.

"Which women?" Brown asked in sort of mild amazement.

"White women?"

"Rotten! Leastwise, there aren't any. Yes, there's three. Two
officials' wives, an' Pioneer Jane French. Heard o' her? Walked from
South Africa, Jane did--hoofed it along o' French, bossed his boys,
drove the cattle, shot the meat, ran the whole shootin' match, an' runs
him, too, when he's sober an' she's drunk. When they're both drunk
everybody ducks. She's scarcely a woman, she's sort of
three-men-rolled-into-one. Give her a horsewhip ae she'll manage the
unruliest crowd o' savages ever you or she set eyes on! Countin' her
as one, an' the two officials wives, an' her on this train, there's
four!"

Our eyes met. I awoke to sudden interest that startled our informant
and made him curious in turn.

"On this train?"

"On this train. Didn't you see her? She was watching you chaps through
the window slits like the Queen o' Sheba keepin' tabs on Solomon. Say,
what's she doing in this country anyhow? I made a try to get a seat in
her carriage, but she ordered me out like Aunt Jemima puttin' out the
cat the last thing. She's got a maid in with her, but the maid ain't
white--Jew--Syrian--Levantine--Dago--some such breed. She's in this
compartment next behind."

Our eyes met again. Fred laughed, and Will leaned forward to whisper
to me: "She heard what Courtney said to us about the way to Mount
Elgon!"

"D'you know her name?" asked Brown.

"No!" we all three lied together with one voice.

"I do! I seen it on the reservation card. Lady Isobel Saffren Waldon!
Pretty high-soundin' patronymic, what? Lady Isobel Saffren Waldon!"
He repeated the name over and over, crescendo, with growing fervor.
"What's a woman with a title doin' d'you suppose? The title's no fake.
She's got the blood all right, all right! You ought to ha' heard her
shoo me out! Lummy! A nestin' hen giving the office to a snake
weren't in it to her an' me! Good looker, too! What's she doin' in
East Africa?"

We made no shift to answer.

"The officials' wives," he went on, "are keen after Tippoo's ivory,
but, bein' obliged to stay in the station except when their husbands go
on safari, an' then only go where their husbands go, they've no show to
speak of. Pioneer Jane's nuts on it, an' she's dangerous. Jane's as
likely to find the stuff as any one. She's independent--go where she
blooming well pleases--game as a lioness--looks like one, too, only a