uiries. Then a friend of mine--a Greek--who had
been out here told me of Tippoo Tib's ivory, and it looked all right to
me to change scenes for a while. I had citizenship papers--U. S., and
English, and a Greek passport in case of accident. Traveling looked
good to me."

"If you traveled on a Greek passport you couldn't use citizenship
papers of any other country," Fred objected.

"Who said I traveled on a Greek passport? Do you take me for such a
fool? Who listens to a Greek consul? He may protest, and accept fees,
but Greece is a little country and no one listens to her consuls. I
carry a Greek passport in case I should find somewhere someday a Greek
consul with influence or a Greek whom I wish to convince. I traveled
to South Africa as an American. I went to Cape Town with the idea of
going to Salisbury, and working my way up from there as a trader into
the Congo. I reached Johannesburg, and there I did a little I. D. B.
and one thing and another until the Boer War came. Then I fought for
the Boers. Yes, I have bled for the Boer cause. It was a damned bad
cause! They robbed me of nearly all my money! They left me to die
when I was wounded! It was only by the grace of God, and the intrigues
of a woman that I made my way to Lourenco Marquez. No, the war was not
over, but what did I care? I, Georges Coutlass, had had enough of it!
I recompensed myself en route. I do not fight for a bunch of thieves
for nothing! I sailed from Lourenco Marquez to Mombasa. I hunted
elephant in British East Africa until they posted a reward for me on
the telegraph poles. The law says not more than two elephants in one
year. I shot two hundred! I sold the ivory to an Indian, bought
cattle, and went down into German East Africa. The Masai attacked me,
stole some of the cattle, and killed others. The Germans, damn and
blast them, took the rest! They accused me of crimes--me, Georges
Coutlass!--and imposed fines calculated carefully to skin me of all I
had! Roup and rotten livers! but I will knock them head-over-halleluja
one fine day! Not for nothing shall they flim-flam Georges Coutlass!
Which of you gentlemen is the lord?"

We bought him another drink, and watched it disappear with one
uninterrupted gurgle down its appointed course.

"What did you do next?" Fred asked him before he had recovered breath
enough to question us. "I suppose the Germans had you at a loose end?"

"Do you think that? Sacred histor