“And a very well-known name in Africa, Mr. Stanley.”
“S-t-r-a-n-l-e-i-g-h,” spelled his lordship. “I cannot claim the distinction of being a namesake of the explorer.”
“May I inquire the object of your visit in these regions?” asked the manager.
“In a small way I am looking after big game, and so carry some of my gamekeepers with me. Then again, as you are probably aware, I am interested in timber, hence my woodmen with their axes and saws. We have cut a considerable quantity of firewood, with which we hope to supplement our coal. My third object may strike you as largely impractical. I had some thoughts of founding a settlement here, or on any other healthy and suitable spot not too far from the coast. I am delighted with this section of the country. Back in the hills while shooting I have discovered several waterfalls which could supply cheap power. Some days ago I gave orders to my woodmen to prepare logs for the building of huts. I was away shooting at the time they began operations, and I fear rather neglecting my duties as a settlement founder. Be that as it may, they piled the logs too near the brink of the river, where the incline is steep. This morning, like the Gadarene swine, the logs seem to have tumbled one after another into the water. I suppose one heap set another going. As I tell you, I was absent, but when word was brought to me, I took this launch and followed down the river, thinking perhaps the sawn logs had lodged or jammed somewhere, and might be towed back; but if, as you say, they are already in the ocean, I fear they are lost to us, and we’ll need to cut some more.”
Frowningshield listened to this recital with wrinkled brow, and intense gaze upon the speaker, who talked in an easy, indolent manner which impressed the manager with the belief that he had encountered some rich fool with more money at his disposal than was good for him, and gradually the nerve of the man who had kicked Mackeller into the hold began to reassert itself. He felt ashamed of his failure in courage when he had supposed he was confronted by the power of Great Britain.
“Perhaps you are not aware, Mr. Stranleigh, that the timber you are cutting is situated on private property.”
“You are surely mistaken,” protested the young man. “All the maps I have seen—I’ll show you them when we come aboard the yacht—depict this district as a sort of no-man’s-land.”
“Such is not the case, Mr. Stranleigh. More than a hundred square miles of this territory has been acquired by a European syndicate, of whom I am the representative.”
“You amaze me. From what government did this syndicate buy the property?”
“They did not buy it from any government, they acquired the concession from native chiefs. No European government holds jurisdiction over this section of Africa.”