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aracteristic. The country is made for silence, the natives are created to steal, spirit-ridden, devil-haunted, through vast tracks of lifeless forest, where nature is oppressive in her grandeur. Here man is put into his right place--a puny, insignificant, helpless being in a world that is too large for him. "So," said Durnovo, returning to the subject which had never really left his thoughts, "you have come out here for pleasure?" "Not exactly. I came chiefly to make money, partly to dispel some of the illusions of my youth, and I am getting on very well. Picture-book illusions they were. The man who drew the pictures had never seen Africa." "This is no country for illusions. Things go naked here--damned naked." "And only language is adorned?" Durnovo laughed. He had to be alert to keep up with Jack Meredith--to understand his speech; and he rather liked the necessity, which was a change after the tropic indolence in which he had moved. "Swearing, you mean," he replied. "Hope you don't mind it?" "Not a bit. Do it myself." At this moment Joseph, the servant, brought coffee served up in tin cups. "First-class dinner," said Durnovo. "The best dinner I have had for years. Clever chap, your man!" The last remark was made as much for the servant's edification as for the master's, and it was accompanied by an inviting smile directed towards Joseph. Of this the man took no notice whatever. He came from a world where masters and masters' guests know their place and keep it, even after a good dinner. The evening had turned out so very differently from what he had expected that Durnovo was a little off his balance. Things were so sociable and pleasant in comparison with the habitual loneliness of his life. The fire crackled so cheerily, the moon shone down on the river so grandly, the subdued chatter of the boatmen imparted such a feeling of safety and comfort to the scene, that he gave way to that impulse of expansiveness which ever lurks in West Indian blood. "I say," he said, "when you told me that you wanted to make money, were you in earnest?" "In the deadliest earnest," replied Jack Meredith, in the half-mocking tone which he never wholly learnt to lay aside. "Then I think I can put you in the way of it. Oh, I know it seems a bit premature--not known you long enough, and all that. But in this country we don't hold much by the formalities. I like you. I liked the look of you when you got out of
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