"I apologise, Major, but really--a German patrol, with German soldiers?"
"A sergeant, two privates, and I don't know how many askaris. They all vanished."
"Then it can't be known that this English pighead captured them: how could it?"
"My dear captain, a recruiting patrol recruits. These unfortunate Germans were returning with their bag--how large I don't know: your cub released them all. When the patrol was some days overdue, a party was sent out in search. They found the villages towards Lake Rukwa absolutely empty of able-bodied men, which seems to show that this British lion-cub has set up a pretty efficient system of scouting, or the niggers could hardly have had warning. But by adopting the usual methods they wrung the story out of one of the old men, burnt down a few houses, and returned with the news."
"And you hunted the wretch?"
"We had something better to do. The English, reinforced by Belgians, have kept things rather lively on the frontier, and we have had no men to spare for cub-hunting."
"But--but--it is preposterous; it is an insult to the German flag; to allow a nest of mutineers to exist--yes, and to make raids--within a couple of marches of a German town. The young fool is alone----"
"With all your plantation hands, I understand."
"Raw niggers----"
"But armed with Mausers we can ill spare."