Adventure Magazine Cover, June 20, 1925 — page 184: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

166 take him long to act. Five minutes later— he had changed from his clean white duck suit to garments which exaggerated his physical imperfections—he was riding a big, raw-boned mule toward Misongwe. He came to the corn patches of the large kraal just about half an hour before sun- down, and the kraal itself was in sight just a few minutes later. It was built close against the walls of a precipitous kopje and was practically impregnable from attack except from the front. Two or three hun- dred yards from the kraal—about midway between it and the edge of the corn patches —was a large tent. It was not in line with the path leading to the kraal, but quite some distance to the right of it. Isaacs, after reining in a moment, trying to determine his course, headed for the tent. As he got nearer he saw that a hundred, more or less, of the porters were working frantically with pick and shovel. They were, he saw, digging a long trench which curved back slightly at both ends toward the kraal. This trench when finished, Isaacs saw, judging by the markers stuck into the ground, would cover the front of the kraal. “Never heard of any ancient buildings following that line,’ Isaacs mused. ‘‘Ah, vell— Oy, I vonder vot that’s for.” A report broke the silence, a little puff of dirt sprang up just to the right of him. Looking up he saw a native waving his arm frantically and pointing away from the tent. Isaacs shrugged his shoulder. “Tt seems as if they don’t vant to see me,” he muttered. “Vell, I’m not so sure I vant to see them—yet.”’ He changed his course and_ presently came to the gate in the pole stockade which surrounded the kraal. It was guarded by two natives—porters of the expedition—armed with modern rifles. But not a native of the kraal was present. “You can’t go in,” one of the guards said in the dialect of the district, when he tried to ride past them. | “Why?” he asked quietly. “Tt is an order.” “But I have business with the chief Macombe,” he expostulated, and again spurred forward. — One of the guards caught hold of his bridle reins and, exerting all his strength, Adventure backed the mule. The beast reared, then toppled over as the guard gave it a cunning push. Isaacs only just managed to squirm out of the way of its flying hoofs, then sat up stupidly and watched the mule regain its feet and gallop swiftly away. The storekeeper rose sadly to his feet and turned away from the gate, intending to en- circle the stockade in the hope of finding a weak place where he could scramble through or over. Then he saw that sentries had been posted at intervals all around the stockade. Isaacs sighed loudly. “And why so gloomy, Senhor Store- keeper?” Isaacs jumped round with a frightened squeal to face the man Gonzales who had come quietly up behind him. “Oy, how you frightened me. I vant to get in there and your niggers von’t let me.” Gonzales laughed. “Tt is my orders—they’re good soldiers; they obey.” : “But vhy, mister. Itain’t right. You'll ruin my business. I have to go an’ arrange a deal with old Macombe, an’——”’ “Ts that all you came over for,” Gon- zales asked sharply. ‘“Nunno! I also vanted to have a talk with that policeman fellow. He owes me money. He bought some goods from me three days ago and promised he vould re- turn the next day and pay. An’ he didn’t. So I come over here to see if he vas here. It vas here he said he vas coming.”’ “He came here,’’ Gonzales said slowly, “but he only stayed an hour or so. Then he rode off - “Oy!” Isaacs wrung his hands. “T’ll be ruined. These policemen are allalike. They alvays grin and promise to pay tomorrow —only they never do. But vhy do you have men with guns every where, mister?” ' “The niggers at the kraal were insolent— they refused to help me dig and some of them have been stealing our stores. So, to punish them, I’ve forbidden them to leave their kraal for five days.” Isaacs nodded. | ‘“That’s the vay to treat ’em, mister. I vish I had the nerve to do things like that. i vouldn’t keep a store very long then?” Gonzales sneered and turned away. ‘Say, mister,’’ Isaacs ran after him and clutched at his sleeve with a grimy paw. “My mule, he ran away and I von’t be able COMIGIOOKSEEO