hat I shall mount one, when he is able to undertake a second
expedition to bring home specimens. But elephants and sea
serpents--ach, no! Such a yarn is crazy."

"So crazy as a loon," laughed Schoverling, and said good night.

CHAPTER IV

MAKING READY

"Mombasa!"

Before them lay the picturesque harbor, filled with Arab dhows from
Zanzibar and the Somali ports, tramp steamers, coasters, and a trim
French corvette up from Madagascar. Up above the waters rose the old
Arab city, now a trim English-ruled town of immense trade, while behind
all shimmered the vivid green of trees.

"Dandy sight, isn't it!" and the boys turned to find Schoverling at
their side, with the doctor. "That old town used to have a sultan, as
Zanzibar has, and a gay pirate life was led along the east coast in the
days of Captain Kidd. Portugal captured the place, but the Arabs drove
her out again. Now England is making Mombasa into a mighty big trading
center, and as the Uganda Railway taps the Cape-to-Cairo, which is about
done, things are going to boom."

Charlie and Jack had seen considerable of the cosmopolitan aspect of
Port Said, although they had had no time to visit Alexandria, but here
was something entirely new to them. As they passed through the streets
to the Mombasa Club they were surrounded by English officers in neat
uniforms, by Somali and other native troops, by Arabs in fez and
burnous, and above all by Indians. Hindus and Mohammedans alike moved
through the streets, some wearing the fez, others the turban; there were
Sikhs and Gurkhas, lordly Brahmins who disdained to touch the Europeans
with their garments, and those of the lower castes who were equally
particular.

"I was reading the other day," said Charlie, "that the Indians were
swarming over here by the shipload, and this certainly looks like it!"

Louis Schoverling brushed aside the would-be native guides, and led the
party direct to the Mombasa Club, where they were soon comfortably
ensconced. Barely had they arrived when a bronzed, trim Englishman
sought out the explorer.

"Mr. Schoverling?" he inquired. "I am Inspector Harrington. The governor
heard that you and Doctor von Hofe came in on the _Mombasa_, and he
detailed me to look after you. He was anxious to see you in person, as
our embassador at Washington had written him, but he was called up
country yesterday."

"That is very good of you," returned the explorer, introducing his
party. "I was assu