Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-20
CHAPTER XIV.
Tin Hill: The Mine.

Tin Hill, when they got to IT, carried
riches that lay in full view of the sky.
The mountain of country rock which held
the veins reared up out of the dark green
bush, red streaked and barren and the last
days march toward ii lay through a heavy
growth of rubber vines Even the Krooboy
could not help noticing these.
20 Carter he said, rubber lib for here
Dem Missy Kate she say rubber palaver
beat oil-palavcr, an kernels, an gum, all
e-same cooked hat
She didn't. Those are my words OF wis
dom you've got ho.d Of Still l admit the
sentiments are Miss O'NeilIs. But the main
thing is, Trouble, that rubber takes capital
and labor to handle, and this firms short
of both at the moment. Wen leave rubber
to Miss O'Neill for the present"
20 Carter. dem Missy Kate, she no fit for
love you now?'
she no fit said Carter. with a sigh,
because you savvy | fit for do wife-palaver
with dem Miss Laura
The last marches of Ali ben Hoosein's
road had been little Travelled during these
latter months of political upheaval, and
had encroached, and passage was difficult
Moreover, food was painfully scarce.
SwiZZle-Stick Smith, out of his scanty store
had given them what he could, but this
was eaten, and once more they had
been forced to fall back on that marvellous
thing, the kola nut. But though nibbling
kola puts off the desire for a meal. and
makes one able TO endure prolonged strains
it does not fill gaps in the inside.
Both Carter and the Krooboy were very
gaunt, and tattered, and strengthening
when at last they arrived at the rock and
the river; but the omens seemed to change
from that moment.
To begin with. Garter had a snapshot
at a gazelle and brought it down. They
lit fire where they We're, ate and felt the
blessedness of being full for the first time
for FORTNIGHT Then wbilST Inning
site for a hut, they came across a clump
of plantains, wild certainly, and coarse, but
filling enough to men who had long out
grown any niceties of palate. And at the
farther side of the plantains, what ap-
Feared to be a mere cubical mound of
greenery disclosed itself upon inspection to
be house.
Ghosts, whispered Whte-Man's-
Trouble, and shrank back.
Il hope So" said Carter They'd give
us local news, anyway, and might be
ghosts outside a story-book, and I'm afraid
there'll be none here. 1 wonder who lived
this spot? Stone house, with lined
walls three feet six thick. and fiat cement
twenty feet by twelve. No, by Christie
pher! there's another room on beyond.
Storeroom that-oh. beg pardon, Mr..
Snake. My mistake. Good afternoon!
He shot out into the open again by the
doorway and several snakes who resided in
the farther room made exit by the window.
when in doubt as to the authorship of
any West African monument, one always
puts 1t down to the early Portuguese" Car
ter unused, "an6 Wen leave it at that for
the present. Original occupants have been
gone any time these last two hundred
years Well, if We strip off these vines and
creepers from the outside and light fires in
side to sweeten the air a bit we shall have
the most palatial quarters. The question
now is whether there. is a mine and whether
it is worth working"
But that last point very quickly answered
itself. Three great veins of tin-stone sliced
vertically into rhe mother rock. Two of
them were forty feet wide, the third was
sixty. The face, ran up at a steep angle
and great beei-colored river swilled away
at its foot and undermined it, and, with
the help of the sun, kept chattering screes
always cascading down the slope
This isn't mine" Carter shouted, ex-
ultantly; its a quarry! Bring a steamer
up alongside here. and every man that
works could shovel two hundred sovereigns
worth of ore into her from these dumps