though it is difficult to see how that could be, under the circumstances. But this is only the second round of a big fight. He and I will meet again, probably on a certain island in the Niger which we both know well. Then we [Pg 48]shall settle the ownership of that small god, for keeps.”

[Pg 48]

“Oh!” cried Dolly, “is it an idol?”

Then Schwartz tried to pull himself together.

“No, Miss Dorothy, not an idol, but a fetish,” he said, with his usual grin. “The fact is, I fear I have led you to believe that I attach an exaggerated value to it. It is only a bit of carved ivory, which the natives regard as a talisman. But it had a sentimental interest for me, much as a gambler at Monte Carlo might prize a champagne cork, or a piece of coal, or some equally ridiculous charm which he had carried in his pocket on the night of a big coup.”

“Me-ow!” said Tibbie, looking up at Minkie.

“Yes, darling,” said Minkie, “the dish is going out now, and I have told cook to save you the tit-bits. Dan, come back here! Who stole Tibbie’s milk last night?”

“Misère de Dieu!” as mademoiselle said when she was turning over the strawberry plants and grabbed a wasp—who split on [Pg 49]me? Was it Evangeline? Wait till I catch her sliding down to the front gate to-night when her young man whistles “Annie Rooney.” I’ll raise the house.

[Pg 49]

“I suppose you had some lively times occasionally in West Africa, Schwartz?” said the Old Man cheerfully, his idea being to swing the talk away from a topic which his guest seemed to avoid.

“Y-yes, for a few minutes every now and then. But the excitement soon passed. For the rest, it was deadly dull, a sort of slow crescendo up to the boiling point of fever, and a gradual diminuendo back to flabby health again. It is no country for a white man, unless he wants his relations to collect his life insurance.”

“Yet you made money there?”

“Oh, yes. Why else should one go to such a filthy swamp?”

“Do you mean to say that the natives of a fever-laden district are physically up to the standard of the fellow we collared last night?”

“No; he comes from the highlands, where the country is altogether 

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