Page:Harris Dickson--Old Reliable in Africa.djvu/300

 the Colonel came out on the porch and shouted, "Zack! Where are you? Come here." Zack looked straight towards him but never opened his mouth. Yet, when Colonel Spottiswoode shouted again, the Black Effendi hesitated, bent over his box and nervously jammed down the lid. In his excitement he made a miscue, and spilled part of the contents.

"Dar now!" Down he went, groping on his knees. Said groveled in a gully while Zack pawed around and recovered the treasure. "I speck dat's about all," he muttered, then rose and proceeded down the sloping bank, almost to the water's edge.

"Fool!" hissed the Dongalawi. "He seeks to hide his treasure in water." Said moved nearer, while the beat, beat, beat of that jungle drum almost nerved the frenzied Dongalawi to spring upon his master's back. Then Old Reliable stopped; he had no notion of venturing too close to that river, but only maneuvered to get under cover of the bank, so that nobody could see him from the big house. Said slunk along behind, like a panther that flattens herself against the ground, as the Black Effendi picked his steps, half-way between the bottom and top, until he gained the shadow of some other palms. There he climbed to the crest of the bank, and peered over. Although having the whole world to