to Kingsley by the Khedive, if he starts a campaign
against him. He will have to take it on the devil's pitchfork. You must
be logical, you know.

"You can't have it both ways. If he is to be punished, it must be after
the custom of the place. This isn't England."

She shuddered slightly, and Dicky went on: "Then, when his head's off,
and his desert-city and his mines are no more, and his slaves change
masters, comes a nice question. Who gets his money? Not that there's
any doubt about who'll get it, but, from your standpoint, who should get
it?"

She shook her head in something like embarrassment.

"Money got by slavery--yes, who should get it?" interposed Kingsley
carefully, for her eyes had turned to him for help. "Would you favour
his heirs getting it? Should it go to the State? Should it go to the
slaves? Should it go to a fund for agitation against slavery?... You,
for instance, could make use of a fortune like his in a cause like that,
could you not?" he asked with what seemed boyish simplicity.

The question startled her. "I--I don't know.... But certainly not," she
hastened to add; "I couldn't touch the money. It is absurd--impossible."

"I can't see that," steadily persisted Kingsley. "This money was made
out of the work of slaves. Certainly they were paid--they were, weren't
they?" he asked with mock ignorance, turning to Dicky, who nodded
assent. "They were paid wages by Kingsley--in kind, I suppose, but
that's all that's needed in a country like the Soudan. But still they
had to work, and their lives and bodies were Kingsley's for the time
being, and the fortune wouldn't have been made without them; therefore,
according to the most finely advanced theories of labour and ownership,
the fortune is theirs as much as Kingsley's. But, in the nature of
things, they couldn't have the fortune. What would they do with it?
Wandering tribes don't need money. Barter and exchange of things in
kind is the one form of finance in the Soudan. Besides, they'd cut each
other's throats the very first day they got the fortune, and it would
strew the desert sands. It's all illogical and impossible--"

"Yes, yes, I quite see that," she interposed.

"But you surely can see how the fortune could be applied to saving those
races from slavery. What was wrung from the few by forced labour and
loss of freedom could be returned to the many by a sort of national
salvation. You could spend the fortune wisely--agents and missionari