The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-06-14
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CHAPTER VIII.
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The Story of the Second Discard.
After ] left your employment"
said Saeger, and, although Arend-
sen scowled at this method of de-
|scribing his defalcation and flight,
the renegade adventurer was not
abashed, 81 went farther south to
see whether there might be any,
thing doing In my line there. But.
what with peace conferences, ev-
Ierything was dull as ditchwater.
So l took boat over to Cape
Town. and had look in at the
little war Germany was carrying
on in Namaqualand. But the mig
gers there wanted me to take cat
tie and such truck for my good
guns, and that was too dangerous.
l then drifted north by degrees as
far as the French Congo.
Business was brisker there,
but by bad luck the Froggies got
wind of me while l was selling
off consignment of Long Danes
had bought wholesale from a
caravan further north. They
dropped on me in bunch. l got
away by the skin of my teeth, and
with no more than l could carry
about me, which was chiefly food.
I've been hard pushed in my
time, but those fellows broke all
records as hustlers. l was so
closely hunted that even my
guides gave up and abandoned
me.
You don't know Darkest Afri-
ca, Arendsen, but l do, and l tell
you / felt mighty mean when /
found myself stranded there, in a
mangrove swamp on the edge of
an impossible river, with the
lbloodhounds hard at my heels.
There / was, at the end of my
tether, with no prospects but a
drumhead courtmartial, a firing
party, and shallow trench in the
mud where the land-crabs bur-
row."
| He shrugged his shoulders in
creeping distaste of the picture he
had recalled to memory.
| Il had calculated that / had
about an hour more to live when
l saw a fellow come calmly sail
ing down-river out OF the heat
haze in a canoe. Think of what
that meant to me then, Arendsen |!
1 When he was nearly abreast
of me | saw from his dress that he
was white man, and hailed him,
but he took no notice. 1t gave me
sickish feeling to think that he
might pass by on the other side,
like the Levite Of scripture, when
all l wanted of him was lift
across.
L felt pretty desperate then, ]
tell you, or l wouldn't have done
what / did. l dived into the moy-
ing mud and struck out at top
speed afetr that deaf man, crying
on him for Gods sake to wait for
me. He didn't-because he was
dead.
81 saw that before I clambered
on board. l picked up the paddle
and made Decline for the bank.
l had an idea, an inspiration. i
reekoned that l had still half an
hour to the good, and what dye
think / did,"
| Arendsen adopted a bored ex-
preston, and shook his head.
Il dropped stone dead there,
Arendsen. I became a corpse. i
said the long goodby to poor old
Dominic Seager, and in a damned
hurry. 1t was the only way to
prevent the Frenchmen from fol-
lowing me to a finish.
ut had to be a quick change,
of course, and l hadn't leisure to
sort out my few belongings, SO 1
lstowed them about the body
wholesale as soon as I'd emptied
tits pockets. left it completely
equipped for Identification, and
as for appearance it had been so
messed about by the niggers that
| 1t might have passed for anyone
in the wide world.
Then / tramped about In the
mud bit, first in my own boots
and then with bare feet, snapped
twigs and branches, and left all
the marks of life-and-death
struggle. l dug out for the near
est cover, and chung to a leafy
bough scarcely daring to breathe.
I'm half a minute the first of
the Frenchmen's black-boys were
yelping about the body, and their
Iyap brought up the rest of the ex-
pedition at a dog-trot.
| There was great palaver
over their find, and they seemed
disappointed to think that they
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