little minute until I have made everything nice and proper.' So the
world waits for a year or so, and then it says once again, 'Come out.'
'Just wait a little,' says England; 'there is trouble at Khartoum, and
when I have set that all right I shall be very glad to come out.'
So they wait until it is all over, and then again they say, 'Come out.'
'How can I come out,' says England, 'when there are still raids and
battles going on? If we were to leave, Egypt would be run over.'
'But there are no raids,' says the world. 'Oh, are there not?' says
England, and then within a week sure enough the papers are full of some
new raid of Dervishes. We are not all blind, Mister Headingly.
We understand very well how such things can be done. A few Bedouins, a
little backsheesh, some blank cartridges, and, behold--a raid!"

"Well, well," said the American, "I'm glad to know the rights of this
business, for it has often puzzled me. But what does England get out of
it?"

"She gets the country, monsieur."

"I see. You mean, for example, that there is a favourable tariff for
British goods?"

"No, monsieur; it is the same for all."

"Well, then, she gives the contracts to Britishers?"

"Precisely, monsieur."

"For example, the railroad that they are building right through the
country, the one that runs alongside the river, that would be a valuable