Show ANDREA AND WHITE MAN GO ON HUNTING TRIP andrea handsome daughter ot lord impecunious aristocrat la doomed to marry an illiterate but wealthy middle aged diamond mine owner she disconsolately wanders from her hotel in south africa and discovers an aviator about to fly iron the beach impulsively of course imagining that the trip will be merely a pleasant excursion and welcome relief from thoughts of her loveless marriage she begs to b taken for a flight although she does not know him he somewhat unwillingly agrees and they start when she realizes her unknown aviator Is not going back andrea ln desperation tries to hoko him with one of her stockings he thwarts her and they sail on into the very heart of africa landing in an immense braal andrea finds the natives all bow in worship to her mysterious companion she Is given a boy bathtub and the white man sets about building a hut for her andrea Is given glumpe of the home which Is to be hers and wonders at its completeness eness white man invites her to dinner that evening and in spite of the fact that he has refused to take her back to civilization andrea accepts his invitation but be continues deaf to her pleading that he restore her to her friends CHAPTER IV continued andrea reached tor n fresh cigarette don t be absurd she said I 1 ro not going to bed for hours she glinted at him with a sort 0 diffident loo as though she were about to give away a secret when I 1 yawn always keep on talling it means im im tired you know D your society tricks remarked the man im going he arose and turned bis back on her before he had taken three strides her voice came to him and in it was a new quality a sure maturity go if you she said evenly but I 1 shall sit here until you come bach turned at once a flush in his cheeks forgive me he said simply struck a match and held it tor her biow health said andrea dont you think im reasonably healthy already 0 o said the man until youve wilfed wolfed a whole meal and grabbed chicken with your fingers you don t really know what bodily health means god has given you such beauty of skin that you owe it to every eye that ca itself with a sight of sou to keep it without blemish and yet you sit there and ask me if youre not rea healthy with a spot on your cheek oh 1 cried the girl A sea of sud den color swirled about her neck up into her face and down ocr one halt the length of her bare arms she threw up a hand to her cheek and pressed it there were aflame it ever I 1 can hurt you she said slowly if ever I 1 can the man looked surprised then con trite and finally grave let me assure you he said that you will inevitably have it in your power not forget when that day comes she said and arose with her hand still pressed to her face she hurried from him across the kraal into her room and slammed and barred the m not going to bed for hours door behind her she went straight to the mirror and took her band away betich n trifle that tiny spot hid seemed last night tha night of a part just an excuse for a beauty patch of blick planter and tonight tt as immers drably bugl I 1 with baj so near she could not stop to cry jut yet she vent about glicr deliberately subconsciously in the thought that ohe boon soak her in aching urn foti manenti rans bh ass aare of a presence in the loom but per f st A froc aha turned U still t lurked in the corner of her eye nc aused her of dallying and almost said aloud eventually I 1 why not now finally she slipped off the rest of her dainty clothes and with eyes screwed tight shut groped for the presence seized it and put it on in two parts oh she gasped in a rage that I 1 should have to wear that beasts silk pa jamas she put out the light hurled herself at the cot curled up like a bitten drew the sheet over her head cuddled into the pillow and sobbed poor andrea 1 poor andrea pel boutil elemental sleep had choked the words in her throat there Is no telling when andrea would have awaked had it not been for bathtub who thundered on her door at the scandalously late hour in that clime of eight in the morning bath ready bath ready 1 he was chanting monotonously she arose put on her cloak opened the door and rubbed her eyes at the shock of a noonday glare tho boy grinned from ear to ear bath ready 1 he exclaimed with a happy finality and bearing towels and soap led her to the newly constructed little hut la the yard he placed the on a chair set close to a collapsible canvas tub and from a neighboring smoldering fire fetched a big tin of water hot water 1 cried andrea why im boiling myself bring me cold water cold water no good affirmed bath tub as be emptied thu tin but I 1 wish cold water said an drea cold water plenty no good tor white reaffirmed bathtub and withdrew carefully closing the door behind him andrea enjoyed the bath and learned in ten minutes the soundness of the tropical rule that it had taken some old timer ten years to et e t olve the hotter the day the hotter the water 1 ing refreshed almost cool she started back to her room but on the veranda her eyes hold by sundry things on the table a man s soft shirt tresha ironed a roll of khaki cloth scissors a thimble and one of those pepper pot tins ot assorted needles slie stared at them long and helplessly her lower up trembling then she went in put on her things except her frock and