The Connecticut labor press., 1918-02-16

I him. No white man came within ts
 hundred miles that word of his com
 ing did not reach Bwana long before
 the stranger. His every move was re
 ported to the big Bwana-just what
 animals he killed and how many o1
 each species, how he killed them, too
 for Bwanai would not permit the use
 of prussic acid or strychnine, and how he treated his aboys..' .,".ss,s 7.
 " But here was evidently one who had slipped into, the country tunheralded. Bwana could not imagine who the ap- proaching horseman might be. =. Aftersthe manner of frontier hospi- tality the globe round, he met the new
 conner at the gate, welcoming him even
 before he had dismounted. He saw a
 tall, welLknit man Of thirty or more,
 blond of hair. and smooth-shaven.
 There was a tantaIizing familiarity about him that convinced Bwana that he should be able to call the visitor by
 name, yet he was unable to do so. Bwana. was wondering how a lone
 white man could have made his way
 through the savage, unhospitable miles
 that lay toward the south. As though
 guessing what must be passing through
 the others mind, the stranger vouch-
 safedf an explanation.
 "I came down from the north to do
 little trading and hunting" he said,
 "and got way1off the beaten track. My head man, who was the only member
 of the safari who had ever. before been In the country, took sick and died. We could find no natives to guide us, and so simply swung back straight north.
 We have been living on the fruits of our guns for over a month.
 Didn't have an idea there was a white man within a thousand miles of US when we camped last night by Q water hole at the edge of the plain. This morning I started out to hunt and saw the smoke from your chimney, so l sent my gun bearer back to camp with the good news and rode straight over here myself. Of course I've heard of you-everybody who comes into cen- tral Africa does-and I'd be mighty glad of permission to rest up and hunt around here for couple of weeks"
 Certainly" replied Bwana. Make yourself at home"
 They had reached the veranda now, and Bwana was introducing the stran- ger to Meriem and My Dear, who had just come from the bungalows interi- or.
 ''This is'Mr. Hanson" he said, using the name the man had given him. "He is trader who has lost his way in the jungle to the south.''
 My Dear and Meriem bowed their az oH-Tn TnHr oA %Hn }r+ The man seemed rather i'll at ease in | their presence. His host attributed this | to the fact that his guest was unaccus- toned to the society of cultured wo- men, and so found pretext to extri- cate him quickly from his seemingly position and lead him away to his study and the brandy and soda, which were evidently much less em- >tosMr. Hanson.
 When the two had left them Meriem turned toward My Dear.
 Tt is odd" she said, 'but I could almost swear that I had known MT. Hanson in the past. It is odd, but quite impossible" and she gave the matter no further thought.
 For three weeks Hanson had re- mained. During this time he said that his boys were resting and gaining strength after their terrible ordeals in the untracked jungles to the south, but he had not been as idle as he appeared to- have been. He divided his small following into two parts, intrusting the leadership of each to men whom le believed he could trust.
 One party he moved very slowly lorthward along the trail that connects with the great caravan routes entering he Sahara from the south. The other le ordered straight westward with or 1ers to halt and go into permanent amp just beyond the great river which marks the natural boundary of the country that the big Bwana rightfully considers almost his own.,
 To his host he explained that he was moving his safari slowly toward the lorth-he said nothing of the party moving westward. Then one day he that half his boys had de erted, for a hunting party from the had come across his north .rly camp, and he feared that they night have noticed the reduced num- ; 'ers of his following.
 And thus matters stood when one ot night Meriem, unable to sleep, rose 1 nd wandered out into the garden. The ] Ion. Morrison had been urging his suit , nee more that evening, and the girls aind was in such turmoil that she ad been unable to sleep