nd had a go at the crank. No good.
Thereafter, the two made a thorough examination of the beast, but
poking and prying into all its secret places booted them nothing. As
far as the eye of man could see, nothing was wrong with the thing but
sheer obstinacy. It was more from habit than a spirit of inquiry that
Druro finally gave a casual squint into the reservoir. Then the
mischief was out. It was empty; the boy had never filled it. It was
doubtful whether he had put in any petrol at all. The two men stared
at each other aghast.

"Well, of all the rotten niggers in this rotten country!" breathed
Tryon, at last, and, with the words, expressed all the weight of the
white man's burden in Africa, mingled with rage at his present
powerlessness to smite the evil-doer. Druro grinned. It was not his
funeral, and, to the wise, no further words were necessary. But Mrs.
Hading had not been long enough in Africa to be wise. This final
calamity seemed all part and parcel of the mismanagement of the
evening, and she did not care to conceal her annoyance.

"I cannot imagine any one but a fool allowing himself to be placed in
such a predicament," she said, looking at Tryon with the utmost scorn.

He shrugged his shoulders, dumb with mortification. Druro, smiling
with his usual native philosophy, now got his portion.

"Is there anything to do besides standing there smirking?" she inquired
acridly.

"I should think we had better foot it to the Guinea-Pig." To do him
justice, he had been thinking as well as smirking, but Marice was in no
mood to be just. "A fellow called Burral lives there and has a
telephone. He may have some petrol. All may not yet be lost!" He
continued to smile. Not that he felt cheerful--but the situation
seemed to him to call for derision rather than despair.

"Foot it? Do you mean walk through this wild bush? Good Heavens! How
far is it?"

"Only about a mile or so, and there is quite a good path. Still, if
you think it better to stay here in the car with Tryon while I go----"

"No; I'll go," said Tryon hastily.

"No you don't," persisted Druro. "I know the way better than you do."
But Mrs. Hading put an end to the argument as to who should escape her
recriminations.

"I refuse to be left in this wild spot with any one," she declared, and
flung one last barb of hatred at Tryon. "How could you be such a fool?"

But Tryon's withers could be no further wrung. He merely felt sorry
fo