covered its lack with her cloak she did her hair last of all by way of change and just as she finished heard bathtub s call to breakfast Is cither white man nor black was in evidence but even so the day passed swiftly so many were the new features 0 the crawls changing chi nging scene she chose a book at random had her him mock chair dragged into the shade ot the dining tree and out to her first lesson in lizy content grad bally she grew drowsy with the heat but not so sleepy tint she failed to bear from away off the far carrying report six times repeated of a high powered rifle bathtub squatted near by looked up with a beatific smile master be stated it was hours later when the incident was repented ted tn detail that the shots came still farther away and about three hours after once more the thing happened bathtub rolled his bics and hugged himself in gormand izing as he breathed the vord master andrca was interested until the sequel to those eighteen shots began to arrive and then she ft stunned w ith horror amid the shouts of men and alie ahr 11 0 he women they began to coina in ben after beast each trussed to polo and borne bv sir sometimes eight naked ond blacks to were five sable antelope can in death the proad w app of glorious horus inverted lick tongues dragging in the dust ilio did not stop wital the nal but passed tl rouga it chant ing wildly as though they were engaged in a perverted bacchanalian of blood women and children streamed atter them and ean bathtub gooud longingly in the diorec acu abas bad cone fr scarcely had the hullabaloo of their passing died into the distance when n new contingent arrived Ms ungo the one word he knew cropped out from their jabber with the steady recurrence of a haunting fugue what they bore were six illde beaste male and female buffoons of tho plains still pitifully grotesque their horse like tails trailing like dis cou raged funeral plumes oh white man gasped andrea covering her ayos oh and then it came again tour eloids this time but every one as big as a horse eight men strained under each carcass of eland largent and gentlest of all the hundred varieties of ante lope that swarm over the length and breadth of africa andrea arose but her knees trembled so that she sat down in one of the wicker chairs clutching its arms with hands gone white as though all the blood ao 10 her body had bidden tn shame then came the white man follow ed by gun bearers w ater boy and trackers ills face and his bare arms were streaked with sweat and dust his shirt and trousers clung to him in great dark blots of moisture he nodded to andrea as he made straight for his hut suddenly her strength came back to her she sprang up and rushed to cut him off you are a murderer she gasped as she faced him the man stopped in his tracks fand stared at her gradually he took in her meaning you think I 1 do it for for fun h exclaimed murderer she repeated tensely the man glanced at alshut and turned his back on it with a sigh come with me he said 1 I shall never go ani where with you replied andrea the roan faced her quickly will come with me or be carried take out choice their eyes met and held in one of those struggles that measure nat so much the contending characters as the strength of the opposing purposes the mans purpose won out andrea dropped her eyes and followed him lie passed swiftly through the braal and along a well known path that led to the fringe 02 the forest under an enormous fafata tree the butchers were at work four to each carcass skinning cutting hacking with practiced hands the meat was being plied in heaps and at each heap was stationed a black captain under his direction a host of helpers were cutting the flesh into minute portions beyond the limits of the trees far flung branches squatted a black army men with assegais asse gais in their hands women and children with queer conical baskets in their laps physically these people were without exception a joy to the eye but beyond them grouped together under another tree and hope lessly staring was a small band that brought sudden tears to andreas eyes bever before had she seen human bones and skin without flesh live eyes staring from the skeleton emblem of death at last the division of the sanguinary spoil was completed the well fed army lined up each and every man accompanied by woman or child as beast tor the small burden these men were also provided with individual brass checks which they cast into the baskets at the feet of the captain upon receipt of their portion of meat at the end to andreas amazement the tally was exact except that it left the starving group out of the count through it all the white man had stood grimly by uttering not a word and leaving her to the assistance of her own intelligence she began to understand the possessors of the brass checks had worked tor them but her eyes lingered pitifully on the starving she turned to the man with a ture of pl eiding pleading for pardon for herself mercy for the silent suffering hat about these she asked they will receive a of mil lct he answered tomorrow the men will crawl to the forests twice a week they will get meat checks in a month they nod their families ft be tat and sleek afe refuse no one ft ho w isacs to work he turned to lead the way back to the braal and once there promptly into ills