Greenmantle - John Buchan

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'Maybe he wasn't,' said the giant in a cooing voice; 'maybe he had his reasons for that. You Dutchmen have always a feather-bed to fall on. You can always turn traitor. Maritz now calls himself Robinson, and has a pension from his friend Botha.' 'That,' said Peter, 'is a very damned lie.' 'I asked for information,' said Stumm with a sudden politeness. 'But that is all past and done with. Maritz matters no more than your old Cronjes and Krugers. The show is over, and you are looking for safety. For a new master perhaps? But, man, what can you bring? What can you offer? You and your Dutch are lying in the dust with the yoke on your necks. The Pretoria lawyers have talked you round. You see that map,' and he pointed to a big one on the wall. 'South Africa is coloured green. Not red for the English, or yellow for the Germans. Some day it will be yellow, but for a little it will be green—the colour of neutrals, of nothings, of boys and young ladies and chicken-hearts.' I kept wondering what he was playing at. Then he fixed his eyes on Peter. 'What do you come here for? The game's up in your own country. What can you offer us Germans? If we gave you ten million marks and sent you back you could do nothing. Stir up a village row, perhaps, and shoot a policeman. South Africa is counted out in this war. Botha is a cleverish man and has beaten you calves'-heads of rebels. Can you deny it?' Peter couldn't. He was terribly honest in some things, and these were for certain his opinions. 'No,' he said, 'that is true, Baas.' 'Then what in God's name can you do?' shouted Stumm. Peter mumbled some foolishness about nobbling Angola for Germany and starting a revolution among the natives. Stumm flung up his arms and cursed, and the Under-Secretary laughed. It was high time for me to chip in. I was beginning to see the kind of fellow this Stumm was, and as he talked I thought of my mission, which had got overlaid by my Boer past. It looked as if he might be useful.
'Let me speak,' I said. 'My friend is a great hunter, but he fights better than he talks. He is no politician. You speak truth. South Africa is a closed door for the present, and the key to it is elsewhere. Here in Europe, and in the east, and in other parts of Africa. We have come to help you to find the key.' Stumm was listening. 'Go on, my little Boer. It will be a new thing to hear a taakhaar on world-politics.' 'You are fighting,' I said, 'in East Africa; and soon you may fight in Egypt. All the east coast north of the Zambesi will be your battle-ground. The English run about the world with little expeditions. I do not know where the places are, though I read of them in the papers. But I know my Africa. You want to beat them here in Europe and on the seas. Therefore, like wise generals, you try to divide them and have them scattered throughout the globe while you stick at home. That is your plan?' 'A second Falkenhayn,' said Stumm, laughing. 'Well, England will not let East Africa go. She fears for Egypt and she fears, too, for India. If you press her there she will send armies and more armies till she is so weak in Europe that a child can crush her. That is England's way. She cares more for her Empire than for what may happen to her allies. So I say press and still press there, destroy the railway to the Lakes, burn her capital, pen up every Englishman in Mombasa island. At this moment it is worth for you a thousand Damaralands.' The man was really interested and the Under-Secretary, too, pricked up his ears. 'We can keep our territory,' said the former; 'but as for pressing, how the devil are we to press? The accursed English hold the sea. We cannot ship men or guns there. South are the Portuguese and west the Belgians. You cannot move a mass without a lever.' 'The lever is there, ready for you,' I said. 'Then for God's sake show it me,' he cried. I looked at the door to see that it was shut, as if what I had to say was very secret.
Page 2 and 3: GREENMANTLE by
Page 4 and 5: Flying Corps.
Page 6 and 7: I had just finished breakfast and w
Page 8 and 9: He laughed. 'You do yourself an inj
Page 10 and 11: Sir Walter lay back in an arm-chair
Page 12 and 13: if a man has a special knowledge to
Page 14 and 15: years—mostly young officers of th
Page 16 and 17: and premeditated, and I didn't seem
Page 18 and 19: advantageous position to take a han
Page 20 and 21: provide food and service. I kept th
Page 22 and 23: 'V. I,' I read. 'There you have me.
