Many years ago the Monrovian Government sent one Bosambo, a native of the Kroo coast and consequently a thief, to penal1 servitude for the term of his natural life. Bosambo, who had other views on the matter, was given an axe2 and a saw in the penal settlement—which was a patch of wild forest in the back country—and told to cut down and trim certain mahogany-trees in company with other unfortunate men similarly circumstanced.
To assure themselves of Bosambo's obedience3, the Government of Liberia set over him a number of compatriots, armed with weapons which had rendered good service at Gettysburg, and had been presented to the President of Liberia by President Grant. They were picturesque4 weapons, but they were somewhat deficient5 in accuracy, especially when handled by the inexpert soldiers of the Monrovian coast. Bosambo, who put his axe to an ignoble6 use, no less than the slaying7 of Captain Peter Cole—who was as black as the ten of clubs, but a gentleman by the Liberian code—left the penal settlement with passionate8 haste. The Gettysburg relics9 made fairly good practice up to two hundred yards, but Bosambo was a mile away before the guards, searching the body of their dead commander for the key of the ammunition10 store, had secured food for their lethal11 weapons.
The government offered a reward of two hundred and fifty dollars for Bosambo, dead or alive. But, although the reward was claimed and paid to the half-brother of the Secretary of War, it is a fact that Bosambo was never caught.
On the contrary, he made his way to a far land, and became, by virtue12 of his attainments13, chief of the Ochori.
Bosambo was too good a sportsman to leave his persecutors at peace. There can be little doubt that the Kroo insurrection, which cost the Liberian Government eight hundred and twenty-one pounds sixteen shillings to suppress, was due to the instigation and assistance of Bosambo. Of this insurrection, and the part that Bosambo played, it may be necessary to speak again.
The second rebellion was a more serious and expensive affair; and it was at the conclusion of this that the Liberian Government made representations to Britain. Sanders, who conducted an independent inquiry14 into the question of Bosambo's complicity, reported that there was no evidence whatever that Bosambo was directly or indirectly15 responsible. And with that the Liberian Government was forced to be content; but they expressed their feelings by offering a reward of two thousand dollars for Bosambo alive or dead—preferably alive. They added, for the benefit of minor16 government officials and their neighbours, that they would, in the language of the advertisement, reject all substitutes. The news of this price went up and down the coast and very far into the interior, yet strangely enough Arachi of the Isisi did not learn of it until many years afterward17.
Arachi was of the Isisi people, and a great borrower. Up and down the river all men knew him for such, so that his name passed into the legendary18 vocabulary of the people whilst he yet lived; and did the wife of Yoka beg from the wife of O'taki the service of a cooking-pot, be sure that O'taki's wife would agree, but with heavy pleasantry scream after the retiring pot: "O thou shameless Arachi!" whereupon all the village folk who heard the jest would rock with laughter.
Arachi was the son of a chief, but in a country where chieftainship was not hereditary19, and where, moreover, many chiefs' sons dwelt without distinction, his parentage was of little advantage. Certainly it did not serve him as, in his heart, he thought he should be served.
He was tall and thin, and his knees were curiously20 knobbly. He carried his head on one side importantly, and was profoundly contemptuous of his fellows.
Once he came to Sanders.
"Lord," he said, "I am a chief's son, as you know, and I am very wise. Men who look upon me say, 'Behold21, this young man is full of craft,' because of my looks. Also I am a great talker."
"There are many in this land who are great talkers, Arachi," said Sanders, unpleasantly; "yet they do not travel for two days down-stream to tell me so."
"Master," said Arachi impressively, "I came to you because I desire advancement22. Many of your little chiefs are fools, and, moreover, unworthy. Now I am the son of a chief, and it is my wish to sit down in the place of my father. Also, lord, remember this, that I have dwelt among foreign people, the Angola folk, and speak their tongue."
Sanders sighed wearily.
