d send the boats back. Wait there till we
come."

In due time the telegram came, via St. Paul de Loanda, announcing the
fact that Oscard had agreed to join the expedition, and that Durnovo and
he might be expected at Msala in one month from that time. It was not
without a vague feeling of regret that Jack Meredith read this telegram.
To be at Msala in a month with forty men and a vast load of provisions
meant leaving Loango almost at once. And, strange though it may seem,
he had become somewhat attached to the dreary West African town. The
singular cosmopolitan society was entirely new to him; the life, taken
as a life, almost unique. He knew that he had not outstayed his welcome.
Maurice Gordon had taken care to assure him of that in his boisterous,
hearty manner, savouring more of Harrow than of Eton, every morning at
breakfast.

"Confound Durnovo!" he cried, when the telegram had been read aloud.
"Confound him, with his energy and his business-like habits! That means
that you will have to leave us before long; and somehow it has got to
be quite natural to see you come lounging in ten minutes late for most
things, with an apology for Jocelyn, but none for me. We shall miss you,
old chap."

"Yes," added Jocelyn, "we shall."

She was busy with the cups, and spoke rather indifferently.

"So you've got Oscard?" continued Maurice. "I imagine he is a good
man--tip-top shot and all that. I've never met him, but I have heard of
him."

"He is a gentleman, at all events," said Meredith quietly; "I know
that."

Jocelyn was looking at him between the hibiscus flowers decorating the
table.

"Is Mr. Durnovo going to be leader of the expedition?" she inquired
casually, after a few moments' silence; and Jack, looking up with a
queer smile, met her glance for a moment.

"No," he answered.

Maurice Gordon's hearty laugh interrupted.

"Ha, ha!" he cried. "I wonder where the dickens you men are going to?"

"Up the Ogowe river," replied Jack.

"No doubt. But what for? There is something mysterious about that river.
Durnovo keeps his poor relations there, or something of that kind."

"We are not going to look for them."

"I suppose," said Maurice, helping himself to marmalade, "that he has
dropped upon some large deposit of ivory; that will turn out to be the
solution of the mystery. It is the solution of most mysteries in this
country. I wish I could solve the mysteries of ways and means and drop
upon a large deposit