THE LIBERATIONIST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13766, 3 June 1908, Page 10

THE LIBERATIONIST.

| BY HAROLD BINDLOSS.

[PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.]

[COPYEIGHT.] CHAPTER XIV. HKRRKRO's IMPRTJDKXCK. Though it was, at least, as hot as it- usually is at San Roque and the heavy, stagnant atmosphere made exertion of any kind impossible to a white man. Dom Erminio had not gone to sleep that afternoon as he generally did. Hi- had, after all, some shadowy notions of duty, and would now and then rouse himself to carry them out; that is, at least, when he stood to obtain some advantage by doing so. Til this he was, perhaps, not altogether singular, since it is possible that there are other men who recognise a duty most clearly under similar circumstances. He lay in a low-hung hammock, where the verandah roof flung a grateful shadow over him, with a cigar in his hand, meditatively watching a row of half-naked negroes toiling in the burning sun in a, fashion which .suggested that it afforded him a certain quiet satisfaction. He had grave objections to physical exertion "personally, and as a ride succeeded in avoiding it, for there are, as he recognised, advantages in being a white man, in that country, at least. Dom Erminio invariably made the most of them. it must bd admitted that the negro is by no means addicted to toiling assiduously under scorching heat, especially when, as sometimes happens, he works for a white man who requisitions his services without any intention of rewarding him for them, but "though the baked and trampled soil of the compound flung back an intolerable heat and glare the half-naked men were diligent that afternoon. Dom Erminio had'his shifty black eyes on them, and certain dusky men with sticks stood ready to spur tho laggards to fresh endeavour. So while the sweat of strenuous effort dripped from them some trotted to and fro with baskets of soil upon their woolly heads and the rest plied saw and hammer persistently. They were strengthening the fort stockade and digging a ditch, and incidentally rivetting the shackles of the white man's bondage more firmly on their limbs. The Commandant, or Chefe as he was usually called, appeared to recognise that fact, for he smiled a little as he watched them. By and by he turned and blinked at the I forest which .hemmed the stockaded compound in as with an impenetrable Avail. It was dim and shadowy, oven under that burning glare suggestively so, and he was aware that just then whispers of a coming rising were living through its unlifting gloom, though the fact caused him no great concern. A few white friends of his were playing a game that has been played before in other regions, and he was quite willing to gain fresh renown as an administrator by the suppression of a futile rebellion. It is also possible that his friends looked for more tangliblo advantages, and would have been willing to offer him a certain share of them. That, however, is not quite a matter of certainty, and there were, at least, men in that country who said they regarded Dom Erminio as'all an administrator ought to be. Perhaps he was, from their point of view. The Lieutenant Luiz, who .nitf just come back from a native village with a handful of dusky soldiers and a baud of carriers leaded with fresh provisions, wit in a. basket chair close by also regarding tho stockade builders with a little smile, for he was a man who found a certain pleasure in watching others labour. A negro who sensed as messenger stood waiting a few paces behind him. It is an advantage when one can teach the trek ex to harness himself," he said reflectively. "I do not think they like what they are doing. Every pile that they are driving; makes our rule'a little surer. Perhaps, it is not astonishing that some of them should be a. trifle mutinous now and then." " You had a. difficulty about those provisions?'' said Dom Erminio. His companion laughed. " One would scarcely call it that. It was merely advisable to use the stick, and a. hut or two was burnt. In times like the present one profits by a little judicious firmness." " I think one could even go a trifle further than that." Lieutenant Luiz made a little gesture. He had a certain shrewdness, and the Ohefo was only cunning, which is, after all, a different thing from being clever. It seemed that Dom Erminio failed to recognise that it is always somewhat dangerous to play with fire. One can as a rale start a conflagration without much difficulty, but.it is now and then quite another matter to put it out. - ... l ;

