r of us,
his fat good-natured face an interrogation mark.

"I go an' tell bwana Tippoo Tib!" he announced, and departed swiftly.

"What's the idea of fish, Fred?" I asked.

"Oh, just curiosity. The way of getting information out of colored
folk is to get them so frantically curious they've no time to think up
lies. Tobacco would have done as well--anything unexpected. A bird
flying, and a black man lying,--are both of 'em easy to catch or
confuse unless they know which way they're heading. Let's go and look
at the bazaar."

But in order to look one had to reach. We left the great heavy-beamed
hotel that had once been Tippoo Tib's residence, but were stopped in
the outer doorway by a crowd of native boys, each with a brass plate on
his arm.

"Guide, sah!--Guide, sah!--My name 'McPhairson, sah!--My name Jones,
sah!--My name Johnson, sah! Guide to all the sights, sah!"

They were as persistent and evilly intentioned as a swarm of flies, and
bold enough to strike back when anybody kicked them. While we wrestled
and swore, but made no headway, we were accosted by a Greek, who seemed
from long experience able to pass through them without striking or
being struck. We were not left in doubt another second as to whether
our friend Hassan had dallied on the way, and held his tongue or not.

"Good day, gentlemen! I hear you are after fish! Hah! That is a good
story to tell to Arabs! You mean fishing for information, eh? Ha-hah!"

He turned on the swarm of boys, who still yelled and struggled about
our legs.

"Imshi!* Voetsak!** Enenda zako!*** Kuma nina, wewe!****" In a minute
he had them all scattering, for only innocence and inexperience attract
the preying youth of Zanzibar. "Now, gentlemen, my name is
Coutlass--Georges Coutlass. Have a drink with me, and let me tell you
something."

-----------------
* Imshi (Arabic), get to hell out of here!
** Voetsak (Cape Dutch), ditto.
*** Enenda zako (Kiswahill), ditto.
**** Kuma nina (Kiswahill). An opprobrious, and perhaps the commonest
expletive In the language, amounting to a request for details of the
objurgee's female ancestry. By no means for use in drawing-rooms.
------------------

He was tall, dark skinned, athletic, and roguish-looking even for the
brand of Greek one meets with south of the Levant--dressed in khaki,
with an American cowboy hat--his fingers nearly black with cigarette
juice--his hands unusually horny for that climate--and his h