The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1912-11-23
CHAPTER XIII.
Saint M. Bergash. q. A.

I'm hanged II | can make out those
heaps OF chocolate-colored stone you
told us about, Skipper. There's the
cliff all right that you said they were
quarrying from, but the shore below
II Is swept as clean as the floor OF :.
ballroom"
"yas. sir That's one OF the things
that's bothering me good deal"
And suppose the other is:
Where have our-dusky- friends all
bolted to? They bang of their tin
cannon at us just as might nave been
expected, and then, instead OF putting
up the battle which one might reason
ably suppose ought TO follow, they
calmly vanish. D'you suppose they're
Just lying doggo under decks till We
are kind enough to CALI"
IT'S possible, sir"
with their pockets full OF paving
stones, the aforesaid, to fire at us
when we pull alongside? BY the way,
could they have pocketed all the stone
you saw
mo. sir certainly not There must
have been thousands OF tons OF it,
They were working, working, work
ing day after day, many hundreds OF
them. Instead, the more | think of II
the more | am convinced the heaps
didn't grow as they ought 10 have
done"
Why, what do you mean
1T almost seems as II they must
have been carting II away under Gov
or Of night while we we're hanging
about here in the surfboat, and then
as soon as our backs are turned, off
goes the rest of II. As you say, sir, the
beach now is swept as clear as
chapel floor over all the space be-
hind the Towers and up TO the foot
cf the cliff"
Well" said Sir George, they can't
rave evaporated into thin air, all OF
Jhem. Suppose we just sit down aud
smoke for half an hour, and see If we
can't spot some one peeping at us
either from the steamer or behind
some bit OF cover on the land side"
With ladies' to take care OF here
on board, said Captain Kettle with
A sigh, that's the best thing we can
do. We must move very cautious. We
can't afford to take the usual mems
risks"
So they set TO work with binoculars
and telescopes to search for what they
could find
ON the Atlantic side the scheme OF
the land and seascape was simple
enough There was long struggling
Nv OF reefs and islets, noisy on the
outer edges with a white frill OF surf,
and apparently tenanted only by sea
fowl. A Moor or two might certainly
have been hidden in unseen folds OF
q ~
their ferriage across the lagoon was
not apparent, and 1t was hardly likely
they would have cut themselves adrift
from any possible base.
Africa on the other side OF the la
COON presented in that latitude an
edge as straight as II 1t had been
ruled, with the one exception of a
small curved peninsula like a human
fist and arm, mainly Of chocolate.col-
ored rock, which was thrust out into
the lagoon, and in the hollow OF this,
the crook OF the arm so to speak. the
Norman Towers was harbored Be
yond the straight edge OF the hot yell
low beach lay dunes OF sand which
bristled here and there with clumps
Of dry gray grass.
II can see birds running in and out
Of those grass tufts" said Kettle.
peering through his long old-fashion
ed ships telescope. They don't seem
They aren't attempting 10
fly That shows there's no men
about"
Here's where | come In" said Sir !
George with laugh. Those are
Barbary partridge, and about the most 4
game bird to shoot at on
The face OF Africa. You have almost
10 kick them up before they'll rise TO
80 comfortably shot. Try further,
Skipper
The heads OF live-oaks and argan.
trees showed beyond the dunes,
over a wide fiat, and then
there were scrub-clad foothills, and
men sleeper slopes that ran back into |
colossal mountains
THE Atlas suppose, those big
Jumps at the back" said Sir George
Don't know, sir. I'm sailor, and
my geography doesn't go inland past
The beach,"
Il think all the big mountains that
run out to the Atlantic about here be
long to the Atlas range, or one OF It's
spurs. Il that cloud mp At the top
here. do you suppose, or snow"
1T might be either"
And there may be villages TO any
extent, or even towns for that mat
ter, tucked away out OF our sight in
he valleys and folds OF that range, !
md We should be none the wiser I'm
afraid. Skipper, we can't trace the !
barracks OF your black regiment by
merely staring at the countryside"
Just take a line. sir. please. over
hat palm tree with the stem like a
Dye call that blue haze
Just a bit OF heat mist, or is II cook.
ing smoke?"
The sailor stared, and his employer
stared. and again they decided that it
might be either.
If you very knowing people" said
Violet Chesterman, will bring your
eyes nearer home and take look at
the cartridges again, you'll see
they're all tending to run one way,
and that's north. And those dotty
little things among them are quail, :
And by CAD. Skipper. look there.
did you see that? And he was head
Ing north. too"
u saw big animal, sir"
Moroccan wild boar. and boiling
like a good-un. wasn't he? Now his
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