FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164  
165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   >>   >|  
Exactly!" Will answered dryly. "I've a hundred rounds in my pockets. That ought to be enough." While we made ready, leaving our loads and porters in a safe place and giving the boys orders, I saw two things happen. First, the Masai became aware of the little Greek encampment and the two hundred head of cattle waiting at their mercy; and second, the Greeks grew aware of the Masai. The Greeks had boys with them; I saw at least half a dozen go scattering to round up the cattle. The tents began to come down, and I saw three figures that might be the Greeks and the Goanese holding a consultation near the tree. "And now," remarked Will, "I begin to see the humor in this comedy. Which are we--allies of the Greeks or of the Masai? Are we to help the Greeks get away with Brown's cattle, or help the Masai steal 'em from the Greeks? Are your cattle all branded, Brown?" "You blooming well bet they are!" "Masai know enough to alter a brand?" "Never heard o' their doing it." "Then if the Masai get away with them to British East, if you can find 'em you can claim 'em, eh?" "Claim 'em in court wi' the whole blooming tribe o' Masai--more'n a quarter of a million of 'em--all on hand to swear they bought 'em from me; an' the British gov'ment takin' sides with the black men, as it always does? Oh, yes! It sounds easy, that does!" "But if the Greeks get away with 'em," argued Will, "you've no chance of recovering at all." "I'll not take sides with Masai--even against Greeks!" Brown answered grimly, and Will laughed. "If we attack the Greeks first," I said, "perhaps they'll run. We're nearer to them than the Masai are. The Masai, will have to corral their own cattle before they can leave them to raid a new lot. We can open fire at long range to begin with. If that scares the Greeks away, then we can round up Brown's cattle and drive them back northward. We may possibly escape with them too quickly for the Masai to think it worth while to follow." Brown laughed cynically. "We can try it," he said. "An' if the Greeks don't run pretty quick they'll never run again--I'll warrant that!" Nobody had a better plan to propose, so we emptied our pockets of all but fifty rounds of ammunition each, and gave the rest to Kazimoto to carry, with orders to keep in hiding and watch, and run with cartridges to whoever should first need them. Then, because instead of corraling their cattle the Masai were already d
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164  
165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Greeks
 

cattle

 

pockets

 

blooming

 

rounds

 
laughed
 
orders
 

hundred

 
British
 

answered


corral

 

nearer

 
cartridges
 

chance

 
recovering
 

argued

 
sounds
 
attack
 

corraling

 

grimly


Exactly

 

pretty

 

follow

 

cynically

 

propose

 

emptied

 

ammunition

 

warrant

 

Nobody

 

northward


hiding

 
scares
 

Kazimoto

 

quickly

 

escape

 
possibly
 

bought

 
figures
 

Goanese

 
scattering

holding
 

consultation

 
comedy
 
remarked
 

encampment

 

giving

 
things
 

happen

 
waiting
 

leaving