.

IN BLACK AND WHITE.
A little lurking secret of the blood, A little serpent secret rankling keen.
The three men walked up towards the house together.

It was a fair-sized house, with a heavy thatched roof that overhung the walls like the crown of a mushroom.

The walls were only mud, and the thatching was nothing else than banana leaves; but there was evidence of European taste in the garden surrounding the structure, and in the glazed windows and wooden door.
As they approached the open doorway three little children, clad in very little more than their native modesty, ran gleefully out, and proceeded to engage seats on Jack Meredith's boots, looking upon him as a mere public conveyance.

They took hardly any notice of him, but chattered and quarrelled among themselves, sometimes in baby English, sometimes in a dialect unknown to Oscard and Meredith.
"These," said the latter, when they were seated, and clinging with their little dusky arms round his legs, "are the very rummest little kids I ever came across." Durnovo gave an impatient laugh, and went on towards the house.