The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-01-23
! the COMPACT
The Story Of An
Unrecorded Conspiracy
In South Africa
by
RIDGWELL CULLUM
Author of
ssThe Watchers of the Plains" "The
Night-Riders," etc.

Joe looked down at the paper and
then up into his friends face. There
was seriously puzzled expression in
his eyes. He was half inclined to
smile, and at the same time could not
rid himself of a feeling that the let
ter was not exactly a laughing mat
| ter.
%.Its very short" he observed at
last.
.sweil?" Guys fmpatience to be off
made him curt.
advise Chalmer not to leave
| ROOF Grond in any direction but
Mefeking.'"
The little man read out the mes
sage slowly.
Guy reached down and almost
snatched the paper from him. He
ran his eyes over the contents with
a puzzled frown. The handwriting
was unfamiliar, and the message I'M
signed.
s''what boy brought it7" he asked
sharply.
"a Basuto. Never seen him be.
FORE"
ibid you question him."
'.I told him to wait while I read it.
It was in the store. I was behind
the counter. While I was opening
1T, and before could get round to
stop him, he darted out of the tent
and vanished amongst the trees. 1t
was dark
DAMN
Guy was more than annoyed. He
folded the paper UP.
what are you going to dot" asked
the trader.
Keep it."
''But T mean about the message"
| "Oh, that? Nothing. I'm just off. .
'Who do you think wrote it?"
| "Can't say. s'long."
/ Guy swung his horse about and
rode off.
But he had very shrewd suspic-
! ion as to who the writer of that note
was. He drew his conclusions from
the wording. 1t was Fernan Elwood
| And, he asked himself, how did that
| individual know of his movements
and what did he know of his inten-
/ tons? He was furious, and he was
| also disturbed, though he did not ad.
NIT the latter even to himself. II
was the caimness of the warming; the
suggestion of conscious power in the
words that irritated and goaded him
His evaporation found vent upon his
horse. He t5arashed his spurs into
the creatures flanks and gallopod
down the Rad.
Chalmers ill-humor was always OF
a malignant type. not suIky, but vic.
ious, that temper which snaps at ev.
cry prospect Of revenge, and bring.
a frank delight in the contemplation
The conviction that Ferman Elwood
was the author of the yelled threa,
made him contemplate the object OF
his journey with even greater salts.
faction.
He had no thought or his sur.
roundings. The heat was nothing to
him, If it meant much to his hard.
worked horse. The fair land about
him, with it's rolling grassland and
broken woodland patches, had nc
meaning for him in the face of hfi
feelings Of the moment. The hoarse
cry OF the koran passed unheeded,
the melancholy paw stalking over
the long >tawny grass that at any
other time would have called forth
all his hunters instincts, was left to
fossick for it's food undisturbed: the
battle of the secretary bird with It's
subtle prey, the snake, had no inter.
est for him.
He passed all these familiar sights
by, absorbed in his contemplation OF
the manner in which he intended t.
outwit and revenge himself upon the
man who had dictated the auixotic
compact. No, as he rode the world
about him was forgotten in the issues
at stake.
A keener schemer would have not.
ed every detail of that which was
about him; he would have seen with
eyes trained to observe the most
trifling matters, whether immediate
to his plans or not. But then Guy
was self-centred, and had not the
subtle observation SO necessary to the
successful adveriturer.
Thus it was he did not see the
huddled form of niger squatting
at the roadside until his presence
was forced upon him by the shyina
Of his horse. The man had risen a,
his coming, and stood a squalid figure
in his dirty. white cotton blanket.
Guy cursed as his horse leapt on,
of the road and carried him agains,
the wall of camel-thorn lining the
way. The sharp thorns cut him and
aggravated his temper, but the ami.
NAL, accustomed to the solitude OF
the road, was too frightened to be
easily pacified and bore away from
the apparition quite regardless of its
own decorations. It was some mo.
ments before the animal could DC
brought to face the intruder. At last
however, Guy got him under control
What the devil are you doing