a. A knowledge of English
was a necessary part of the equipment of the chief officer. Francqui
wanted this job but he did not know a syllable of English. He went to a
friend and confided his ambition.

"Are you willing to take a chance with one word?" asked his colleague.

"I am," answered the young officer.

He thereupon acquired the word "yes," his friend's injunction being, "If
you say 'yes' to every question you can probably carry it off."

Francqui thereupon went to the Foreign Office and was immediately asked
in English:

"Can you speak English?"

"Yes," was his immediate retort.

"Are you willing to undertake the hazards of this journey to Zanzibar?"
queried the interrogator.

"Yes," came the reply.

Luck was with Francqui for, as his good angel had prophesied, his one
word of English met every requirement and he got the assignment. Since
that time, I might add, he has acquired a fluent command of the English
language. Francqui has always been willing to take a chance and lead a
forlorn hope.

It was in the early nineties that his exploits made his name one of the
greatest in African conquest and exploration. He went out to the Congo
as second in command of what was known as the Bia Expedition, sent to
explore the Katanga and adjacent territory. After two hard years of
incessant campaigning the expedition fell into hard lines. Captain Bia
succumbed to smallpox and the column encountered every conceivable
hardship. Men died by the score and there was no food. Francqui took
charge, and by his indomitable will held the force together, starving
and suffering with his men. During this experience he travelled more
than 5,000 miles on foot and through a region where no other white man
had ever gone before. He explored the Luapula, the headwaters of the
Congo, and opened up a new world to civilization. No other single Congo
expedition save that of Stanley made such an important contribution to
the history of the Colony.

Most men would have been satisfied to rest with this achievement. With
Francqui it simply marked a milepost in his life. In 1896, when he
resigned from the army, Leopold had fixed his eyes on China as a scene
of operations, and he sent Francqui there to clinch the Pekin-Hankow
concession, which he did. In the course of these negotiations he met
Jadot, who was later to become his associate both in the Societe
Generale and in the Forminiere.

In 1901 Francqui again went to China, this time