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Berselius was dead, but the mocking smile on his lips remained, almost justified by the words of the nurse imploring the woman on the floor to calm herself and restrain her grief. Whatever his life may have been, his death affected Adams strangely. The magnetism of the man's character had taken a strong hold upon him, fascinating him with the fascination that strength alone can exercise.
The result was two million pounds to his credit during the next ten years. So much for Berselius and his past. An hour after dawn next day they started. The morning was windless, warm, and silent, and the sun shining broad on the land cast their shadows before them as they went, the porters with their loads piled on their heads, Adams carrying the tent-pole and tent, Berselius leading.
But Berselius heard nothing, knew nothing but the scene before him, and Adams, who was running now after the afflicted man, who had broken away and was making straight for the trees beneath which the village had once been, heard and knew nothing of what lay before and around Berselius.
In other words, was it due to some mechanical pressure on the brain produced by the accident, or was it due to "repentance" on seeing suddenly unveiled the hideous drama in which he had taken part? This remains to be seen. At the end of the fourth week Berselius was able to leave his bed, and every day now marked a steady improvement in strength.
Berselius the younger grew up in an atmosphere of money. His mother died when he was quite young. He had neither brothers nor sisters; his father, a chilly-hearted sensualist, had a dislike to the boy; for some obscure reason, without any foundation in fact, he fancied that he was some other man's son. The basis of an evil mind is distrust.
"What did you bring this thing for?" asked Berselius, pointing to Adams's elephant gun, which the Zappo Zap headman was just stripping from its covering. "To shoot with," said Adams, laughing. Berselius looked at the big man handling the big gun, and gave a short laugh. "Well, bring it," said he; "but I don't envy your gun-bearers." But Félix, the headman, did not seem of the same opinion.
This was noticeable, especially, in Madame Berselius. The beautiful, indolent, arrogant face became a very humble face indeed when she turned it on the man who was evidently, literally, her lord and master. Maxine, though oppressed by the presence, wore a different air; she seemed abstracted and utterly unconscious of what a beautiful picture she made against the old-world tapestry of spring.
He was an honest devil, a far higher thing than a dishonest man." Again Berselius held up his hand. "What would you do?" "Do? I'd break that infernal machine which calls itself a State, and I'd guillotine the ruffian that invented it. I cannot do that, but I can at least protest." Berselius, who had helped to make the machine, and who knew better than most men its strength, shook his head sadly.
They had got within four hundred yards from the brute when a faint puff of wind stirred the grass, and instantly the rhino shifted his position. "He's got our scent," said Berselius, taking the cordite rifle from Félix, who handed his gun also to Adams. "He's got it strong. We will wait for him here." The rhino, after a few uneasy movements, began to "run about."
He would be here for ten days or a fortnight, and his food, chiefly cassava, lay in a little pile in the shelter, covered over with leaves. The porter continued speaking to the collector, who, now regaining the use of his limbs, stood up before the white men, hands folded in front of him, and his eyes rolling from Berselius to Adams.
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