sten. You shall waste
no time in searching for Monty. My brother will tell you exactly where
he is."

Trent hesitated. He would have preferred to have nothing at all to do
with Da Souza, and the very thought of Oom Sam made him shudder. On the
other hand, time was valuable to him and he might waste weeks looking
for the man whom Oom Sam could tell him at once where to find. On the
whole, it was better to accept Da Souza's offer.

"Very well, Da Souza," he said, "I have no time to spare in this country
and the sooner I get back to England the better for all of us. If your
brother knows where Monty is, so much the better for both of us. We will
land together and meet him."

Already the disembarking had commenced. Da Souza and Trent took their
places side by side on the broad, flat-bottomed boat, and soon they were
off shorewards and the familiar song of the Kru boys as they bent over
their oars greeted their ears. The excitement of the last few strokes
was barely over before they sprang upon the beach and were surrounded by
a little crowd, on the outskirts of whom was Oom Sam. Trent was seized
upon by an Englishman who was representing the Bekwando Land and Mining
Investment Company and, before he could regain Da Souza, a few rapid
sentences had passed between the latter and his brother in Portuguese.
Oom Sam advanced to Trent hat in hand--

"Welcome back to Attra, senor?"

Trent nodded curtly.

"Place isn't much changed," he remarked.

"It is very slowly here," Oom Sam said, "that progress is made! The
climate is too horrible. It makes dead sheep of men."

"You seem to hang on pretty well," Trent remarked carelessly. "Been up
country lately?"

"I was trading with the King of Bekwando a month ago," Oom Sam answered.

"Palm-oil and mahogany for vile rum I suppose," Trent said.

The man extended his hands and shrugged his shoulders. The old gesture.

"They will have it," he said. "Shall we go to the hotel, Senor Trent,
and rest?"

Trent nodded, and the three men scrambled up the beach, across an open
space, and gained the shelter of a broad balcony, shielded by a striped
awning which surrounded the plain white stone hotel. A Kru boy welcomed
them with beaming face and fetched them drinks upon a Brummagem tray.
Trent turned to the Englishman who had followed them up.

"To-morrow," he said, "I shall see you about the contracts. My first
business is a private matter with these gentlemen. Will you come up here