The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1909-05-27
.R HudsoN Dou9los
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CHAPTER VIII.
THE STORY OF THE SECOND
DISCARD.
"After1 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, II went south as far as
the River Plate, to see whether
there might be anything doing in
my line there. But, what with
peace conferences and Pan-Ameri-
can meetings, everything was dull
as ditch water. So l took Lam
port and Holt 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 ne to take cat
tie and such truck for my good
guns, and that was too dangerous.
l sold a few repeating persuaders
! had picked up here and there to
the Boers-there's quite a good re-
tail trade going on again, right un-
der the Britishers' noses-and
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 I was selling off a
consignment of Long Danes / had
bought wholesale from a caravan
further north. They have three
forts on the border and are death
on hardware Dealers And just
when / had the goods humming,
down they dropped on me in a
bunch. 1t got away by the skin of
my teeth, and with no more than I
could carry about me, which was
chiefly food.
They got all my guns, of course,
and l thought that would surely
satisfy them, but they came chas-
ing gaily along in my wake, and I
slipped into German territory,
never doubling that they would
stay on their own side of the fence,
for William the Second doesn't
favor armed trespassers, in his
yard.
But not bit Of 1t. They trailed
clear across the Cameroons after
me, and my niger spies brought
me word that they meant to bag
me even If they had to infringe on
British possessions as well
i've been hard pushed in my
time, but those fellows broke all
records as hustlers. Whichever
way l turned they headed me off,
and l was so closely hunted that
even my guides gave up, and aban-
doned me. had staked my very
last chip, l was ready and willing
to cash in my checks before the
luck turned.
You don't know darkest Africa,
Arendsen, but do, and | tell you |
felt mighty mean when l found my
self stranded there, in a mangrove
swamp on the edge of an impass-
able river, with the bloodhounds
hard at my heels. I won't say
didn't feel sorry then that | had
left your employment. But, any
way, there | was, at the end of my
tether, with no prospects but a
drumhead courtmartial, firing
party and a shallow trench In the
mud where the land crabs burrow."
He shrugged his shoulders in
creeping distaste ofsthe picture he
had recalled to memory.
81 had calculated that had
about an hour more to live, and
was filing in the time with a few
reflections to fit the occasion, when
] saw fellow come calmly sailing
down-river out of the heat haze in
q canoe. Think of what that meant
to me then. Arendsen!
HE seemed to be pretty jack
easy in his own mind, He didn't
hurry at all when l hailed him, al
though the sound of a voice might
have meant all sorts of horrors
ahead of him. He simply sat still,
and came oozing along with the
current.
when he was nearly abreast Of
me saw from his dress that he
was white man, and hailed him
again, but he took no notice. 1t
gave me a sickish feeling to think
that he might pass by on the other
side, like the Levite of scripture,
when all wanted Of him was lift
across, which meant everything In
the world-to me at that moment.
: 81 felt pretty desperate then. ]
tell you, or l wouldn't have done
what did. The back-creeks o!
the Benue aren't like swimming
baths. But I dived into the NOV
ing mud and struck out at top
speed after that deaf man. crying
OH him for Gods sake to wait for