• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction
• Famous-Fiction
• Historical-Fiction

By Root 4631 0

�hen?" "It is a temporary measure, Mr. Boot. She is being very well looked after. She is at the villa of the postmaster-general, just outside the town. She asked me to collect some luggage for her�a parcel of geological specimens that were left in your room." "They are my property." "So I understand. You paid a hundred American dollars for them I think. Here is the money." William was by nature a man of mild temper; on the rare occasions when he gave way to rage the symptoms were abundantly evident. The Negro stood up, removed the cigarette end from its holder and added, "Perhaps I should tell you that when I was at the Adventist University of Alabama I was welterweight champion of my year...May I repeat my offer? Dr. Benito wishes very much to examine these specimens; they are the property of the Government, for they were collected by a foreigner who came here without the formality of obtaining a prospecting licence from the Ministry of Mines � a foreigner who unfortunately is at the moment protected by the capitulations � at the moment only. Arrangements are being made about him. Since you bought these specimens under a misapprehension, the Government decided very generously to make an offer of reimbursement�" "Get out," said William. "Very well. You will hear of this matter again." He rose with dignity and swaggered into the yard. The milch-goat looked up from her supper of waste paper; her perennial optimism quickened within her, and swelled to a great and mature confidence; all day she had shared the exhilaration of the season, her pelt had glowed under the newborn sun; deep in her heart she too had made holiday, had cast off the doubts of winter and exulted among the crimson flowers; all day she had dreamed gloriously; now in the limpid evening she gathered her strength, stood for a moment rigid, quivering from horn to tail; then charged, splendidly, irresistibly, triumphantly; the rope snapped, and the welterweight champion of the Adventist University of Alabama sprawled on his face amid the kitchen garbage.

The events of that day were not yet ended. As soon as the black had gone, limping and dishevelled, and the goat, sated and peaceably disposed to retrospection, had been recaptured and secured, William drove back to the British Consulate with his bag of minerals. "The party's over," said Bannister. "We all want a rest." "I've brought some luggage for you to keep an eye on." He explained the circumstances. "If you knew the amount of work you were causing," said Bannister, "you wouldn't do this. From tomorrow onwards for the next six years I shall get a daily pile of bumf from the Ministry of Mines and in the end the Mixed Court will decide against you � God damn all capitulations. What's in the sack anyway?" He opened it and examined the stones. "Yes," he said, "just what I expected � gold ore. The mountains in the West are stiff with it. We knew it was bound to cause international trouble sooner or later. There have been two companies after a mineral concession � German and Russian. So far as the Jacksons have any political principles it has been to make the country unprofitable for foreign investment. The President kept his end up pretty well � played one company off against the other for months. Then the Smiles trouble started. We are pretty certain that the Germans were behind it. The Russians have been harder to follow � we only learned a day or two ago that they had bought Benito and the Young Ishmaelite party. It's between Smiles and Benito now, and it looks to me as if Benito had won hands down. I'm sorry � the Jacksons were a pack of rogues, but they suited the country and they suited H.M.G. We stand to lose quite a lot if they start a Soviet state here�Now you've stopped being a journalist I can tell you these things." "As a matter of fact I've just become a journalist again. D'you mind if I cable this to the Beast?" "Well, don't let on that you got it from me�As a matter of fact, a newspaper campaign at the moment might just do the trick." "There's another thing. Can you help me get a girl friend out of jug?" "Certainly not," said Bannister. "I'm a keen supporter of the local prison system; it's the one thing that keeps the British Protected Persons off my doorstep. Its only weakness is you can buy yourself out when you want to for a fiver."