Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-12
SYNOPSIS OF FIRST INsTALLMENT.

and is succeeded by a mysterious TX. O'Neill. -
whom none of the employees has seen. but who
is bringing up to-date. hustling methods to bear
the old trade. Carter selects as BODY Serv-
BILE and revoiutionizcs the former easy going
ways of the factory. The firm Is dependent 1or
the King of okky. fat African tyrant This
king has fallen in love Win laura nau e;
Smooth River factory. another of the 0'Neill
Craven trading posts The King , desires rec
fusaI he waylays her she is on her way to
Malta Nulla and tries to kidnap her Carter
rcscues the girl and thrnshes the king The
king demands Carriers life of Smith, On the
atter's refusal 10 give up the clerk the KING KING
cutting on supplies from the interior siade
goes up country on mission for the hrm 10 buy
up rubber lands. In his absence the King of
to carry of Laura. Carter. who in the absence
of any other wC.nan's society, has fallen in love
Man Trouble to help her. The regular factory
Okky's raiders who are led by Mosem soldier
named Kwaka. Carter seeks to impress kwaka
by pretending to he iu-ju man ,magieian) but
charge the factory. but, thanks to Carriers
warlike precautions are at first repulsed Dur
ing the thick Of the fight Carter, touched by
Laura's courage. asks her to be his wife. She
blood. His father. an English clergyman, has
already warned him against falling in love with
such women
''Bosh, Anyway you're white enough for
me. Let go the chattie And as l said be-
fore, Here's luck Ugh! African river
water, half mud, half essence of Niger
from higher up. Moreover, as you re-
marked, hot as tea. Bang there goes
that Internal cannon again, and I've been
gossipng with you-proposing, l mean
and haven't seen the flash. Plunked a
shot into one of the palm oil puncheons in
the store below, by the sound of it. Hullo,
here comes the wind. Now. somebody will
have his hair couhed ~
AS though the discharge of the ancient
brass gun had been a signal tornado
opened upon them without warning, and
almost in its full strength in the first
blast.
one minute there was a stagnant calm,
with air so hot and stale that it hardly
seemed to refresh one to breathe it. The
next wind travelling often at a hundred
miles hour beloved and roared at
them in tearing spasms of fury. The fac
tory building reeled and srOaned at its i'm
pact. Sticks. boards. corrugated roofing
and empty barrels solved the problem of
aerial flight The close-grown trees of the
forest that hemmed the factory in on the
landward side were tlattened earthward
though by the pressure of some unseen
giant hand; yes, flattened down. and down,
till one thought that any human beings
that We're beneath them must inevitably
be crushed out of all living shape into the
foul, soft swampy ground beneath. And
in cold truth some of the Okky men who
covered there during the enforced lull of
the attack did so die.
The firing had ceased automatically on
both sides and a bombardment of sticks.
leaves, sand and stones pelted them all
numerically. 1t was impossible to face
the wind: indeed, violent was the tor
rent of air that the mere act of taking
breath became a matter of the incest art.
The girl lay crouched under the huddle
of bedding, buffetng into semi-uncon-
seriousness, with Carter's arm holding her
tight down to the floor boards of the
veranda. He put his lips to her ear and
bawled a message. She shook her head.
Through the insane yell of the wind she
could not hear a word He laughed and
kissed her. and then. taking away his pro-
tecting arm worked his perilous way like
some clinging, creeping thing into the in
side of the dwelling.
door. smashed from its hinges, clattered
nosily about in one corner, as though it
had been some uncouth mechanical toy
propelled by clumsy clockwork Every
thing movable hoped on the floor or
danced from the walls. And of course to
this disorder was added all the dishevel-
ment which had been caused by the vol
leys of jagged cast iron fired through the
fiimsy walls by the Okky mems flintlocks.
But Carter knew what he wanted and
sought for it with single mind.
Presently from among the debris he
emerged with a four-gallon drum; and
then lie worked his way 20 a cupboard
where Slade kept his store OF cigarettes.
Luckily it was full. Slade had boarded
steamer lately WNtre MS credit IN the
forecastle shop was still untarnished, and
his plausible tongue had procured him
whole two-dozen case of half-hundred tins
on some ingenious acknowledgements
two of the green tins left, and Carter got
them all out, opened them, and recklessly
emptied their contents onto the floor.
With infinite pains. and sheltering the
liquid from the blast under his coat he
decanted the contents of the big drum
into the tins till all were full. Then he
relidded them and jabbed a hole with his
penknife in each lid.
He rebuilt them into their own wooden
case as he primed them. and when this
was full, dragged it out through the door
way into the casemate OF mattresses.
Laura and WhiteMan sTrouble still
crouched there helplessly, and the tornado
still yelled and roared and doomed. 1t was
carrying water with 1t now. bitter salt
from the sea, and whipping the face like
hail where ii impinged.
Carter was GREATNESS and painting by
the time he had managed once more to
drag himself under the shelter of the
bedding; but he was keenly alive to the
needs of the immediate future Already
he noted a diminution in the tornados
fury; the hustling cloud of sticks and
leaves and branches which It carried along
was growing less thick, and although this
was by far the hardest hurricane he had
ever seen, he knew from previous ac
quaintance with the breed that il might
well drop TO perfect calm as suddenly as
il had arisen.
AS point of fact it deceived him. The
wind lulled, and the forest trees swung up
ward in unison as though they had been
performing a trick. The air cleared and
Carter raised his head to try and spot the
part of the bush where the brass gun was
masked. A black man sprang from the
underground lifted a gun, fired and
missed. Carter threw up the Winchester
for snapshot
Got him-Laura, for the Lords sake
keep down in shelter, or they'll pick you
,.rrt ttatt- md roll
up those pillows and blankets underneath
YOU into a hard wad and stuff them into
that gap at the corner there"
Isn't there a splendid chill after that
awful heat?" the girl said Wrap up,
George, or you'll have fever. Here's your
coat"
Look out" Carter shouted. Hold on
all with those blankets. Here comes more
tornado"
Once more the wind slammed down upon
them with insane fury. and once more all
loose inanimate things rose into vigorous
flight The forest trees covered down into
the swamps from which they grew. Solid
rods of rain split against the factory
buildings and sent deluges of water squirt
ing through the bamboo walls as though
the uatchwood backing had not been
there The roar was like the continuous
passing of a hundred heavy trains over a
hundred iron bridges all side by side.
Gone altogether now was the stagnant