"Seven times you have asked me, Arachi," he said, "and seven times I have told you you are no chief for me. Now I tell you this—that I am tired of seeing you, and if you come to me again I will throw you to the monkeys.[#] As for your Angola palaver23, I tell you this—that if it happen—which may all gods forbid!—that a tribe of Angola folk sit down with me, you shall be chief."
[#] Colloquial24: "Make you look foolish."
Unabashed, Arachi returned to his village, for he thought in his heart that Sandi was jealous of his great powers. He built a large hut at the end of the village, borrowing his friends' labour; this he furnished with skins and the like, and laid in stores of salt and corn, all of which he had secured from neighbouring villages by judicious25 promises of payment.
It was like a king's hut, so glorious were the hangings of skin and the stretched bed of hide, and the people of his village said "Ko!" believing that Arachi had dug up those hidden treasures which every chief is popularly supposed to possess in secret places to which his sons may well be privy26.
Even those who had helped to supply the magnificence were impressed and comforted.
"I have lent Arachi two bags of salt," said Pidini, the chief of Kolombolo, the fishing village, "and my stomach was full of doubt, though he swore by Death that he would repay me three days after the rains. Now I see that he is indeed very rich, as he told me he was, and if my salt does not return to me I may seize his fine bed."
"Woman, you have seen the hut of Arachi, now I think you will cease your foolish talk. For you have reproached me bitterly because I lent Arachi my fine bed."
"Lord, I was wrong," said the woman meekly28; "but I feared he would not pay you the salt he promised; now I know that I was foolish, for I saw many bags of salt in his hut."
The story of Arachi's state spread up and down the river, and when the borrower demanded the hand of Koran, the daughter of the chief of the Putani ("The Fishers of the River"), she came to him without much palaver, though she was rather young.
A straight and winsome29 girl well worth the thousand rods and the twenty bags of salt which the munificent30 Arachi promised, by Death, devils, and a variety of gods, should be delivered to her father when the moon and the river stood in certain relative positions.
Now Arachi did no manner of work whatever, save to walk through the village street at certain hours clad in a robe of monkey tails which he had borrowed from the brother of the king of the Isisi.
He neither fished nor hunted nor dug in the fields.
He talked to Koran his wife, and explained why this was so. He talked to her from sunset until the early hours of the morning, for he was a great talker, and when he was on his favourite subject—which was Arachi—he was very eloquent31. He talked to her till the poor child's head rocked from side to side, and from front to back, in her desperate sleepiness.
He was a great man, beloved and trusted of Sandi. He had immense thoughts and plans—plans that would ensure him a life of ease without the distressing32 effects of labour. Also, Sanders would make him chief—in good time.
She should be as a queen—she would much rather have been in her bed and asleep.
Though no Christian33, Arachi was a believer in miracles. He pinned his faith to the supreme34 miracle of living without work, and was near to seeing the fulfilment of that wonder.
But the miracle which steadfastly35 refused to happen was the miracle which would bring him relief at the moment when his numerous creditors37 were clamouring for the repayment38 of the many and various articles which they had placed in his care.
There was a tumultuous and stormy day when the wrathful benefactors39 of Arachi gathered in full strength and took from him all that was takable, and this in the face of the village, to Koran's great shame. Arachi, on the contrary, because of his high spirit, was neither ashamed nor distressed40, even though many men spoke41 harshly.
"O thief and rat!" said the exasperated42 owner of a magnificent stool of ceremony, the base of which Arachi had contrived43 to burn. "Is it not enough that you should steal the wear of these things? Must you light your fires by my beautiful stool?"
Arachi replied philosophically44 and without passion: they might take his grand furnishings—which they did; they might revile45 him in tones and in language the most provocative—this also they did; but they could not take the noble hut which their labours had built, because that was against the law of the tribe; nor could they rob him of his faith in himself, because that was contrary to the laws of nature—Arachi's nature.
"My wife," he said to the weeping girl, "these things happen. Now I think I am the victim of Fate, therefore I propose changing all my gods. Such as I have do not serve me, and, if you remember, I spent many hours in the forest with my bete."
