The Argosy, Vol. XXIV No. 2 — page 88: what you’re looking at

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

280 THE RIVER OF DARKNESS, On either side of the narrow street stretched the sea of tents, and before them, on rude stalls, were ranged everything that the imagination could de- vise, sacks of coffee and grain, great heaps of glittering ivory, packets of gold dust, aromatic spices and fragrant gums of all sorts, great bunches of waving ostrich plumes, bales of cotton and tobacco, tanned hides of domestic animals, tawny skins of lions, leopards, and panthers, oddly woven grass mats, quaint arms, and bits of carving, fetish ornaments, and even live cattle and sheep tied to the poles of the tents. ‘Standing guard over their wares were natives from all parts of Africa, Arabs from the Zambesi, savage looking Abyssinians, crafty Somalis with greasy, dangling locks, and brawny, half naked fellows from the interior, the like of whom Guy had never seen or heard. And up and down the narrow street moved in a ceaseless throng the traders who had come to purchase: Arabs from Aden and Suakim, Egyp- tians from Cairo, traders from Zanzibar, and a sprucing of Portuguese and Spaniards. Some of them bore their goods on camels, others had hired native carriers, who staggered under the heavy bales and cases, and the uproar was deafen- ing and incessant as they wrangled over their bartering and dazzled the eyes of their customers with rolls of English and French silks, pigs of iron, cop- per and brass, sacks of rice and sugar, glittering Manchester cutlery, Amer- ican beads, and cans of gunpowder. The builders of the tower of Babel itself could not have produced such a jargon or variety of tongues, Guy thought, as he picked his way onward, now stopping to gaze at some odd looking group, and now attracted by the harsh music and beating drums of a band of native musicians. He noted with secret satisfaction the occasional presence in the crowd of a dark skinned soldier in British uniform, and he observed with some sur- prise the vast number of Abyssinian Arabs, whom he recognized by their peculiar dress. Finally a stranger sight than all arrested his steps. Ina small inclosure, cordoned off by a rope, lay a dozen poor slaves shackled to stakes driven deep in the ground and exposed to the burning sun. Their owner, a brawny negro with a head dress of feathers, a native of the . Galla country, was disputing over their purchase with a gigantic Arab, whose powerful frame irresistibly fascinated Guy’s attention. He wore a loosely flapping cotton gown, confined at the waist by a belt that fairly bristled with knives and pistols, while a scarlet burnous was drawn over his head, affording a brilliant set off to the glittering eyes, the tawny, shining skin, and the short chin beard and mustache. Behind the group of slaves, chained to the pole of a spacious tent, lay a sleek and glossy leopard, sleeping in the sun as unconcernedly as though he were in the midst of his native desert. The Arab, unaware probably of the beast’s presence, walked slowly round the circle inspecting his prospective purchase. . The leopard perhaps was dreaming of the days when he was wont to chase the deer through the jungle, for suddenly his spotted body quivered and his Comichbooks