“I think I have that amount in gold,”
I answered, “of which the lady of the Abati
gave me as much as I could carry in comfort.”
“If not,” said Orme, “although I
am a poor man now, I could find L500 or so in a pinch.
So don’t let us bother about the money.
The question is—Are we all agreed that
we will undertake this expedition and see it through
to the end, whatever that may be?”
We answered that we were.
“Then has anybody anything more to say?”
“Yes,” I replied; “I forgot to tell
you that if we should ever get to Mur, none of you
must make love to the Walda Nagasta. She is a
kind of holy person, who can only marry into her own
family, and to do so might mean that our throats would
be cut.”
“Do you hear that, Oliver?” said the Professor.
“I suppose that the Doctor’s warning is
meant for you, as the rest of us are rather past that
kind of thing.”
“Indeed,” replied the Captain, colouring
again after his fashion. “Well, to tell
you the truth, I feel a bit past it myself, and, so
far as I am concerned, I don’t think we need
take the fascinations of this black lady into account.”
“Don’t brag, Captain. Please don’t
brag,” said Sergeant Quick in a hollow whisper.
“Woman is just the one thing about which you
can never be sure. To-day she’s poison,
and to-morrow honey—God and the climate
alone know why. Please don’t brag, or we
may live to see you crawling after this one on your
knees, with the gent in the specs behind, and Samuel
Quick, who hates the whole tribe of them, bringing
up the rear. Tempt Providence, if you like, Captain,
but don’t tempt woman, lest she should turn
round and tempt you, as she has done before to-day.”
“Will you be so good as to stop talking nonsense
and call a cab,” said Captain Orme coldly.
But Higgs began to laugh in his rude fashion, and
I, remembering the appearance of “Bud of the
Rose” when she lifted her veil of ceremony,
and the soft earnestness of her voice, fell into reflection.
“Black lady” indeed! What, I wondered,
would this young gentleman think if ever he should
live to set his eyes upon her sweet and comely face?
It seemed to me that Sergeant Quick was not so foolish
as his master chose to imagine. Captain Orme
undoubtedly was in every way qualified to be a partner
in our venture; still, I could have wished either that
he had been an older man, or that the lady to whom
he was recently affianced had not chosen this occasion
to break her engagement. In dealing with difficult
and dangerous combinations, my experience has been
that it is always well to eliminate the possibility
of a love affair, especially in the East.
THE PROFESSOR GOES OUT SHOOTING