"I am not sure," he said. '•There are men in this country who seem to enjoy scattering.sparks, and they are rather busy just now. It is, perhaps," not very hazardous when it' is done judiciously and one knows there is only a little tinder here and there, but when one flings them broadcast it is possible that two or three may fall on powder." "He turned and stretched out a dainty, olive-tinted hand towards the forest. " After all, we do not know much about what rocs on there." " Bah!" said Eot Enninio who had courage, at least, "h"the blaze is a little larger than one expected what does it matter? The stockade will be a strong one." His companion glanced at the gap in the row of well stiffened piles. "It would certainly be difficult to storm that gate, but these bushmen who are building the stockade have the sense to- realise it and tell their friends. If there is an attack it will not be made thai, way.'" "Exactly!" Mid- the Ghefe"s eyes twinkled as he waved a yellow hand. "It- is a little idea, that occurred to me while you were away. The bushmen would come by the rear of the stockade which we leave lower, and when they do I think we shall also be ready for them there. There are certain defences which will be substituted when their friends have gone away again." They both laughed at this and neither of them said anything furtTier for awhile until a. negro swathed in white cotton strode out of the forest with a little stick in his band. He Mas challenged by a sentry who .sent him on. and presently stood on the verandah holding out the stick. Dom Erminio glanced at it languidly. " Our injudicious friend Herrero has some word for us," he said. . " He is a man who lets his dislikes run away with him, and he is not always wise in his messages." He stopped a moment with a little reflective smile. Still, a message is always a difficulty in this part of Africa. If one teaches the messenger what he is to say he may tell it to somebody else, and it happens now and then that to write is not advisable. One must choose, however, and T wonder which our friend has done."

I he man decided the question by holding out a strip of paper, and the C'hefe who took it from him smiled as he read. " It appears that Herrero is not pleased with the doings of the crazy Englishman who is troubling the country," he said. " Ho seems to consider that lie and a few others are capable of rousing all the ill-will against us among the natives that is desirable, and I am almost tempted to believe that he is right in this. He is, however, imprudent enough to supply in© with a few particulars which might with advantage have been made less" explicit. Herrero fancies we shall have rebellion, and if we do not I almost think it will be no fault of his."

" There is no doubt a little more." observed Lieutenant Luiz. "When that man writes a letter he has something to ask for." The Commandant nodded. "Itis in this case a, thing we can oblige him in," he said. It seems the crazy Englishman Ormsgill is causing trouble up yonder and inciting the natives to mutiny." Further, it is evidently his intention to deprive Domingo of some of the boys who have engaged themselves under him. The man is one who could, I think, be called dangerous. It is not a favour to Herrero, but a duty to place some check on. him."

They looked at one another, and Dom Luiz grinned. "Ah," he said, "our imprudent friend no doubt mentions how it could most readily be done." The Commandant raised one hand. "The tiling is simple. You will start, we will say, the day after to-morrow, with several men, and you will come upon Ormsgill In a- village in C'avalho's country. Domingo, it seems, is there now, and it is expected that Onus-