hut halt an hour later andrca was nervously moving about her room wondering whether to put on her kocl or not when bathtub with a message ild she wish to dine alone or with your she answered that I 1 will dine with him with pleas ure during the meal the white man tall cd her listlessly certain e pla information light ago he said 1 I this country it vas desolation in spite of tie big which Is quite neif by the whole district atis in famine I 1 passed through ruined braal atter ruined 1 rial and in some ot bodies lay about too dried out in life even to rot the gigae scanned it does only in dry seasons and thrived andrea held both hands out toward him as though to stop him don she cried don t think I 1 haven t upon my word remarked the man dryly sou re ge tin sincerely sin cerel she sonk back in her chair with a look of rt but he did not notice it ini telling you he continued 1 I came to hunt nod recover he paused andna could not keep her eyes from glancing toward the airplane it was as though slie had followed his thought he flushed lightly changed his sentence and finished and lor another purpose but alinosi ou the day of arrival I 1 nida ais fory in the forest out of if has mh industry that employs hundreds ut na alves and never refuses a new recruit I 1 am working absolutely without title an should you return to civilization civilisation my ruin would be quite within your grasp and that Is why I 1 must stay said andrea no said the man reading hereace if I 1 could drop you back tomorrow thero on the beach where I 1 found you 1 would do if she felt a definite surge of pleasure out of all proportion to the occasion think sou she whispered and then flushed at a sudden wonder as to the exact nature of a feeling of gladness over the fact that she was not called upon then and there to decide whether in her heart ahe wished to go or stay but I 1 cant continued the roan I 1 cant leave fay people or my work for two J da to a native escort he drew adiv from the table that he might cross his anees tool a cigar and lit it youve eaten nothing said andrea im too tired to eat just now he anaw ered presently she arose tired too ft hite man she lied may Z leave you he gae her an almost grateful glance arose and lifter onea side of the net tor her to pass she went to her room to read but an hour later when she glanced out surprised to see the lights turning under the tree the white man was still there hands dropped upon his knees head fallen forward sound asleep in his chair andrea clasped and unclasped aher hands nervously ah why diesu t he go to bed she said to herself he can t get any comfort out of that sort she sprang up and rushed to cut him off of thing anally she stole out and found bathtub wake your master she commanded tell to go to bed the darkey grinned up att her sleepily until he grasped her request then face took on a look of mixed fear and mischief bathtub wake M bungo one time plenty long ago and never forget miss try it she looked at the lax figure bone tired plunged malcy deep in slumber but even from those depths exuding a sense of compelling latent power and hesitated getting up her cour age she coughed tice quite loudly but ineffectually and then feeling almost relieved atiat gothing happened stole aay on tiptoe CHAPTER V the seven das that followed were rauch as the first when the white man was not shooting for the pot be was away overseeing his army of laborers lie ate but twice a day at halt past fie in the morning and twelve houra thereafter to the latter joeal andrea was invariably and formally invited at each successive invitation she hesitated a little longer before accept ing and on the seventh night she re fused any woman can easily understand why but the surprising thing was that the man seemed to know just wint was happening to her spirit no stomach living can pigeon fourteen das in succession nor Is there a maid tint can put on the same den clothes for halt that time w without feeling demeaned she knew he knew for twice during the week he hid told her bluntly to hind her lingerie to la haub at night and she had found it at her door ao 10 the morning bously washed dried and more or leas ironed t there was nothing in the dawn of the eighth morning to indic ftp hit it was ushering usher ng in a day 0 day iier did andrca more than turn her hoid when shortly after noon two bearers staggered into camp ath a steamer trunk slung on n pole beaw een them waa no reason in the world why sho should connect that in any way with herself even when an hour after ita she beheld approaching the magnificent and unforgettable men of black slie iad last u on the of her i the new comer dismissed 1 two i bearers making them the pole and its auli them de pitted after one long I 1 look then lilius cU belldo f v hf the trunk and never moved anul latfy in afternoon the white man appeared ft hen lie arose sainted and then made a solemn gesture foward tho load others had catald the white mans eyes lighted zip he seemed more cheerful than he had been in days lie spoke to the black la dialect whereupon he grasped n single handle of the and with one smooth movement passed it over his shoulder right side up to the crown of his head lie then marched with it into andrea s cala she sprang up why she exclaimed and then added her heart sinking within her |