ife
before, and came running to demand that we flog all three "to teach
them manners." She had perfectly absorbed the German attitude toward
all black men.

From the natives we learned that there was no telegraph wire along
that coast, and that the only German settlements were semi-permanent
camps where they were cutting wood, for fuel for their own launch and
for the steamers the British were building to serve the lake ports,
Muanza included.

With that good news for encouragement we made the three natives a small
present in the vain hope that they might be induced not to talk about
us, and put to sea again. The weather was fairer and growing
intolerably hot. Even before the sun grew high the dhow was a
comfortless indecent thing, more crowded than anything Noah can have
had to tolerate: and we lacked Noah's faith in omniscient guidance, in
addition to sailing in a hotter latitude, and having more fleas on
board than the pair he is reported to have carried.

As we crept up-coast, leaning to this or that side when the gusts of
wind varied, the only enviable ones were the three in the bow, posted
there to keep a look-out for the launch or any other enemy. They had
room enough to sit without touching one another, and air to breathe
that mostly had not been tasted half a dozen times. Fred, Will and
Brown took turns commanding the foredeck look-out, keeping it awake and
its units from quarreling. The rest of us found no joy in life, and
not too much hope even when Fred's concertina lifted the refrain of
missionary hymn-tunes that even the porters knew, and most of us sang,
the porters humming wordless melancholy through their noses. (When
that happened Lady Saffren Waldon's scorn was something the
arch-priests of Babylon would have paid to see.)

There was never room on the tiny after-deck for more than six people
sitting elbow to elbow and back to back or knee to knee. Lady Waldon
simply refused to yield her corner seat on any account at any time to
any one. Coutlass refused to leave his new sweetheart, for the
freely-voiced reason that then Brown might make love to her; and we
did not care to send both of them below for obvious reasons. That
reduced open-air accommodation to a minimum, because the
reed-and-tarpaulin deck was scarcely strong enough to bear the weight
of two men at a time, and we did not care to throw the whole deck
overboard for fear of rain.

And by-and-by the rain came--out of season, bu