p, too small, that would not stay in place and had to be
hitched at intervals.

He said his name was Captain Thomas Cook, and the license to sell
firearms framed on the mud-brick wall bore him witness. (May he live
forever under any name he chooses!)

"Goons?" he said. "Goons? You gentlemen want goons? I have the goon
what settled the hash of Sayed bin Mohammed--here it be. This other
one's the rifle--see the nicks on her butt!--that Kamarajes the Greek
used. See 'em--Arab goons--slaver goons--smooth-bore elephant
goons--fours, eights, twelves--Martinis--them's the lot that was
reekin' red-hot, days on end, in the last Arab war on the Congo,
considerable used up but goin' cheap;--then here's Mausers (he
pronounced it "Morsers")--old-style, same as used in 1870--good goons
they be, long o' barrel and strong, but too high trajectory for some
folks;--some's new style, magazines an' all--fine till a grain o' sand
jams 'em oop;--an' Lee-Enfields, souvenirs o' the Boer War, some o'
them bought from folks what plundered a battle-field or two--mostly all
in good condition. Look at this one--see it--hold it--take a squint
along it! Nineteen elephants shot wi' that Lee-Enfield, an' the man's
in jail for shootin' of 'em! Sold at auction by the gov'ment, that one
was. See, here's an Express--a beauty--owned by an officer fr'm
Indy--took by a shark 'e was, in swimmin' against all advice, him what
had hunted tigers! There's no goon store a quarter as good as mine
'tween Cairo an' the Cape or Bombay an-' Boma! Captain Cook's the boy
to sell ye goons all right! Sit down. Look 'em over. Ask anything ye
want to know. I'll tell ye. No obligation to buy."

There is no need to fit out with guns and tents in London. Until both
good and bad, both cowardly and brave give up the habit of dying in
bed, or getting killed, or going broke, or ending up in jail for one
cause and the other, there will surely always be fine pickings for men
on the spot with a little money and a lot of patience--guns, tents,
cooking pots, and all the other things.

We spent a morning with Captain Thomas Cook, and left the store--Fred,
Yerkes and I--with a battery of weapons, including a pistol
apiece--that any expedition might be proud of. (Monty, since he had to
go home in any case, preferred to look over the family gun-room before
committing himself.)

Then, since the first leg of the journey would be the same for all of
us we bought other kit