Arachi had thought of many possible contingencies—as, for instance:
Sandi might relent, and appoint him to a great chieftainship.
Or he might dig from the river-bed some such treasure as U'fabi, the N'gombi man, did once upon a time.
Arachi, entranced with this latter idea, went one morning before sunrise to a place by the shore and dug. He turned two spadefuls of earth before an infinite weariness fell upon him, and he gave up the search.
"For," he argued, "if treasure is buried in the river-bed, it might as well be there as elsewhere. And if it be not there, where may it be?"
Arachi bore his misfortune with philosophy. He sat in the bare and bleak47 interior of his hut, and explained to his wife that the men who had robbed him—as he said—hated him, and were jealous of him because of his great powers, and that one day, when he was a great chief, he would borrow an army from his friends the N'gombi, and put fire to their houses.
Yes, indeed, he said "borrow," because it was his nature to think in loans.
His father-in-law came on the day following the deporting48, expecting to save something from the wreckage49 on account of Koran's dowry. But he was very late.
"O son of shame!" he said bitterly. "Is it thus you repay for my priceless daughter? By Death! but you are a wicked man."
"Have no fear, fisherman," said Arachi loftily, "for I am a friend of Sandi, and be sure that he will do that for me which will place me high above common men. Even now I go to make a long palaver with him, and, when I return, you shall hear news of strange happenings."
Arachi was a most convincing man, possessing the powers of all great borrowers, and he convinced his father-in-law—a relation who, from the beginning of time, has always been the least open to conviction.
He left his wife, and she, poor woman, glad to be relieved of the presence of her loquacious50 husband, probably went to sleep.
At any rate, Arachi came to headquarters at a propitious51 moment for him. Headquarters at that moment was an armed camp at the junction52 of the Isisi and Ikeli rivers.
On the top of all his other troubles, Sanders had the problem of a stranger who had arrived unbidden. His orderly came to him and told him that a man desired speech of him.
"What manner of man?" asked Sanders, wearily.
"Master," said the orderly, "I have not seen a man like him before."
Sanders went out to inspect his visitor. The stranger rose and saluted53, raising both hands, and the Commissioner54 looked him over. He was not of any of the tribes he knew, being without the face-cuts laterally55 descending56 either cheek, which mark the Bomongo. Neither was he tattooed57 on the forehead, like the people of the Little River.
"Where do you come from?" asked Sanders, in Swaheli—which is the lingua franca of the continent—but the man shook his head.
So Sanders tried him again, this time in Bomongo, thinking, from his face-marks, that he must be a man of the Bokeri people. But he answered in a strange tongue.
"Quel nom avez vous?" Sanders asked, and repeated the question in Portuguese58. To this latter he responded, saying that he was a small chief of the Congo Angola, and that he had left his land to avoid slavery.
"Take him to the men's camp and feed him," said Sanders, and dismissed him from his mind.
Sanders had little time to bother about stray natives who might wander into his camp. He was engaged in searching for a gentleman who was known as Abdul Hazim, a great rascal59, trading guns and powder contrary to the law.
"And," said Sanders to the captain of the Houssas, "if I catch him he'll be sorry."
Abdul Hazim shared this view, so kept out of Sanders's way to such purpose that, after a week's further wanderings, Sanders returned to his headquarters.
Just about then he was dispirited, physically60 low from the after-effects of fever, and mentally disturbed.
Nothing went right with the Commissioner. There had been a begging letter from head-quarters concerning this same Abdul Hazim. He was in no need of Houssa palavers61, yet there must needs come a free fight amongst these valiant62 soldier-men, and, to crown all, two hours afterwards, the Houssa skipper had gone to bed with a temperature of 104.6.
"Bring the swine here," said Sanders inelegantly, when the sergeant63 of Houssas reported the fight. And there were marched before him the strange man, who had come to him from the backlands, and a pugnacious64 soldier named Kano.
