Page:Frank Owen - The Actress.djvu/41

Rh intensely haggard and drawn. But presently he continued his story and now his voice was firm again.

"For several weeks I remained at the little native village and was nursed by the people back to health again. As time sped by I picked up a smattering of their jargon and was able to converse a trifle with them, employing signs as much as possible. In this way, I discovered that several young warriors, while out hunting, had found me delirious two miles from the village and had carried me back with them. And thus the weeks rolled on until finally one day I fitted out an expedition from the native supplies and returned to Mombasa accompanied by some forty native porters whom I had prevailed upon to accompany me. The journey was uneventful and it was with a feeling of devout thanksgiving that I again beheld the friendly façade of the Sports Club … For the following month my mind was filled with nothing but revenge and an insane desire took root in my mind. I must find Warburton. If it cost me my life I must find him. And then, abruptly, almost in a day, he slipped from my mind entirely, for I met the one woman in the world whom I could love. Down in the jungle by the side of my camp-fire, in the dark of the evening, I used to smoke my pipe and reverize. 'Smoke and dreams,' I often murmured. 'Neither is more tangible than vapor. Smoke stays for a moment, then vanishes into nothingness. And dreams——Good dreams don't come true, only the nightmares materialize.' But now all this was changed, for at last a dream had come true. A few months later I