"Good!" cried Mr. Wallace. "When do you start up?"
"I was meanin' to go in the mornin'," answered the other, rubbing his stubbly chin reflectively. "We'll get your stuff out o' the Benguela to-morrow or ma name ain't McAllister Montenay!"
"We'll split expenses on the Belgique, of course," declared the American. "It's mighty good of—"
"None o' that now, none o' that," interrupted Captain Montenay hastily. "Why, man, I'd give a hundred pound for the benefeet o' your company up the stream! Ivory, you say?"
"Partly." Mr. Wallace answered the keen questioning look with a nod. "I'm going up past the Avatiko country to the Makua and down the river under the French flag. I've chartered a tramp to be waiting at Loanga by November. Get the idea?"
"Aye!" Montenay threw back his head in a noiseless laugh. "Man, ye're no fool! I brought down ten tusks two year gone. When I got down to Stanley Pool the Afrique Concessions jumped me an' laid claim to the lot. The rank thieves! They had witnesses to swear that I got the ivory in their land an' before I knew where I was they fined me twenty pound—an' the ivory! By cripes, they won't monkey twice with McAllister Montenay though! Well, let's be movin'. It'll be vera tiresome gettin' these blacks to work."
As they passed a water cooler on their way out the captain paused. The boys saw him take a bottle from his pocket and pour out a palmful of white powder into a cigarette paper. This he rolled up and threw into his mouth, tossing a glass of water after it.
"Quinine," he explained, although he called it "queeneen."
"Pretty big dose, wasn't it?" asked Mr. Wallace.
"'Bout fifty grain," replied the other calmly, to the intense astonishment of the boys. "Fever gets me bad down here on the coast. By cripes, ye're a lucky beggar!" he continued as they came in sight of John standing guard over their valises. "That's your man Washington? I've heard o' him. They say he's a magneeficent cook."