"Lord," said the Houssa, "by my god, who is, I submit, greater than most gods, I am not to blame. This Kaffir dog would not speak to me when I spoke; also, he put his hands to my meat, so I struck him."
"Is that all?" asked Sanders.
"That is all, lord."
"And did the stranger do no more than, in his ignorance, touch your meat, and keep silence when you spoke?"
"No more, lord."
"If there is one thing more evident to me than another," he said slowly, "it is that a Houssa is a mighty66 person, a lord, a king. Now I sit here in justice, respecting neither kings, such as you be, nor slaves, such as this silent one. And I judge so, regarding the dignity of none, according to the law of the book. Is that so?"
"That is so, lord."
"And it would seem that it is against the law to raise hand against any man, however much he offends you, the proper course being to make complaint according to the regulations of the service. Is that so?"
"That is so, lord."
"Therefore you have broken the law. Is that truth?"
"That is truth, lord."
"Go back to your lines, admitting this truth to your comrades, and let the Kaffir rest. For on the next occasion, for him that breaks the law, there will be breaking of skin. The palaver is finished."
"And," said Sanders, retailing68 the matter to the convalescent officer next morning, "I consider that I showed more than ordinary self-restraint in not kicking both of them to the devil."
"You're a great man," said the Houssa officer. "You'll become a colonial-made gentleman one of these days, unless you're jolly careful."
Sanders passed in silence the Houssa's gibe69 at the Companionship of St. Michael and St. George, and, moreover, C.M.G.'s were not likely to come his way whilst Abdul Hazim was still at large.
He was in an unpleasant frame of mind when Arachi came swiftly in a borrowed canoe, paddled by four men whom he had engaged at an Isisi village, on a promise of payment which it was very unlikely he would ever be able to fulfil.
"Master," said Arachi solemnly, "I come desiring to serve your lordship, for I am too great a man for my village, and, if no chief, behold, I have a chief's thoughts."
"And a chief's hut," said Sanders dryly, "if all they tell me is true."
"Lord," he said humbly71, "all things are known to you, and your eye goes forth72 like a chameleon's tongue to see round the corners."
Sanders passed over the unpleasant picture Arachi suggested.
"Arachi," he said, "it happens that you have come at a moment when you can serve me, for there is in my camp a strange man from a far-away land, who knows not this country, yet desires to cross it. Now, since you know the Angola tongue, you shall take him in your canoe to the edge of the Frenchi land, and there you shall put him on his way. And for this I will pay your paddlers. And as for you, I will remember you in the day of your need."
It was not as Arachi could have wished, but it was something. The next day he departed importantly.
Before he left, Sanders gave him a word of advice.
"Go you, Arachi," he said, "by the Little Kusu River."
"Lord," said Arachi, "there is a shorter way by the creek73 of Still Waters. This goes to the Frenchi land, and is deep enough for our purpose."
"It is a short way and a long way," said Sanders grimly. "For there sits a certain Abdul Hazim who is a great buyer of men, and, because the Angola folk are wonderful gardeners, behold, the Arab is anxious to come by them. Go in peace."
"On my head," said Arachi, and took his leave.
It was rank bad luck that he should meet on his way two of his principal creditors. These, having some grievance74 in the matter of foodstuffs75, advanced, desiring to do him an injury, but, on his earnest entreaties76, postponed77 the performance of their solemn vows78.
"It seems," said one of them, "that you are now Sandi's man, for though I do not believe anything you have told me, yet these paddlers do not lie."
"Nor this silent one," said Arachi, pointing to his charge proudly. "And because I alone in all the land can make palaver with him, Sandi has sent me on a mission to certain kings. These will give me presents, and on my return I will pay you what I owe, and much more for love."
They let him pass.
It may be said that Arachi, who lent "to none and believed no man," had no faith whatever in his lord's story. Who the silent Angola was, what was his mission, and why he had been chosen to guard the stranger, Arachi did not guess.
