Produced by Jake Jaqua
By Talbot Mundy
Author of
King—of the Khyber Rifles
The Winds of the World
Hira Singh
etc.
Green, ah greener than emeralds are, tree-tops beckon the
dhows to land,
White, oh whiter than diamonds are, blue waves burst on the
amber sand,
And nothing is fairer than Zanzibar from the Isles o' the West
to the Marquesand.
I was old when the world was wild with youth
(All love was lawless then!)
Since 'Venture's birth from ends of earth
I ha' called the sons of men,
And their women have wept the ages out
In travail sore to know
What lure of opiate art can leach
Along bare seas from reef to beach
Until from port and river reach
The fever'd captains go.
Red, oh redder than red lips are, my flowers nod in the blazing
noon,
Blue, oh bluer than maidens' eyes, are the breasts o' my waves
in the young monsoon,
And there are cloves to smell, and musk, and lemon trees, and
cinnamon.
————-
*The words "Njo hapa" in the Kiswahili tongue are the equivalent of
"come hither!"
————-
Estimates of ease and affluence vary with the point of view. While hisolder brother lived, Monty had continued in his element, a cavalryofficer, his combined income and pay ample for all that the Bombay sideof India might require of an English gentleman. They say that a finerpolo player, a steadier shot on foot at a tiger, or a bolder squadronleader never lived.
But to Monty's infinite disgust his brother died childless. It isdivulging no secret that the income that passed with the title variedbetween five and seven thousand pounds a year, according as coal washigh, and tenants prosperous or not—a mere miserable pittance, ofcourse, for the Earl of Montdidier and Kirkudbrightshire; so that allhis ventures, and therefore ours, had one avowed end—shekels enough tolift the mortgages from his estates.
Five generations of soldiers had blazed the Montdidier fame onbattle-grounds, to a nation's (and why not the whole earth's) benefit,without replenishing the family funds, and Monty (himself a confirmedand convinced bachelor) was minded when his own time should come topass the title along to the next in line together with sufficient fundsto support its dignity.
To us—even to Yerkes, familiar with United States merchant kings—heseemed with his thirty thousand dollars a year already a gildedCroesus. He had ample to travel on, and finance prospecting trips. Wenever lacked for working capital, but the quest (and, including Yerkes,we were as keen as he) led us into strange places.
So behold him—a privy councilor of England if you please—lounging inthe lazaretto of Zanzibar, clothed only in slippers, underwear and along blue dressing-gown. We three others were dressed the same, andbecause it smacked of official restraint we objected noisily; butMonty did not seem to mind much. He was rather bored, but unresentful.
A French steamer had put us ashore in quarantine, with the grim wordcholera against us, and although our tale of suffering and Monty'srank, insured us a friendly reception, the port health authoritieselected