's health that he had followed his only son
within the month. The senior branch of the family being thus extinct the
whole of the entailed estate had devolved on me.

The first thing I did was to send off two cablegrams to say that I was
coming home by the first available boat, one to the solicitors, the
other to Nancy Milward.

Masters and I arranged to come home together and eventually reached Cape
Town. There we had considerable trouble at the shipping office. It was
just about the time of year when people who live in Africa to make
money, come over to England to spend it, and in consequence the boats
were very crowded. Masters demanded a cabin to himself, a luxury which
was not to be had, though there was one that he and I could share. He
made a tremendous fuss about doing this, and I thought it very strange,
because I had assisted him in many ways which his mutilation rendered
necessary. However, he had to give way in the end, and we embarked on
the Castle liner.

On the voyage he told me how he had lost his arms. It seemed that he had
been sent up country on some Government job or other, and had had the
ill-fortune to be captured by the natives. They treated him quite well
at first, but gave him to understand that he must not try to escape. I
suppose that to most men such a warning would be a direct incitement to
make the attempt. Masters made it and failed. They cut off his right arm
as a punishment. He waited until the wound was healed and tried again.
Again he failed. This time they cut off his other arm.

"Good Lord," I cried. "What devils!"

"Weren't they!" he said. "And yet, you know, they were quite
good-tempered chaps when you didn't cross them. I wasn't going to be
beaten by a lot of naked niggers though, and I made a third attempt.

"I succeeded all right that time, though, of course, it was much more
difficult. I really don't know at all how I managed to worry through.
You see, I could only eat plants and leaves and such fruit as I came
across; but I'd learnt as much as I could of the local botany in the
intervals."

"Was it worth while?" I asked. "I think the first failure and its result
would have satisfied me."

"Yes," he said slowly, "it was worth while. You see, my wife was waiting
for me at home, and I wanted to see her again very badly--you don't
know how badly."

"I think I can imagine," I said. "Because there is a girl waiting for me
too at home."

"I saw her before she died," he c