He would have found an easy way to understanding if he had believed all that Sanders had told him, but that was not Arachi's way.
On a night when the canoe was beached on an island, and the paddlers prepared the noble Arachi's food, the borrower questioned his charge.
"How does it happen, foreigner," he asked, "that my friend and neighbour, Sandi, asks me of my kindness to guide you to the French land?"
"Patron," said the Angola man, "I am a stranger, and desire to escape from slavery. Also, there is a small Angola-Balulu tribe, which are of my people and faith, who dwell by the Frenchi tribe."
"What is your faith?" asked Arachi.
"I believe in devils and ju-jus," said the Angola man simply, "especially one called Billimi, who has ten eyes and spits at snakes. Also, I hate the Arabi, that being part of my faith."
This gave Arachi food for thought, and some reason for astonishment79 that Sandi should have spoken the truth to him.
"What of this Abdul Arabi?" he asked. "Now I think that Sandi lied to me when he said such an one buys men, for, if this be so, why does he not raid the Isisi?"
But the Angola man shook his head.
"These are matters too high for my understanding," he said. "Yet I know that he takes the Angola because they are great gardeners, and cunning in the pruning80 of trees."
Again Arachi had reason for thinking profoundly.
This Abdul, as he saw, must come to the Upper River for the people of the Lesser81 Akasava, who were also great gardeners. He would take no Isisi, because they were notoriously lazy, and moreover, died with exasperating82 readiness when transplanted to a foreign soil.
He continued his journey till he came to the place where he would have turned off had he taken a short cut to the French territory.
Here he left his paddlers and his guest, and made his way up the creek of Still Waters.
Half-a-day's paddling brought him to the camp of Abdul. The slaver's silent runners on the bank had kept pace with him, and when Arachi landed he was seized by men who sprang apparently83 from nowhere.
"Lead me to your master, O common men," said Arachi, "for I am a chief of the Isisi, and desire a secret palaver."
"If you are Isisi, and by your thinness and your boasting I see that you are," said his captor, "my lord Abdul will make easy work of you."
Abdul Hazim was short and stout84, and a lover of happiness. Therefore he kept his camp in that condition of readiness which enabled him to leave quickly at the first sight of a white helmet or a Houssa's tarboosh.
For it would have brought no happiness to Abdul had Sanders come upon him.
Now, seated on a soft-hued carpet of silk before the door of his little tent, he eyed Arachi dubiously85, and listened in silence while the man spoke of himself.
"Kaffir," he said, when the borrower had finished, "how do I know that you do not lie, or that you are not one of Sandi's spies? I think I should be very clever if I cut your throat."
Arachi explained at length why Abdul Hazim should not cut his throat.
"If you say this Angola man is near by, why should I not take him without payment?" asked the slaver.
"Because," said Arachi, "this foreigner is not the only man in the country, and because I have great influence with Sandi, and am beloved by all manner of people who trust me. I may bring many other men to your lordship."
Arachi returned to the camp, towing a small canoe with which the slaver had provided him.
He woke the Angola stranger from his sleep.
"Brother," he said, "here is a canoe with food. Now I tell you to paddle one day up this creek of Still Waters and there await my coming, for there are evil men about, and I fear for your safety."
The Angolan, simple man that he was, obeyed. Half a day's journey up the creek Abdul's men were waiting.
Arachi set off for his own village that night, and in his canoe was such a store of cloth, of salt, and of brass86 rods as would delight any man's heart. Arachi came to his village singing a little song about himself.
In a year he had grown rich, for there were many ways of supplying the needs of an Arab slaver, and Abdul paid promptly87.
Arachi worked single-handed, or, if he engaged paddlers, found them in obscure corners of the territories. He brought to Abdul many marketable properties, mostly young N'gombi women, who are fearful and easily cowed, and Sanders, scouring88 the country for the stout man with the fez, found him not.
