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OR some little while after Old Reliable had told his disquieting story of the Sheikh Tabira, General Durham and his guests sat talking, two and two, in undertones. Presently the general turned to a scar-faced man at his left—the Count di Favara, adventurer, ex-officer of the Foreign Legion in Algiers, refugee from the Italian disaster in Abyssinia, and who had served with the British at Majuba Hill.

"Favara," asked the General, "you tried some Chinese labor in the Niger basin, at—I forget the name of the place?"

Di Favara—darker than an Arab, with black beard trimmed to a point, and a marvelous command of many languages—di Favara leaned forward, smiling: "My dear Sirdar, the place is of no consequence."

Favara had a keen dramatic instinct which focused all attention upon himself as he began, "We were trying to build a railroad around a certain waterfall—bare rock, much blasting. 168