more than
eager to trade with you upon highly advantageous terms. By so doing,
you could, in the course of six months, load your wagon to its utmost
capacity with tusks and feathers, get back to the coast, and dispose of
your load at a price which would cover all your expenses and leave you a
very handsome profit upon your outlay of time and money. But,"
continued the major, unconsciously dropping his voice to a confidential
tone, "I do not advise you to limit your energies to that programme;
very far from it. Were I undertaking the expedition I should cache my
ivory in comparatively small parcels, at frequent intervals, so that I
might not have the trouble of dragging it about the country, but could
collect it on my return journey, if I wanted it, and should push on
right into the interior, up into Mashonaland, and, possibly, farther
still. The Mashonas are queer chaps, I'll allow; but they're all right
if you take them the right way, make their headmen a few presents, take
care to obtain permission before entering their country, and make it
perfectly clear to them that your only object in desiring to enter their
territory is sport, and trade with them. I've been up among them, and I
know. And, my dear chap, there is gold--plenty of it--up there; and
thus far they don't know the value of it! They'll swap you a nugget as
big as your fist for a yard of copper wire. Therefore, my advice to you
is: Go up there, trade your truck for gold, and bring back as much of
the stuff as your wagon will carry.

"And now of course I know exactly what you are going to say. You are
going to ask: If I am telling you the truth, why the dickens did I not
do as I am advising you to do, and bring back a wagon-load of gold with
me? My dear chap, I did! That is to say, I got the gold all right.
But, unfortunately for me, I had a partner in the expedition, a Boer
named Van Raalte, who was cursed with an outrageously quarrelsome
disposition and a vile temper, especially where natives were concerned;
and it was he who spoiled everything. Our expedition--which had
originally been a hunting trip, pure and simple, you must understand--
had been brilliantly successful; we had enjoyed magnificent sport--lion,
elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, giraffe, no end--and had filled our wagon
chock-full of ivory, skins, and horns, and had then found out about the
gold. Of course we at once threw everything overboard and loaded our
wagon afresh with g