mining for lead
When you take the place what shall
yc,: do with the Frenchman?"
Just the same that he would do with
me-" said the old man grimly. Now sup
pose we change the subject. The bush teie-
graphs have been persistently TALKING, about
a white woman who's been upsettin2 the
face OF Africa. especially about our fac
tories. Heard anything of her?'
Carter laughed shortly. .'Of course I've
heard. In fact she's why I'm here. She's
Miss Kate ONeill.'
The old man dropped his eyeglass to the
end of it's ribbon, fumbled for it till he
caught it again. and three times tried to
screw it In place before he got it fixed.