hing like a boy again--this time like a
boy whose fight has been broken off without his seeking or consent.
Like me, he pulled out a handkerchief and wiped blood from his neck.
The sight of his own blood--even such a little trickle as that--has
peculiar effect an a man.

"By Jiminy, she has scratched the wrong dog's ear!" he growled to me as
we went to the door together.

"They're all in there!" I said excitedly, when the door slammed shut
behind us. "Hurry down and get me a gun! I'll hold the door while you
run for police and have 'em arrested!"

"Piffle!" he said. "Come on! Three Sultan's witnesses and two lone
white women against us two--come away! Come away!"

Monty and Fred were still out, so we went to our own room.

"I'm wondering," I said, "what Monty will say."

"I'm not!" said Will. "I'm not troubling, either! I'm not going to
tell Monty a blessed word! See here--she thinks she knows where some
o' that ivory is. Maybe the government of German East Africa is in on
the deal, and maybe not; that makes no present difference. She thinks
she's wise. And she has fixed up with the Sultan to have him claim it
when found, so's she'll get a fat slice of the melon. There's a scheme
on to get the stuff, when who should come on the scene but our little
party, and that makes 'em all nervous, 'cause Monty's a bad man to be
up against. Remember: she claimed that she knows Monty and he knows
her. She means by that that he knows she's a desperado, and she thinks
he'll draw the line at a trip that promises murder and blackmail and
such like dirty work. So she puts a scare into us with a view to our
throwing a scare into him. If I scare any one, it's going to be that
dame herself. I'll not tell Monty a thing!"

"How about Coutlass the Greek?" said I. "D'you suppose he's her
accomplice?"

"Maybe! One of her dupes perhaps! I suspect she'll suck him dry of
information and cast him off like a lemon rind. I dare bet she's using
him. She can't use me! Shall you tell Monty?"

"No," I said. "Not unless we both agreed."

He nodded. "You and I weren't born to what they call the purple.
We're no diplomatists; but we get each other's meaning."

"Here come Monty and Fred," said I. "Is my neck still bloody? No,
yours doesn't show."

We met them at the stairhead, and Monty did not seem to notice anything.

"Fred has composed a song to the moonlight on Zanzibar roadstead while
you fellows were merely aft