"Lord Abdul," said Arachi, who met the slaver secretly one night near the Ikusi River, "Sandi and his soldiers have gone down to the Akasava for a killing89 palaver. Now I think we will do what you wish."
They were discussing an aspect of an adventure—the grandest adventure which Abdul had ever planned.
"Arachi," said Abdul, "I have made you a rich man. Now, I tell you that I can make you richer than any chief in this land."
"I shall be glad to hear of this," said Arachi. "For though I am rich, yet I have borrowed many things, and, it seems, I have so wonderful a mind that I must live always in to-morrow."
"So I have heard," said the Arab. "For they say of you that if you had the whole world you would borrow the moon."
"That is my mystery," said Arachi modestly. "For this reason I am a very notable man."
Then he sat down to listen in patience to the great plan of Abdul Hazim. And it was a very high plan, for there were two thousand Liberian dollars at the back of it, and, for Arachi, payment in kind.
At the moment of the conference, Sanders was housed in the Ochori city making palaver with Bosambo, the chief.
"Bosambo," said Sanders, "I have given you these upper streams to your care. Yet Abdul Hazim walks through the land without hurt, and I think it is shame to you and to me."
"Master," said Bosambo, "it is a shameful90 thing. Yet the streams hereabouts are so many, and Abdul is a cunning man, and has spies. Also, my people are afraid to offend him lest he 'chop' them, or sell them into the interior."
Sanders nodded and rose to join the Zaire.
"Bosambo," he said, "this government put a price upon this Abdul, even as a certain government put a price upon you."
"One hundred pounds in silver," said Sanders.
"Lord," said Bosambo, "that is a good price."
Two days afterwards, when Arachi came to Bosambo, this chief was engaged in the purely92 domestic occupation of nursing his one small son.
"Greeting, Bosambo," said Arachi, "to you and to your beautiful son, who is noble in appearance and very quiet."
"Peace be to you, Arachi. I have nothing to lend you," said Bosambo.
"Lord," said Arachi loftily, "I am now a rich man—richer than chiefs—and I do not borrow."
"Ko, ko!" said Bosambo, with polite incredulity.
"Bosambo," Arachi went on, "I came to you because I love you, and you are not a talking man, but rather a wise and silent one."
"All this I know, Arachi," said Bosambo cautiously. "And again I say to you that I lend no man anything."
The exasperated Arachi raised his patient eyes to heaven.
"Lord Bosambo," he said, in the tone of one hurt, "I came to tell you of that which I have found, and to ask your lordship to help me secure it. For in a certain place I have come across a great stock of ivory, such as the old kings buried against their need."
"Arachi," said Bosambo, of a sudden, "you tell me that you are rich. Now you are a little man and I am a chief, yet I am not rich."
"I have many friends," said Arachi, trembling with pride, "and they give me rods and salt."
"That is nothing," said Bosambo. "Now I understand richness, for I have lived amongst white folk who laugh at rods and throw salt to dogs."
"Lord Bosambo," said the other eagerly, "I am rich also by white men's rule. Behold!"
From his waist pouch93 he took a handful of silver, and offered it in both hands for the chief's inspection94.
Bosambo examined the money respectfully, turning each coin over gingerly.
"That is good riches," he said, and he breathed a little faster than was his wont95. "And it is new, being bright. Also the devil marks, which you do not understand, are as they should be."
The gratified Arachi shoved his money back into his pouch. Bosambo sat in meditative96 silence, his face impassive.
"And you will take me, Arachi, to the place of buried treasure?" he asked slowly. "Ko! you are a generous man, for I do not know why you should share with me, knowing that I once beat you."
Bosambo put the child down gently. These kings' stores were traditional. Many had been found, and it was the dream of every properly constituted man to unearth97 such.
Yet Bosambo was not impressed, being in his heart sceptical.
"Arachi," he said, "I believe that you are a liar98! Yet I would see this store, and, if it be near by, will see with my own eyes."
