Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-12
CHAPTER VII.
, The Invisible Fire.

The Invisible FIRE.
In the factories which dot the west Afri-
can seaboard and rivers death is such
constant visitor that much of his grimness
has faded At home in England, or Amer
lea. or Hamburg, we shiver with apprehen-
sion whenever our relative who Is "out on
the west coast" comes up into the mind'
but the relative himself takes his doses VI
fever when they fall due with certain cal
lous philosophy, and on his emersehce'
shattered and shrunken from the attach'
congratulates himself on not being canoi-
date for gun case and top hat that titne.
Those who go up in the push anu az '" ~
enguIfed those who get drowned III tie
ever-grinding surf, those who go out by the
thousand and one opportunities "ilIn .n ee
climate and the surroundings ollef, sip oii
their human garb with an easy lloiC
ance. and those who are left pronounce
some pithy epitaph over the deceased anu
go on with their quicker interests.
With the native African death is an even
of even smaller moment stu; ana III .ne
event of a quarrel one competitor Will often
sit down. cuddle his knees shut his eyes
and there and then deliberately suspend ms
vital processes merely to cause leiilpoiais
annoyance to his rival o-.,,,.
Now. the above paragraphs are somewhat
Of tho nature of a footnote elevated to the
text. But they are necessary at TINS pollll
in these memoirs to explain the cooihSee
with which Laura and Carter viewed lhe
near nrOsnect of extinction. Neltner Oh
tba,p Of course wished in the least to dle
Int if never occurred to them to lace ueatn
with anything beyond the usual COAST
philosophy. ; !, sorev
If we get through this" said Carter
IF | hadn't made promise, salo the
girl, II could tell you something ABOUT your
MIR. X. that would startle you
.sYou're a tantaliZing baggage, ana We
,,pyN
of YOU. Gad,Here they come. NOW II
shoot and you get a box of matches ana
light those bombs for White-Man s-Iroupie
to throw A., o;cora+,e
Bombs, Do you mean tlie
IVES You'd a big brazing lamp in the
factory Remember it? Well, you had:
And that meant benzoline, L guessed,
found a drum full of it, anyway, ana We
loaded UP those tins with benzoilne. ~ !
burn like winking in this sun ana the his
gers'll never see the flame. Only thlng 10
take care of is not to set nght u 'he i'o
tory. Now, you understand!
Yes. dear
"And d'you savvy, Trouble!
"Savvy plenty. Oh, Carter, l purh my
leg pIenty-too- much with dem damho' lalnp
once on steamah. NO can see naiiie standl
sun lib for shine. l fit for serve as stand
by-at-crane boy once, sar, on steamah'
"Well. Mr.. Engineer, throw stralsht' anu
don't get hoist by your own petaru' by .ne
living Jink, we re IN LOT IL INV. ".
Trouble for all you re "orth' iisht iA'o
the blue of them. "a.
The four-ffty repeater yap-Eappeo us
messages, and the man VINO hao le.t az, NJ - ~
shoot quick and straight amongst the lao
bits and grouse of Upper Wharfedale mace
deadly practice at this bigger game But
two eieht-shot Winchesters are OF very Mt
fIe more value than catapults In stopping
the rush of two hundred fighting plach pa
cams oficered by Moslemin Hausas. Be
Sra of
factory Erooboys had held them OH, muCh
more by its noise than Its deadhness ne
one solitary shooter VINO felndiiieu .nes
held in scorn; he was firing white poWoer
tn tho winchester, and the smalness of the
mise and the absence of smoke encouraged
them They scorned to shoot at MIN WIN
their fintlocks. They would rush III anu
nut this man to the matchet, anu saw ~
pirl alive And thereafter, when they follea
The red head at King kallees rect, ana
made the girl stand up before him. many
and fine presents would be given TO eiauoeh
them and their women ,xo,~
Go they gave the Okky yell ana sprahE
out OF the bush into the open ana rusieo
across the clearing. .arad
But 10. presently the white man calie u
out. behold, 1 put ju-ju on you bleiter -.
brovs the Kroo tribal mark began throw,
ing green tins which contained some liauiu
distilled by witchcraft. And thereuPoll .he
clinging fires OF hell broke GU. aii oia
al they screamed and danced IN their
FRENZY of PAIN and the air was rlCh WIN
the smell of their cooking. Even hWaha,
who led them, though ne was .,ie 1870
tabting man in all King Kalleas armies,
showed by the grayness that grew upon
his face that he that day learned the les-
con of fear And when presently they
broke and fed for the nnsn 'tlie tham9 If
Vas Ewaka who led that disordered re-
treat. and held a sleeve of his 1elab before
his ewes lest the white man might prlns
further witchcraft to bear, which would
make his face a uellsioii ioi '1
Paradise. go, -, c,., ~, ~,
the factory venranda, but benzoilne is
filthy stuff to fight with. the place Sums
iile = cook shop and l feel like beastly
Russian anarchist. Don't throw any more
tins, Trouble. We've saved our bacon
Laura. I do believe, but l hate being I'M
snortsmanlike It's worse than netting
your neighbors grouse moor, this: But
they came up to the gun too quick for me
To stoD them alone WhiteM Man s-Trouble,
If YOU throw another OF those lh1erhal
bombs I'll slip a shot into YOU
Laura was crouched in behind the mat
tress casemate, her face tucked away into
the crook of an elbow and her shoulders
heavng with sobs.
Won? You're not hit? Good God don't tell
me you're hit. What careless hound
am to let you get out of cover. could
fired. What a miserably incompetent brute
l am to get ratified and not see after you
better"
"Oh, George, I'm not hit. / almost wish
l were That would be fairer."
Carter stared. whats the matter,
them
She pulled herself together with an eff
fort II suppose l must feel very much as
YOU do about the matter. only more so.
You see l lit the matches for each bomb
Trouble held out to me. 1t was l who am
really responsible
Carter tackled the situation with ready
wit Now, look here. I'm not going to
have you presuming being my sweet
heart. l know you'd like to have the
credit of routing the enemy, but your
not going to have it. l want all the kudos
/ can get in that line for business pur-
poses myself. I'm going to point out In my
report TO Mr.. X. that it was my brilliant
genius alone that ROOTED out that drum
of benzoline, and put it to a new and I'M
pleasant use and that any idea of refus-
ing me the $40 year rise in screw that
l ask as a reward would be bang against
all O'Neill and Craven's most cherished
traditions OF fairness. So just you remem.
Der that, Miss Slade, and don't go off and
brag about doing one single thing that
( wasn't ordered by your superior officer In
this service las old SwiZzeStick Smith
would say, and that's me-
You're a dear, good boy
II am, said Carter cheerfully Pm
cod