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"Those forty men leastwise thirty-four men that we brought from Msala Mr. Durnovo's men, that cultivate this 'ere Simiacine as they call it they're different from the rest, sir." "Yes, of course they are. We do not hire them direct we hire them from Mr. Durnovo and pay their wages to him. They are of a different tribe from the others not fighting men but agriculturists." "Ah " Joseph paused.
He knew enough of the human brain to be convinced that the only possible relief to this tension was success. Victor Durnovo would never know rest now until he reached the spot where the Simiacine should be. If the trees were there, growing, as he said, in solitary state and order, strangely suggestive of human handiwork, then Victor Durnovo was saved.
I reckon that we can hold out for four months without outside assistance, but after that period we shall be forced to surrender or to try and cut our way through WITHOUT the Simiacine. With a larger force we could beat back the tribes, and establish our hold on the Plateau by force of arms. This must be forwarded to Mr. Durnovo at once, wherever he is.
Oscard's orders; but before I go I want to give you notice of resignation. I resigns my partnership in this 'ere Simiacine at six months from to-day. It's a bit too hot, sir, that's the truth. It's all very well for gentlemen like yourself and Mr.
"And," continued Jack, "we hereby undertake severally, on oath, to hold the whereabouts of the Simiacine a strict secret, which secret may not be revealed by any one of us to whomsoever it may be without the sanction, in writing, of the other two partners." "There," concluded Jack Meredith, "I am rather pleased with that literary production: it is forcible and yet devoid of violence.
"I leave this place at sunrise to-morrow," said Guy Oscard to them all. "I never want to see it again. I will not touch one penny of the money that has been made. I speak for Mr. Meredith and myself " "Likewise me damn it!" put in Joseph. "I speak as Mr. Meredith himself would have spoken. There is the Simiacine you can have it. I won't touch it.
They were beyond the reach of money beyond the glitter of gold far from the cry of anguish. A fortune was set aside for Marie Durnovo, to be held in trust for the children of the man who had found the Simiacine Plateau; another was apportioned to Joseph.
He was, so far as she knew, married to Millicent Chyne more than a year ago, although she had never seen the announcement of the wedding. He had drifted into Loango and into her life by the merest accident, and now that the Simiacine Plateau had been finally abandoned there was no reason why any of the original finders should come to Loango again.
It is nothing but a plague. Not one of those fellows can have escaped." Jack Meredith sat forward and rubbed his two hands pensively over his knees. "So," he said, "only you and I and Joseph know where the Simiacine Plateau is." "That is so," answered Oscard. "And Joseph won't go back?" "Not if you were to give him that ninety thousand pounds worth of stuff." "And you will not go back?"
She had probably saved the life of Jack Meredith, and in doing so had only succeeded in sending him away from her. Only an honest man doing his duty. When Jack Meredith said that there was not another man in Africa who could make his way from Loango to the Simiacine Plateau he spoke no more than the truth.
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