It was one day's journey, according to Arachi.
"You shall tell me where this place is," said Bosambo.
Arachi hesitated.
"Lord, how do I not know that you will not go and take this store?" he asked.
Bosambo regarded him sternly.
"Am I not an honest man?" he asked. "Do not the people from one end of the world to the other swear by the name of Bosambo?"
"No," said Arachi truthfully.
Yet he told of the place. It was by the River of Shadows, near the Crocodile Pool Where-the-Floods Had-Changed-The-Land.
Bosambo went to his hut to make preparations for the journey.
Behind his house, in a big grass cage, were many little pigeons. He laboriously99 wrote in his vile46 Arabic a laconic100 message, and attached it to the leg of a pigeon.
To make absolutely sure, for Bosambo left nothing to chance, he sent away a canoe secretly that night for a certain destination.
"And this you shall say to Sandi," said the chief to his trusted messenger, "that Arachi is rich with the richness of silver, and that silver has the devil marks of Zanzibar—being the home of all traders, as your lordship knows."
Next day, at dawn, Bosambo and his guide departed. They paddled throughout the day, taking the smaller stream that drained the eastern side of the river, and at night they camped at a place called Bolulu, which means "the changed land."
They rose with the daylight to resume their journey. But it was unnecessary, for, in the darkness before the dawn, Abdul Hazim had surrounded the camp, and, at the persuasive101 muzzle102 of a Snider rifle, Bosambo accompanied his captors ten minutes' journey into the wood where Abdul awaited him.
The slaver, sitting before the door of his tent on his silken carpet, greeted his captive in the Ochori dialect. Bosambo replied in Arabic.
"Ho, Bosambo!" said Abdul. "Do you know me?"
"Sheikh," said Bosambo, "I would know you in hell, for you are the man whose head my master desires."
"Bosambo," said Abdul calmly, "your head is more valuable, so they say, for the Liberians will put it upon a pole, and pay me riches for my enterprise."
Bosambo laughed softly. "Let the palaver finish," he said, "I am ready to go."
They brought him to the river again, tied him to a pole, and laid him in the bottom of a canoe, Arachi guarding him.
"If I untie your hands," said Arachi frankly105, "I am both a fool and a dead man, and neither of these conditions is desirable."
"To every man," quoth Bosambo, "there is an easy kill somewhere,[#] and, if he misses this, all kills are difficult."
[#] The native equivalent for "opportunity knocks," etc.
Four big canoes composed the waterway caravan106. Abdul was in the largest with his soldiers, and led the van.
They moved quickly down the tiny stream, which broadened as it neared the river.
"Look!" he whispered.
The slaver turned his head.
"Quickly," said Abdul, and the paddlers stroked furiously, then stopped.
Ahead was the Zaire, a trim, white steamer, alive with Houssas.
He said no more until he stood before Sanders, and the Commissioner was not especially communicative.
"What will you do with me?" asked Abdul.
"I will tell you when I have seen your stores," said Sanders. "If I find rifles such as the foolish Lobolo people buy, I shall hang you according to law."
The Arab looked at the shaking Arachi. The borrower's knees wobbled fearfully.
"I see," said Abdul thoughtfully, "that this man whom I made rich has betrayed me."
If he had hurried or moved jerkily Sanders would have prevented the act; but the Arab searched calmly in the fold of his bournous as though seeking a cigarette.
His hand came out, and with it a curved knife.
Then he struck quickly, and Arachi went blubbering to the deck, a dying man.
"Borrower," said the Arab, and he spoke from the centre of six Houssas who were chaining him, so that he was hidden from the sobbing110 figure on the floor, "I think you have borrowed that which you can at last repay. For it is written in the Sura of the Djinn that from him who takes a life, let his life be taken, that he may make full repayment."