gill will attempt to take the boys from him, but there will be no difficulty. The beadman, who in a friend of Domingo's, will if • it appears advisable, disarm Ormsgill. The latter will no doubt not permit this to be done quietly, and it is possible that there will be a disturbance in the village, as the result of which yon will arrest him for raiding native*! under our protection. / We shall know what to do when you bring him here." Tlip.v had after sending Herrero's messenger away spoken in Portuguese, of which . the negro who remained on the verandah understood no more than a word or two. , He stood .still, statuesque, _ with his white draperies flowing about his dusky limbs, * and as disregarded by the white men as i the native girl with the big bedizened fan s who crouched in the shadowy doorway just . behind them. Yet both had intelligence, and noticed that the Chefe, instead of destroying the letter laid it carelessly on the 1 edge' of his hammock, from which it dropped ■ when he raised himself a little. The girl's , eyes glistened, but she said notlung, and , the man moved slightly as though his pose had grown irksome. "It was unfortunate that Dom Erminio had considered it advis- ' able to keep him there waiting his plea- . sure, for when he stood still again he was a foot or two nearer the strip than he Had been a few moments earlier. Then the girl in the doorway rose, and the Chefe turned sharply in his hammock as a little haggard man in plain white duck walked quietly out of the house. He saw the question in the glance Dom Erminio Hashed at his lieutenant, and smiled as he seated himself in the nearest chair. Father Tiebout was always unobtrusive,, and what \ ho did was, as a! rule, done very quietly, i but he was quite aWare that neither of the i two white men was exactly pleased to see him. "I came in from the east by the rear of the stockade where they are mending it," he said. "It was a little nearer. One would suppose that you did not see me." The residency verandah, as is usual in that country, ran round the budding, which had several doors and two stairways, and it was therefore perfectly natural that the priest should have arrived unnoticed, but the fact that he had done so was disconcerting just then, and it left the question open as to how long he might have been in the house. Still, there-were reasons why the Chefe could not ask it or treat his guest with any discourtesy. "In any case you are welcome," he said. "There is presumably something I can do for you?" Father Tiebout nodded. " A little matter," he said. '" I was going to San Thome, and as my road led near the fort 1 thought I would mention it. Mv people have a complaint against the soldiers you lately sent into our neighbourhood under the Sergeant Orticho. Seine of them have been beaten." •'Bom Luiz will go over and look into it," said the Chefe. "That is, presently." •'Ah," said Father Tiebout, "then Dom Luiz is busy now? He will, perhaps, be at liberty in a day or two?" It was not a question Dom Erminio wish-, ed to answer, and he waved his hand. "At the moment one cannot say. In the meanwhile you will make your complaint a little more definite." '. ', He had apparently forgotten the messenger, but Father Tiebout had been quietly watching him, and now saw him stretch out a. dusky foot towards the strip of paper which lay not far away. He touched it with a prehensile toe, and in another moment it had vanished altogether, though the man did not stand exactly where he had done. Lieutenant Luiz, as it happened, sat: with his back to him, and Dom Erminio lay • in his hammock where he could not see, but two people had noticed every motion," and though neither of them made any sign the dusky man was quite aware that the girl who had retired -to one of the windows' was watching him. About Father Tiebout . he was far from certain, but he was a bold' man, and turning a little away from him. he .stooped and apparently touched a scratch a thorn or broken grass stalk had made on his foot. When he straightened himself' again there was, however, something in his • hand. Then the Chefe appeared to remember him " You ,will go back to Lieutenant Castro," he .said. " You can tell him there. is no, answer.. Start to-morrow,," , ; ~■.,', ''% "It is a long.journey," said the man. "I go back now.'" ■ * -^ Dom Enninio made a little gesture which seemed to indicate that it was a matter of indifference to him, and Father Tiebout put a check on his impatience. He had, as it happened, been in the house at least a minute before anyone had noticed him, and was anxious for reasons of his own to discover what was in the letter. He did not know what the messenger meant to do with it, but he was aware that those entrusted with authority in that country were frequently at variance and spied on one another. ■ It was possible that the man who I could not read the note might expect to sell j it. " Still, the missionary was one. who seldom | spoiled anything by undue haste, and lie re- | fleeted that while he had travelled in a hammock leisurely the man was probably worn by a long journey, since San Boqite lay at some distance from the camp where the officer the Chefe had mentioned was stationed then. So he. supplied his hosts with particulars concerning his complaint, and then talked of other matters for an hour or more, and it was not until the comida was laid out that he set out on his journey. This was a. somewhat unusual course in the case, of a. guest who had a, long march still in front of him, but although the messenger, who might also have I been expected to spend the night there, had evinced the same desire to get on his way. it never occurred to Dom Erminio to put ( the two facts together. There are, however, i other cunning men who now and then fail I to see a very obvious tiling. Still. Father Tiebout did not go by the nearest way to San Thome, though he urged his hammock boys through the bush all night at their utmost speed. The path was smoothly trodden, and they had no great difficulty in following it through the drifting steam, while when the red sun leapt up and hero and there a ray of brightness streamed down, they came upon a weary man who turned and' stood still when he saw them. He made a, little gesture of comprehension when the priest dropped from his hammock and looked at him. Father Tiebout touched his shoulder and led him back a few paces into the bush-; The man was big and muscular, as well as a pagan, but the priest had the letter when they came out again. He did not toll anyone how lie induced the messenger to part with it, but as he now and then admitted, lie was one who did not hesitate to use the means available. It was, in fact, a favourite expression of his, and, though he usually left the latter point an open, question, in his ca.se, at least, the results generally justified the means. He spoke a word or two sharply to the hammock boys, and they left the man sitting wearily beside the trail when they went on again. • It was three weeks later when the priest in charge of the San Thome mission, who was a privileged person, sent on the letter to Dom Clements. Figuera by the hands of a Government messenger, but Father Tiebout, who requested him to do so, had made' one or two other oiTangemerts in connection with it in the meanwhile. Ormsgill, as he had once said, had a few good friends in Africa. (To be continued on Saturday next.)