"My gracious!" said Burt's mother. "I had no idea that the Congo was so near civilization as all that! Are there real launches away up there in the heart of Africa?"
"Launches? Automobiles, probably!" laughed her husband.
"Of course," agreed Mr. Wallace. "There are motor trucks in service at several points. We could even take the trip by railroad if we wished, and we'll telegraph you direct when we reach there!"
"Well that's news to me!" declared Mr. St. John. "I thought that Central Africa was a blank wilderness filled with gorillas and savages. Seems to me I remember something about game laws in Roosevelt's book. How about that?"
"There are stringent laws in Uganda and British East Africa," replied Mr. Wallace. "But I intend to depend on trade more than on shooting for my ivory. Now look at this Makua river that runs west, up north of the Aruwimi. I'm not going to take any chances on being held up at Boma after getting out. There are several trading companies who'd be tickled to death to let me bring out a bunch of ivory and then rob me of it at the last minute. So we're going right up to the Makua and down that river to the French Congo. I've got a mighty strong pull with the French people ever since they made me a Commander of the Legion of Honor for my Sahara explorations."
"I see." Burt's father gazed at the map reflectively then looked up with a sudden smile. "You say 'we' as if it was all settled, George!"
"Oh, I was talking about young Critchfield and myself," laughed the explorer. "Come now, Etta, doesn't it sound a whole lot more reasonable than it did at first?"
"Yes," admitted his sister. "I must say it does. Especially if it is all so civilized as you say."
"Now look here." Mr. Wallace bent over the map again and traced down the Congo to Stanley Falls. "A railroad runs from here over to the Great Lakes, at Mahagi on the Albert Nyanza. The Great Lakes are all connected and have steamer lines on them, so that you can get on a train or boat at the west coast and travel right through to the east coast just like going from New York to Duluth. Get me?"
"Why," exclaimed Burt, "I thought you had to have porters and all that? Can you just hop on a train and shoot?"