I don't know what foreign construction Besson could have put upon that remark, but the next moment he jumped to his feet, and, snatching an empty bottle from the table, flung it crashing into Jim's face. The next second he leapt in to follow up his advantage, but he had reckoned without his man. Not for nothing had Jaloda Jim served in the B.S.A.P. and hammered his way from Cape Town to the Congo. Long before Besson could reach him he had lashed out with all his strength, and caught him a terrific blow on that point of his jaw least calculated to stand the shock. Whereupon Mr Besson's knees became loosened, so that he

fell, and with a gusty sigh passed into that Nothingness which is Peace.

"I'm going to have trouble with this lad," observed Jim, looking down upon the silent figure at his feet. "I don't like his action one little bit."

"I hope we aren't going to be afflicted with the bottlethrowing variety," I groaned, as I helped put the man back on his bed. "I never could stand the bottle-smashers."

Shortly afterwards Mr Besson came back to earth, and as soon as his intelligence had obviously returned, Jim sat down beside him and recited for his immediate benefit the particular code of morals in force in that territory, to all of which Mr Besson remained silent. "And while you are in this country you'll behave yourself," added Jim. "Yes, by George! or I'll know the reason why. Do I make myself perfectly clear?

Mr Besson, however, remained stonily silent, and after a further exhortation Jim turned and left the room, and for the remainder of that night we saw nothing further of the gentleman.

The next day we returned home, but Jim was rather silent and seemed a little depressed. He appeared to see a lot more in Mr Besson than did I myself, and as events proved he was perfectly right. He stayed with me for a day, and then went on down to Dondo to get his equipment for the five miles of

railway of which he had secured the contract. Thereafter I heard nothing further of him for some little time, but I knew that he had started, and I knew that he had employed four other men, Dutchmen, to help him. I imagined that the interest of the work had captured his wayward fancy, that he had really settled down to the serious business of money-making, and left his kingly position to look after itself for a while. In effect this is just what did happen. At first he worked from dawn until dewy eve, and his assistants worked even longer for Jaloda Jim was a born commander of men, and his four Dutchmen vied with each other to serve him best. But as the work proceeded, and the day's task became more and more a matter of routine, his old desire to take a leading rôle in the affairs of his neighbours gradually got the upper hand. He began to leave the "construction," and wander off in search of wrongs to right. Rumours drifted into my camp of Homeric conflicts upon the new line, and soon it was quite evident that Jim was upon the warpath with an arrogance and a determination such as he had never before exhibited.

Actually there was never a time when a strong hand was more badly needed, for the type of man who was overrunning the territory certainly was pestiferous. All nationalities and all breeds were represented, from the British

gipsy to the dago thief. Portuguese East has always been rather prone to this latter type of man, especially in the territory south of the Pungwe River where the already indifferent quality of Portuguese law becomes a mere cypher. Now, however, with the advent of so much work in the more northerly territory, these gentlemen had shifted their old headquarters, and had established themselves in considerable force just south of the Zambesi. The task of reducing this element to something like order would have appalled any man with less sense of the divine right of kings than had Jaloda Jim. As it was, he approached the problem with a perfectly calm mind and a tightly clenched fist, secure in the belief that he was right in his actions and that his law was the only possible law for that country. He passed up and down the construction with the speed of vengeance, and no evil-doer could escape his punishment except by fleeing the country. At the end of three months, although he had not entirely purged the community of their vices, he certainly had put the fear of God into their hearts. From the Zambesi to the Pungwe the name of Jaloda Jim inspired respect; if not for his principles, then at any rate for his fists and downright thoroughness. Affairs were in this satisfactory condition when I received an unexpected visit from the great man himself.

66

for

bathed and changed, sallied forth to find my old friend, Mimi. Mimi, I should explain, was the chatelaine of a cabaret situated on the foreshore, and was a lady of distinctly doubtful parentage. She might be described as a Dutch-Portuguese, but there was also a goodly leavening of French, which showed in her pretty accent and her graceful, debonair carriage. Otherwise she was soft and fluffy and a

asked.

"Everything! I knew from the very beginning that I should have trouble with that fellow. I've thrashed him twice already, but I can't beat him down. He's going round now saying that I'm afraid of him-me, mark you! Afraid of that! I determined to go up and settle the thing out of hand. I intended to drag him down the 'construction' with me, and thrash him in every camp we came to, so as to give the lie to this yarn he has spread about. However, when I got up there he was away, and although I've waited a week, he has not yet returned."

"But what's his idea?" "Devilment, I think, sheer devilment. But, by George! he's going to pay for it when I do catch him.”

However, Mr Besson took good care not to be caught, and Jaloda Jim was still trying to come up with him when the course of events took me to Beira. I put up at the

VOL. CCXX.-NO. MCCCXXX.

formation. I've never known any one who could talk so much, yet say so little, as could Mademoiselle. In Beira her greatest claim to fame and popularity rested solely upon her ability to mix a most intriguing cocktail dubbed, by her, an "Angel's Kiss."

Angel's Kisses were very much appreciated by the perennially thirsty gipsies of Beira, and so one was always sure of meeting some one or other of one's acquaintance at Mimi's cabaret. Arriving at the little glass door, I swung it open and entered.

A solitary oil-lamp, gleaming fitfully beneath its gaudily painted shade, hung suspended by a long brass chain the other end of which was lost to view in the gloomy shadows of the high ceiling. Directly underneath the lamp, her hair framed in an aureole of coloured light, lounged Mimi idly throwing dice against herself. Otherwise the place was deserted and in darkness, and for a long

I

Well, now there will be trouble!"

"But truly! Else why I send? Goood!" she laughed. "Señor Jim he come fast. He come in like this!"-and she gave a tolerably good imitation of Jim's impetuous steps. "He pick up Besson, so, and he hit him hard, like this ". she punched my ribs-"and he kick him, so "-she kicked the counter, viciously-" and then he stand, so, and he laugh, so, and he shout, Hi! Mimi, two "Angel's Kisses," by George !" " And the excited girl danced and pirouetted across the room. "Soon everybody come back, and Mimi be very rich again. Goood!"

But for my part I hardly heard her. I was considerably worried about that bodyguard, and it seemed to me that Jim would have more on hand than he could deal with. It occurred to me to get into touch with some of our friends and organise some kind of support, and with that thought in my mind I bade Mimi au revoir, and set out for the Savoy. As I passed along the sea wall a dozen or so noisy folk went past me on the other side of the road. The moon was only just rising, and in its dim light I could not make them out with any degree of certainty, but once I thought I heard Besson's laugh. I waited until they had disappeared into Mimi's cabaret, and then continued my walk to the hotel. Ten minutes later I entered the bar, and the first man I