Page 24 and 25: 'I should add that it's about as sa
Page 26 and 27: lack the larger vision. They can be
Page 28 and 29: CHAPTER THREE Peter Pienaar Our var
Page 30 and 31: summer. The hills of Portugal were
Page 32 and 33: Beyers would have hanged him if he
Page 34 and 35: the predikant used to preach about
Page 36 and 37: ar-keeper, with a lot of Shangaan w
Page 38 and 39: Peter grunted a deep approval. 'Tha
Page 40 and 41: I had expected a big barricade with
Page 42 and 43: men with heavy eyes. No wonder, poo
Page 44 and 45: factory look like a house, though y
Page 48 and 49: 'You need men, and the men are wait
Page 50 and 51: As I walked dizzily away the big ma
Page 52 and 53: convalescent room, where people wer
Page 54 and 55: I did as I was bid, he followed, an
Page 56 and 57: a portfolio, and flung me a few sen
Page 58 and 59: shiver. But how can we strike? They
Page 60 and 61: had only heard a gurgle of somethin
Page 62 and 63: in about a quart of water, when Stu
Page 64 and 65: abominating the English and burning
Page 66 and 67: The door opened and Stumm entered.
Page 68 and 69: 'There are thousands, sire,' I said
Page 70 and 71: veld ... Not but what,' he added, '
Page 72 and 73: German Crown.' I took the card and
Page 74 and 75: helpless. The man had a gorilla's r
Page 76 and 77: 'The village is five minutes off at
Page 78 and 79: my idiot had been absorbed into the
Page 80 and 81: paling of rough stakes plaited with
Page 82 and 83: village. There were one or two peop
Page 84 and 85: Hampshire. The bouts had been short
Page 86 and 87: 'Gruss Gott,' I replied. I leaned a
Page 88 and 89: danced through my head in a crazy f
Page 90 and 91: your stocking-foot and use it only
Page 92 and 93: my passport inside Germany, to join
Page 94 and 95: shoulder. The others wore thick jer
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Stumm's cordon had got busy at last
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dry crackle of wild geese going ove
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Peter was in the middle of the conv
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others, for I was not a prisoner of
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elieved it. I was a poor Dutchman t
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I did not pay much attention to the
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him short. 'Come along to the comma
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The Turk swaggered up and addressed
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clearly not approving of this wet a
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here for their pleasure, and but la
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Then Peter fired over their heads.
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for any trouble with demoniacs. Up
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I had had the good fortune to colle
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have been. Sandy had said that the
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passage and the empty shop, and out
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'But I don't understand,' I stammer
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statesmen don't figure enough on. S
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understood a word of. "Maister Tamm
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'I know,' I said; 'he is called Gre
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mine. Meantime, I've got to clear,
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sailor, Blenkiron flung him three o
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Petrograd and Mr Y. in London, or,
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He tore up the papers and enlarged
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fellow engineer, and translated par
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dwelling in my intestines. I'm like
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made me sick for the burning veld.
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top of them, and the three were off
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I told him in a hectic sentence, fo
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She led me through a long corridor
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Stumm and Rasta and the whole Germa
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passports. Say, do you come from En
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out to find my visitor in a brown s
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for the open country.' This confoun
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lacker one. Do you think that woman
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'There was a time when the papers w
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I picked up the map and pocketed it
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different members of our gang. Pete
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swung along at a great pace with a
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It proved to be a wretched tumble-d
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About midday we descended on a wide
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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Trouble by The Wa
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glittering like jewels. The arches
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wretched horses. It is vitally impo
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was difficult driving. On both side
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With an effort Stumm recovered hims
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Sandy's somewhere outside, and he's
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I guessed he had gone to have a loo
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with the impetus right on our heads
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The Deve Boyun lines seemed to me m
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I had learned what I needed. We wer
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much that he broke open a wound in
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'Drugged,' he cried, with a weary l
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Sandy's figure seemed to shrink and
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'That's all right,' I cried. 'It is
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The outbuilding we were lodged in a
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On the road itself he would soon be
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the howitzers, and was thankful whe
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seemed to be a kind of cup between
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dislodge one ounce of snow. Still t
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'They may not understand it,' said
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and looked at his map, and then put
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von Einem was getting ready for her
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Beside him rode a tall figure swath
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We stared blankly for a second, til
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sides to prevent them getting us in
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It was a woman's voice, high, penet
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woman had singled me out above the
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Blenkiron's field-glasses and had a
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ange for his whizz-bangs. We've got
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'Feeling good?' I asked. 'Fine. I'm
Page 236 and 237:
The choice fell on one of the Compa
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deaf to the sound. Stumm had seen u
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for the rear of the fugitives, but
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*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG E
Page 244 and 245:
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perfor
Page 246 and 247:
Section 2. Information about the Mi
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Greenmantle - John Buchan

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