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
penal
|
|
| adj.刑罚的；刑法上的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
axe
|
|
| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
obedience
|
|
| n.服从，顺从 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
picturesque
|
|
| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
deficient
|
|
| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
ignoble
|
|
| adj.不光彩的，卑鄙的；可耻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
slaying
|
|
| 杀戮。 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
passionate
|
|
| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
relics
|
|
| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
ammunition
|
|
| n.军火，弹药 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
lethal
|
|
| adj.致死的；毁灭性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
virtue
|
|
| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
attainments
|
|
| 成就，造诣； 获得( attainment的名词复数 )； 达到； 造诣； 成就 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
inquiry
|
|
| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
indirectly
|
|
| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
minor
|
|
| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
afterward
|
|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
legendary
|
|
| adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
hereditary
|
|
| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
behold
|
|
| v.看，注视，看到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
advancement
|
|
| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
palaver
|
|
| adj.壮丽堂皇的；n.废话，空话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
colloquial
|
|
| adj.口语的，会话的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
judicious
|
|
| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
privy
|
|
| adj.私用的；隐密的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
confided
|
|
| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
meekly
|
|
| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
winsome
|
|
| n.迷人的，漂亮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
munificent
|
|
| adj.慷慨的，大方的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
eloquent
|
|
| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
distressing
|
|
| a.使人痛苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
supreme
|
|
| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
steadfastly
|
|
| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
creditor
|
|
| n.债仅人，债主，贷方 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
creditors
|
|
| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
repayment
|
|
| n.偿还，偿还款；报酬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
benefactors
|
|
| n.捐助者，施主( benefactor的名词复数 )；恩人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
distressed
|
|
| 痛苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
exasperated
|
|
| adj.恼怒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
contrived
|
|
| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
philosophically
|
|
| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
revile
|
|
| v.辱骂，谩骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
vile
|
|
| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
bleak
|
|
| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
deporting
|
|
| v.将…驱逐出境( deport的现在分词 )；举止 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
49
wreckage
|
|
| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
loquacious
|
|
| adj.多嘴的，饶舌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
propitious
|
|
| adj.吉利的；顺利的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
junction
|
|
| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
saluted
|
|
| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
commissioner
|
|
| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
laterally
|
|
| ad.横向地；侧面地；旁边地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
descending
|
|
| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
tattooed
|
|
| v.刺青，文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
Portuguese
|
|
| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
rascal
|
|
| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
physically
|
|
| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
palavers
|
|
| n.废话，空话( palaver的名词复数 )v.废话，空话( palaver的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
62
valiant
|
|
| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
sergeant
|
|
| n.警官，中士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
pugnacious
|
|
| adj.好斗的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
scowled
|
|
| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
retired
|
|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
retailing
|
|
| n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
gibe
|
|
| n.讥笑；嘲弄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
winced
|
|
| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
humbly
|
|
| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
creek
|
|
| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
grievance
|
|
| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
foodstuffs
|
|
| 食物，食品( foodstuff的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
entreaties
|
|
| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
postponed
|
|
| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
vows
|
|
| 誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
pruning
|
|
| n.修枝，剪枝，修剪v.修剪（树木等）( prune的现在分词 )；精简某事物，除去某事物多余的部分 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
lesser
|
|
| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
exasperating
|
|
| adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
dubiously
|
|
| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
brass
|
|
| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
scouring
|
|
| 擦[洗]净，冲刷，洗涤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
shameful
|
|
| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
awakening
|
|
| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
pouch
|
|
| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
inspection
|
|
| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
wont
|
|
| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
meditative
|
|
| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
unearth
|
|
| v.发掘，掘出，从洞中赶出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
liar
|
|
| n.说谎的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
laboriously
|
|
| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
laconic
|
|
| adj.简洁的；精练的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
persuasive
|
|
| adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
muzzle
|
|
| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
squatting
|
|
| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
untie
|
|
| vt.解开，松开；解放 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
frankly
|
|
| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
caravan
|
|
| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
gasped
|
|
| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
leisurely
|
|
| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
ordained
|
|
| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
sobbing
|
|
| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |