explained that he wanted an unnecessary berth cancelled in this way in order not to hurt my feelings by personally countermanding my arrangements. There's kind-heartedness for you! Well, it didn't come off, and a shortage of three hundred bales was discovered. I went to Mormugao to make an unheralded inquiry, only to find that a warning of my arrival had been broadcast from Madras in the form of instructions solicited by Lowe. And not regarding Dharwar only. It would appear that Lowe apprehended the discovery of shortages from other up-country stations. Upon what grounds? There are no others reported yet this season. Was that telegram a piece of intelligent anticipation? I don't think so. Boss, I think it was nothing more nor less than a panicky warning to a confederate, whoever and wherever he might be, and that Lowe, Lowe, Lowe is the well-placed organiser of the whole business."

The two men stared at each other for some moments in silence. Then Morrison rose.

surreptitiously as they were crossing the Maidan to the General Manager's bungalow in the Marine Lines.

Doings," he murmured to himself. "The Boss is marching to war.”

Mr Mackenzie Lowe for the last half-hour had been seated in his dining-room, engaged in vehement conversation with a native gentleman of high caste.

"Yess, it was, no doubt, a blunder," the latter was saying. "But otherwise all is well. I arranged for covering the traces, and then executed strategic disappearance."

"Well, as long as you're quite sure The Manager leapt to his feet. "Behind that screen. Quick! I believe it's . . .

But the Traffic Manager was standing, grim and heavy figured, in the doorway.

"I do not regret the intrusion," he said. "In fact, I am very glad of this opportunity of meeting the excellent Jethanand again. Come in, R. C., and let me introduce you to the other man. No, keep still, Jethanand. It would look so awkward if you were to be caught trying to run away."

Morrison took his junior's dispatch-box from him, and extracted the wagon - register which

we

Mr Vittal Rao had brought from Dharwar. Lowe," he began, know all about it. No, don't interrupt. You got young Brown out of the way the other night and then tried to bribe the Shed Manager to get

66

The Traffic Manager turned suddenly on the quailing Brahmin. And you, Mr Jethanand, were the man working at the other end of this swindle. Turning to your own uses the unavoidable congestion in our sheds at this time of year, you two have been arranging, by a system of organised bribery, for the preparation of double sets of documents for single consignments. The reputable merchants here remit cash on receipt of documents, only claiming upon us on our failure to deliver. And you and some of your questionable merchant friends up-country were to share the spoils. I am obliged to you, Jethanand, for completing, by your presence here at this moment, the evidence we already possess. If necessary, I shall enlarge upon what I have just said, producing chapter and verse, in another place, but I do not think you will force me to that, Lowe. So will you please write out your resignation at once, and we will post it for you. I have

ten minutes to spare."

Mr Mackenzie Lowe was anything but smiling now. His whole being seemed altered. And if his two opponents required yet further confirmation of their suspicions, it was there, written on his face. He glowered at them in a fury of rage and uncertainty. How much did they really know? What could they prove? Had he overlooked some other detail?

"These extraordinary statements of yours would would certainly require some establishing, Mr Morrison," he said at length, attempting a dignity he did not feel, and playing desperately for time. "I think that when you are less heated you will be prepared to acknowledge that you have spoken in an altogether unjustified and reprehensible manner. So tomorrow morning. . ."

"I have now less than ten minutes to spare," broke in the Traffic Manager. "Unless your resignation is ready in that time, I shall have you both arrested. I am not going to argue or discuss or allow you any grace. So you can do what I say instantly, or take the consequences."

Morrison was speaking as coolly as if he were giving uninteresting routine orders in his office. But Clayton, a little behind him, could see in his fiercely clenched hands the excitement he was suppressing. For a few tense moments the two senior Englishmen faced each other, will battling with will. And then, quite suddenly, the Manager's spirit seemed to

wilt under the rugged power of Morrison's personality. He dropped his eyes, and then glanced at the now terrified Jethanand.

"The Delhi mail leaves at nine o'clock," he muttered weakly. The native's relief was obvious as he turned with a deprecating smile to the Traffic Manager.

"I am, of course, entirely innocent of any wrongful doings, Your Honour, having but carried out to best of feeble ability instructions of my superiors. But I am not in good conditions of health, Your Honour. The climate of Bombay is always causing me much. . . .

"Then get out of here, Jethanand, before I break a rule of mine," said Morrison, making the slightest possible move towards him. But the Brahmin, casting dignity to the winds, vanished from the room ere

worse could befall. Morrison turned to the other.

"You see, Lowe, your ally deserts you, and we can afford to let him go. But we can get him again if you force us to. Come along now. Give me a letter containing any lies you like, so long as it includes the truthful statement that you resign your post. We will see that it reaches the Managing Agent's office in the morning, and you can catch the Delhi mail in two hours time."

Once more the trapped man glared desperately around, seeking some means of escape. But there was no loophole that he dared attempt.

Mr Mackenzie Lowe sat down. Slowly he drew writing materials towards him. And then, in complete silence, he began to write out the end of the story; the end of the story of his last operation in cotton.

rain, a few scattered cisterns of natural rock hold water for various periods up to six months. No Arabs frequent the district, owing to the lack of water and of grazing for camels. The nearest wells are at Um Dood, some fifty miles to the south.

While stationed at Assiut before the war, the Pasha had made a few expeditions in this desert, and had shot both ibex and wild sheep-the "Arui " -during his travels there. An expedition made in 1920, however, produced no game. We had often discussed a trip, and the general peace brooding over Egypt in the winter of 1926-27 finally gave us an opportunity to take fifteen days' leave in February. A patrol going up the Assiuti in December was instructed to search for the tracks of game as well as for those of smugglers, and on their return they reported having seen plenty of tracks of sheep and ibex, all fresh. They also reported that, although they had had great difficulty in getting their Ford cars through to the Atla, the going was good up to a point some sixty miles from the Nile, where the Assiuti is joined by another big Wadi, the Mara

heel.

This decided us, and we got to work. One Suliman Hasaballah, of the Ababdeh tribe, an old friend of the Pasha's, and a magnificent hunter and guide, was then grazing his camels near Qosseir, on the shores of the Red Sea. Word was sent to him to gird up his

loins and come in to the " Reef," as the Nile Valley is called. On 31st January the Commandant of Police at Qena wired that he had arrived there, accompanied by four hunters and four dogs. Meanwhile, we had arranged with the Mudir (Governor) of Assiut to hire us baggage-camels from a local tribe of Bedawin, called the Motaire, and to collect an escort of Sudanese Camel Police, with riding-camels for ourselves. I spent a few hectic days in Cairo collecting all the necessary stores. To make a third, we roped in an officer from the British garrison, henceforth known to fame and this narrative as "J. B." The rest of the Cairo party consisted of the head tracker of the Camel Police, a wizened little Bisharin called Hamed, a first-class man in the desert; a corporal of the same force was also taken, named Sheriff, who was an excellent cook. After sundry alarums and excursions we got all the heavy kit together, and despatched it to Assiut.

Orders had been sent to Qena for Suliman to make for the junction of the Assiuti with the Maraheel, and await us there. This represented a trek of about twelve days from Qena, making him arrive at the junction on 13th February. The escort, with our ridingcamels and the baggage-camels (hamla) carrying the heavy kit, left Assiut at dawn on 9th February, also with orders to await us at the Maraheel, where they were due to arrive