The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-01-09
(Continued.) |. AN EXPLANATION.


 AN EXPLANATION.
 In order to avoid disappointing readers of The Farmer who are in terested in 'The Compact" the tplendid serial story now appearing I'm this paper, Saturdays portion of the instalment is herewith reprinted for the benefit of those who did not receive it in their Saturdays paper; The omission was due to an acci- dent to The Farmers press Saturday Afternoon, which necessitated the dropping out of the page contain Ing "The Compact" on the last lew hundred numbers of The Farmer To. which was omitted and a new portion of the story-Editor of The Farmer} tRepubHshed By Request From The
 Farmer of Saturday, Jan. 7.)
 The trader nodded
 sCome inside" he said curtly. with a quick glance at the group of Kaf> Arn
 Leading the way through the store, be passed into a room at the back. The apartment was his living-room, bare, neat. wholesome place; just such a place as one might haxe ex- pected in a man of Jerry's frugal mind.
 Make yourselves comfortable" !" he went on. indicating the scanty furniture. while he carefully closed the cotton-covered window.
 Mike possessed himself of the bed. Guy accepted the services of the frafl table: but Goodall, character fstically, availed himself of the surer support of a bale of Kaf1r blan- kefs.
 Jerry adopted the only chair in the room, and, by the manner in which he plunged at once into busi- ness, showed that this gathering was one of considerable importance, even emergency
 He drew from an inner pocket a iong blue envelope.
 aT have here a letter from my firm, Helimann and Oller of Berlin. '' he said. with strong German ac- cent. s'You will know Hellmann and cIler," he added, with quick glance of meaning at his audience
 rYes. we know Hellmann and Ol- ler.- Guy said, with short laugh.
 The others nodded.
 @~Yes. Sood- The trader beamed upon the paper as he drew it from the envelope. Then for a moment he silently scanned the spidery Ger man writing thereon. "Oller says the rumours contained in his last let 2 ter are more than confirmed" he went on presently. ''The German Government are having much, very much, trouble with the niggers ir Damaraland. They find it necessary to send troops---eight thousand, he says-to keep the country in order They land soon- He is sorry to heal that this. our country. is so disturbed with freebooters- He says it mus be bad for trade. He thought the English peace of Majuba would have fixed all comfortably, and the set tiers in Bechuanaland would live ir friendliness with the Boer. H. points out that these disturbances should be settled without appeal tc Great Britain England has had z lesson. They will not send soldier into Bechuanaland; it will upset thu peace which has just been ratified with the Boers. Besides, he say Bechuanaland is not a British pos sesfon He feels confident. if dis turbances in Bechuanaland becomes serious. an. appeal by the settlers t. the forces in Damaraland would ob tain sympathetic consideration, par ticularly as there are so many Ger man traders in the country. The gov ernment of the Fatherland is eve ready to help its children. He adds and it is an important point-that h. does not think the forces in Damara land will or can, do anything to hell us unless we appeal to them. or unle- threaten the borders of German ter ritory. In the latter case promp and high-handed measures will un doubtedly be taken Here is the let ter; you can read it for yourselves. l is in German"
 '.No use to me-" said Guy promptly
 "Nor me-" said Goodall.
 'I haven't a notion of the lingo, protested Mike. "But this fellow OIier," he added, where does he ge his authority? 2"
 Jerry shrugged his shoulders. Hi face was unutterably bland.
 "Who can tell?" he said. And tn other two smiled upon the question
 Seems to know a lot" muttere the giant.
 "Yes"
 The old trader carefully folded tn letter and returned it to it's envelope Then he struck a match and set fir to one corner of the paper, and hel jt until the flames had devoured al Dat the last corner. This he droppe on the earthen floor, and watched tn last fragment of blue char to a cin der. Finally he ground the ashes un