nded dusk was falling. The white-washed wooden house
stood near the bank, with a stockaded compound between it and the water.
It was built on piles and at the top of the outside stairs a veranda ran
along the front. The compound was tunneled by land-crabs' holes, and
light mist crept about the giant cotton woods behind. There was no
movement of air, a sickly smell rose from the creek, and all was very
damp.

Lister and Brown went up the stairs and were received by a white man in
a big damp room. A lamp hung from a beam and the light touched the
patches of mildew on the discolored walls. There was not much furniture;
a few canvas chairs, a desk and a table. Flies crawled about the table
and hovered in a black swarm round the lamp. The room smelt of palm oil
and river mud. The white man was young, but his face was haggard and he
looked worn. His rather long hair was wet and his duck jacket was dirty.
It was obvious that he did not bother about his clothes.

"Good of you to look me up! I expect you know I'm Montgomery; the house
is Montgomery and Raeburn," he said. "However, to begin with, you had
better have a drink. I'll call my boy."

A negro came in and got a bottle and some glasses. He was a
strongly-built fellow with a blue stripe on his forehead, and muscular
arms and chest, but his legs, which stuck out from short cotton
trousers, were ridiculously thin. He beat up some frothy liquor in a jug
and when he filled the big glasses Lister felt disturbed, for he knew
Brown and had noted the quantity of gin the negro used. The captain,
however, was cautious and they began to talk. Lister asked Montgomery if
he carried on the factory alone.

"I'm doing so for a time. My clerk died two or three weeks since and I
haven't got another yet."

"Fever?" said Brown.

"Common malaria. Perhaps this spot is worse than others, because,
although we're beginning to kill mosquitos and poison the drains, we
can't keep English boys. The last two didn't hold out six months."

Lister got thoughtful. He knew the African coast was unhealthy, but had
not imagined it was as bad as this. He said nothing and Montgomery
resumed: "I have been forced to lie up and am shaky yet. Malaria gets us
all, but as a rule it gets strangers, particularly the young, soonest.
Looks as if the microbe liked fresh blood."

"If I was an African merchant, I'd let an agent run my factories," Brown
remarked.

Montgomery smiled. "Sometimes it's necessary for m