I had this story
           from one
         who had no business
              to tell it to me,
           or to any other.

    I may
          credit the seductive influence
               of an old vintage
             upon the narrator
                   for the beginning of it,
           and my own skeptical incredulity
              during the days
             that followed
                   for the balance
                       of the strange tale.

    When my convivial host discovered
         that he
            had told me so much,
           and that
             I was prone to doubtfulness,
         his foolish pride
             assumed the task
                   the old vintage
            had commenced,
           and so
             he unearthed
                  written evidence
                       in the form
                           of musty manuscript,
         and dry official records
               of the British Colonial Office
              to support
                   many of the salient features
                       of his remarkable narrative.

    I do not
          say the story
        is true,
           for I
            did not witness the happenings
              which it portrays,
         but the fact
             that in the telling
                   of it
                 to you
             I have
                  taken fictitious names
                       for the principal characters
                      quite sufficiently evidences
                           the sincerity
                         of my own belief
             that it MAY be true.

    The yellow,
           mildewed pages
               of the diary
             of a man long dead,
         and the records
            of the Colonial Office dovetail
                          perfectly
             with the narrative
                   of my convivial host,
           and so
             I give
                   you the story as
             I painstakingly
                  pieced it out from these
                      several various agencies.

    If you
          do not
              find it credible you
                  will at least
              be as one
                   with me
                 in acknowledging
         that it is unique,
           remarkable,
         and interesting.

    From the records
           of the Colonial Office and
         from the dead man's diary
         we learn
        that a certain young
            English nobleman,
           whom we
            shall call John Clayton,
         Lord Greystoke,
           was commissioned
              to make a peculiarly delicate
                 investigation
                    of conditions
                in a British West Coast
                     African Colony from
             whose simple native inhabitants
                   another European power
                was known
                      to be
                          recruiting soldiers
                               for its native army,
         which it
              used solely
                   for the forcible collection
                       of rubber
                     and ivory
                   from the savage tribes
                 along the Congo
                       and the Aruwimi.

    The natives
           of the British Colony complained
         that many
               of their young men
            were enticed
                  away through the medium
                       of fair and
                  glowing promises,
           but that few
             if any ever
                  returned to their families.

    The Englishmen in Africa went
         even further,
           saying that these poor blacks
            were held in virtual slavery,
         since after their terms
               of enlistment
              expired their ignorance
            was imposed upon
                   by their white officers,
           and they were told
             that they
                had yet
                      several years to serve.

    And so the Colonial Office
          appointed John Clayton
               to a new post
             in British West Africa,
           but his confidential instructions
              centered on a thorough
                 investigation
                    of the unfair treatment
                       of black British subjects
                   by the officers
                       of a friendly European power.

    Why he was sent,
           is,
         however,
           of little moment
               to this story,
         for he never
              made an investigation,
           nor,
         in fact,
           did he ever
              reach his destination.

    Clayton was the type
           of Englishman
         that one likes
             best to associate
                   with the noblest monuments
                       of historic achievement
                   upon a thousand victorious battlefields
          --a strong,
           virile man mentally,
         morally,
           and physically.

    In stature
         he was
               above the average height;
        his eyes were gray,
           his features regular and strong;
        his carriage that of perfect,
           robust health
              influenced by his years
                   of army training.

    Political ambition
        had caused him
              to seek transference
                   from the army
                       to the Colonial Office
                           and so
         we find him,
           still young,
         entrusted with a delicate
               and important commission
             in the service