n by white men. If they haven't much morals, they have a
kind of decency which keeps them fairly straight. But for our sins we
got a brand of Levantine Jew, who was fit for nothing but making money
and making trouble. They were always defying the law, and then, when
they got into a hole, they squealed to Government for help, and started
a racket in the home papers about the weakness of the Imperial power.
The crux of the whole difficulty was the natives, who lived along the
river and in the foothills. They were a hardy race of Kaffirs, sort of
far-away cousins to the Zulu, and till the mines were opened they had
behaved well enough. They had arms, which we had never dared to take
away, but they kept quiet and paid their hut-taxes like men. I got to
know many of the chiefs, and liked them, for they were upstanding
fellows to look at and heavenborn shikaris. However, when the Jews
came along they wanted labour, and, since we did not see our way to
allow them to add to the imported coolie population, they had to fall
back upon the Labonga. At first things went smoothly. The chiefs were
willing to let their men work for good wages, and for a time there was
enough labour for everybody. But as the mines extended, and the
natives, after making a few pounds, wanted to get back to their kraals,
there came a shortage; and since the work could not be allowed to
slacken, the owners tried other methods. They made promises which they
never intended to keep, and they stood on the letter of a law which the
natives did not understand, and they employed touts who were little
better than slave-dealers. They got the labour, of course, but soon
they had put the Labonga into a state of unrest which a very little
would turn into a rising.

"Into this kettle of fish Tommy was pitchforked, and when I arrived he
was just beginning to understand how unpleasant it was. As I said
before, I did not know him very well, and I was amazed to find how bad
he was at his job. A more curiously incompetent person I never met.
He was a long, thin man, with a grizzled moustache and a mild sleepy
eye-not an impressive figure, except on a horse; and he had an odd lisp
which made even a shrewd remark sound foolish. He was the most
industrious creature in the world, and a model of official decorum.
His papers were always in order, his despatches always neat and
correct, and I don't believe any one ever caught him tripping in office
work. But he ha