FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53  
54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   >>   >|  
the stillest hour of the twenty-four. In such a silence the least sound would travel almost any distance, and there was a sound travelling over the water to him. It was nothing but a thud repeated with singular regularity; but to his practised ears it conveyed much. He knew that a boat was approaching, as yet hidden by some distant curve in the river. The thud was caused by the contact of six paddles with the gunwale of the canoe as the paddlers withdrew them from the water. Victor Durnovo rose again and brought from the boat a second rifle, which he laid beside the double-barrelled Reilly which was never more than a yard away from him, waking or sleeping. Then he waited. He knew that no boat could reach the bank without his full permission, for every rower would be dead before they got within a hundred yards of his rifle. He was probably the best rifle-shot but one in that country--and the other, the very best, happened to be in the approaching canoe. After the space of ten minutes the boat came in sight--a long black form on the still waters. It was too far away for him to distinguish anything beyond the fact that it was a native boat. "Eight hundred yards," muttered Durnovo over the sight of his rifle. He looked upon this river as his own, and he knew the native of equatorial Africa. Therefore he dropped a bullet into the water, under the bow of the canoe, at eight hundred yards. A moment later there was a sound which can only be written "P-ttt" between his legs, and he had to wipe a shower of dust from his eyes. A puff of blue smoke rose slowly over the boat and a sharp report broke the silence a second time. Then Victor Durnovo leapt to his feet and waved his hat in the air. From the canoe there was an answering greeting, and the man on the bank went to the water's edge, still carrying the rifle from which he was never parted. Durnovo was the first to speak when the boat came within hail. "Very sorry," he shouted. "Thought you were a native boat. Must establish a funk--get in the first shot, you know." "All right," replied one of the Europeans in the approaching craft, with a courteous wave of the hand, "no harm done." There were two white men and six blacks in the long and clumsy boat. One of the Europeans lay in the bows while the other was stretched at his ease in the stern, reclining on the canvas of a neatly folded tent. The last-named was evidently the leader of the little expedition, wh
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53  
54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Durnovo

 

hundred

 

approaching

 
native
 
silence
 

Europeans

 
Victor
 

evidently

 

folded

 

canvas


neatly
 

leader

 

answering

 

reclining

 

report

 
written
 

moment

 

slowly

 

shower

 
greeting

establish

 
blacks
 

courteous

 

replied

 

expedition

 

clumsy

 

carrying

 
stretched
 

parted

 

shouted


Thought

 

minutes

 

gunwale

 

paddlers

 

withdrew

 

paddles

 

contact

 

distant

 

caused

 

brought


waking

 

Reilly

 

barrelled

 

double

 

hidden

 

travel

 
stillest
 

twenty

 

distance

 

practised