thought, only. Ah, the lucky man!" he sighed, while
beginning to shiver from his evening chill.

As though she had read his mind, or at least had discerned his capacity
for understanding her, she leaned forward, laid her hand on his sleeve,
and murmured:

"You have told me why I must not go. Now give me permission."

"Do you then wish to risk death just at this time? I should have
thought----" He shook his head. "No, I will telegraph to Fort Pero
d'Anhaya; the commandant there will send messengers to the border of
the Mambava country; the Mambava will telephone your message through
their forests by drum beat, and in one night every village will have
the news. They will find him and tell him, and he will come here to
you."

"Too much time has passed already. Even now I may be too late.
Besides, he must not come to me; it's I who must go to him." She
blurted out in a soft voice, "On my knees, all the way----" She
recovered herself; but two tears suddenly rolled down her cheeks, and
she faltered, "Look here, you know, if you prevent me you'll be doing a
terrible thing."

He got up to pace the floor. He was of short stature, and his
shoulders were rounded by desk work and the debility from the tropics;
yet in the lost paradise of youth fair women had shed tears before him
and made him wax in their hands. He came back to the table,
absentmindedly drank a cup of tepid coffee, and said indignantly:

"Nevertheless, you look far from well at this moment."

"I have never been so strong," she retorted.

"She dares everything, and no doubt all the while she fears terribly
what she dares. She is sublime! Who am I, a lump of sick flesh in
this fever trap, to interfere so strictly with this thing of white
flame?"

He said to her:

"Listen. I will give you permission to travel on safari as far as Fort
Pero d'Anhaya. Beyond that point I cannot promise you protection; so
beyond you are not to go. Mr. Teck must come to you there. To-morrow
I will see these people of yours, to make sure that they are competent
men, able to take all possible precautions for your welfare. Now,
then, tell me at least that I am not as cruel and as stupid as you
thought."

When she had gone, a young man in a white uniform entered with a sheaf
of papers. The governor smothered a groan.

"The summary of the hut tax, Excellency. The post-office reports for
last month. The reports of new public works--by the way, the new
bridg