In addition to the legitimate boat boys, the whole of the other factory
boys had been crammed into the surf boat, and as a consequence they
also were chilled, cramped, and bad-tempered. His own body servant was
openly insolent when commanded to produce dry tobacco and a pipe. And
when on the top of all this Mr. Smith opened Carter's bedroom door,
stumbled over the sleepy White-Man's-Trouble, and was promptly floored
by that nervous savage and threatened with a well-filed matchet, the
remaining rags of his temper at last gave way. He sat there on the
floor, a very unkempt figure, and for five minutes without stopping (or
repeating himself) said exactly what he thought.
During four of these minutes his Assistant had been awake, and
listening to him through the thin filter of the mosquito bar.
"Perhaps I should explain, sir," said Carter, stiffly, when the flow of
words at last ended, "that I came back here because I thought you were
in a hole and I might be of use. I have not been indulging in whiskey
as you suggest, but I believe I have been through a stiffish bout of
fever."
"Get up, man, and look at yourself in the glass."
Carter did that, inspected a moment, and then whistled. "Good Lord,"
he said, "I don't wonder you think I had been on the razzle. What on
earth's this white stuff painted round my eyesockets? I look like a
clown in a circus."
"Oh, Carter," said White-Man's-Trouble, "dem ju-ju. Last night you lib
for fever plenty-too-much bad. I fit for cure you. Now you well. If
you touch dem ju-ju, you lib for fever again, one-time."
Carter's meddling hand dropped to his side as though the white stuff
round his eye had stung him. He turned half-apologetically to Mr.
Smith. "Do you think that's likely, sir? You know West African ways
better than I do."
"Beyond me. But you never can tell, and there's always the probability
of Africa springing something new upon one. If I were you I should let
your personal appearance slide and risk wearing that decoration for the
day, if your boy says so. Ju-ju's a dangerous thing to meddle with
anyway, and he calls it that. Besides your fever's gone, you say?"
"Absolutely. And I don't even feel a wreck."
"You're sure you were pretty bad last night?"
"I fancy I was close upon pegging out. I never had such a stiff bout
before."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account