“Could you oblige me with the address of that European syndicate?”
“It would be useless, sir. I was instructed that they do not intend to grant any concessions or franchises to outsiders. Whether they gain or lose, they intend to exploit this region for their own sole benefit. If you dispute my authority, I shall be pleased to produce documentary evidence corroborating what I say.”
“My dear Mr. Frowningshield,” protested Stranleigh, “I should not dream of disputing your authority. I confess I was rather taken with this upper country, though I don’t think much of the stretch of land along the coast. However, Africa is large, and I do not doubt I may find some spot equally favorable for the carrying out of my plans. What you say merely shows how small the world is getting to be. Who would have imagined that in this seemingly virgin territory, thousands of miles from what we call civilization, the land should be all taken up, just as if it were a newly plotted piece of acreage in the vicinity of New York or London, to be exploited and covered with jerry-built villas. Well, well, we live and learn. It’s rather disappointing, but it can’t be helped. I hope you won’t send in an exorbitant bill for the trees I have illegally felled, especially when you remember that I have lost most of the timber.”
“Oh, no,” said Frowningshield, with a laugh. “That will be all right.”
“It seems so strange that I, of all people, should be a trespasser and a poacher, for when at home I am a stern upholder of the rights of property. I own several estates in England, and am a very pig-headed Tory when any of my privileges are threatened; so I should be the last man to trespass on the rights of others, and I hope, Mr. Frowningshield, when you are communicating with the proprietors, you will convey to them my humble apologies, with the assurance that if ever again I fell a tree, I shall take pains to know it has grown on my own land.”
“Oh, that will be all right,” repeated Frowningshield reassuringly.
“There!” cried Stranleigh, as they approached the triple outflow, and waving his hand to the right, “you see the gash I have made in your forest. That is the spot I had chosen for the nucleus of my settlement. There are the remainder of the logs, and I present them freely to you with no charge for the cutting.”
“They are piled rather close to the edge,” commented Frowningshield.
“Yes, we all realize that now, when it is too late. Locking the door when the horse is stolen. I must inquire how it happened. I have not seen my men since I heard of the disaster. I suppose they will present plenty of plausible excuses, and will fasten the fault of the occurrence on anything but their own stupidity. Ah, captain, what do you think of my yacht?”
“Very fine lines, sir,” replied the captain, as he and the mate gazed at the white steamer lying on the other bank of the main stream.