Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21
THE HARD MAN


fellow would do who'd been out of touch
with his profession for time, eh?"
Bennett looked up quickly, and slapped
his hand upon his thigh excitedly. "You've
| hit it, he cried. give been wondering what
it was that struck me as queer about it all,
and you We put your finger on the very thing!
Old practice, that's what! Now, that looks
promising. 1t holds possibilities, you know.
Yes, Sir, it surely does" And he fell to
| musing, with his arms about his drawn-up
knees.
aI've heard that Allison knows more about
it than he's saying" put in Burnham
thoughtfully. @Pontifex- know, the
A Battery chap-told me this morning there
was something working up like yeast. He
says he knows Allison is laying all sorts of
pipe, and getting queer reports from some
roundabout channel he's in touch with. I'd
like to get something off to The Herald
that would make EN- sit up, and l shouldn't
wonder if this will be it,
| The dusk began to fall, and the pale amber
tints of the campfire glowed weirdly against
the darkening sky.
| "They say the old man actually knows
who the fellow is, said Crandall, after long
pause; and De Lesseps glanced up at the
Others and smiled, but said nothing.
| "He speaks the native language doesn't
hep asked young Darrow little efficiently.
He had not yet smoothed out all his ruff1ed
feathers. 3You ought to know" he went on,
addressing "The Times" man.
Il know he speaks about every native dia-
lect to be found in this Internal sun baked
land, replied De Lesseps quietly. Il know
he can get himself up in native rig and trot
about for weeks at time, and the man
doesn't live that can spot him. He's done
it scores of times, and there isn't another
white man l ever heard of who can. AS to
whether he knows who this chap is, or not, l
can't say
3But you would know before any of US,
if" began Darrow, when the older man cut
him off sharply.
@Thatu do, Son" he said quietly. 3You
don't know your man. His own father
would have no more show than the rest of us.
told you he played fair, and he does-don't
you ever forget that. If there's big thing
coming off, he'll send for us all together.
About this other thing, as I say, l don't
know how much he has up his sleeve; but
do know that months before this expedition
was officially announced Allison was up
here in native rig. Perhaps it's not neces-
sary to tell you, barrow, that's not news,
and you must keep it to yourself. He's been
over every foot of the ground, even into
| Ouladan."
aInside Ouladan! Good Lord! You don't
l mean IT,! CRED Burnnam eXc1tedly.
EYES, answered De Lesseps, watching
the morose face of young Darrow. 3He
spent week there inside the walls. You
see, he's hard man, and he has habit of
doing anything he tackles very hard indeed
He could not help the little shaft, and he
felt secretly pleased when the youngster
flushed. 4He got wind of chap he'd heard
good bit of in one way or another in the
native backwaters and the drift that filters
into official quarters. Nothing very much,
or definite in any way, you understand, but
sufficient to build little speculative theory
on. This country is full Of hints; but cold
facts are hard to get, as perhaps you've
noticed. The natives don't talk much for
the Great Chief has nasty little habit of
clipping mans neck just above the shout
ders when he talks loosely"
| ugh! Pleasant johnny, must say!' re-
marked Burnham, with shudder, and pulled
a blanket up around his shoulders as he spoke.
| A bugle sounded keenly in the twilight,
and there was the muff1ed sound of many
moving men.
l. De Lesseps was looking into the fire as he
went on. "Allison followed man he had
seen hanging about the sok market, you
know-and lost him. An hour after he
woke up to the fact that he was being
logged; SO he cut into an inn and out by
another door, and began to trail the fellow
| u,ho had been IN hic trail II urac rrefty