The Ivory Trail

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The Ivory Trail (1919)
by Talbot Mundy, illustrated by Joseph Clement Coll

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New York: A. L. Burt Company, 1919. The story was first serialized as “On The Trail Of Tipoo Tib” in Adventure magazine, May 3-July 18, 1919 (6 parts). Alert: Written just after World War I; extremely anti-Teuton.

This is the sixth of a series of tales, each a complete story in itself, in which an American and three English friends endeavor to gain by any honest means a large sum of money which is particularly needed by one of them, “Monty” (Lord Montdidier). In previous stories they have fallen foul of Portuguese colonial venality, and of German political avarice. In the last story they were shipwrecked. Now—by no means destitute, but stranded and quarantined in Zanzibar, they hear the legend of Tippoo Tib’s buried ivory and set off in quest of it.

Each tale is independent of all the others, but the same characters recur and pursue an unvarying goal with courage and good humor. —from the introductory matter heading Part 1 of the story in Adventure May 3, 1919

Talbot MundyJoseph Clement Coll3005803The Ivory Trail1919

"This song's of youth, and strength, and health, and time that's on the wing

THE
IVORY TRAIL

By TALBOT MUNDY

Author of
“Rung Ho!,” “King—of the Khyber Rifles,” “The Winds
of the World,” “Hira Singh,” “The Eye of Zeitoon,” “Guns of the Gods,” etc.

Frontispiece by
Joseph Clement Coll

A. L. BURT COMPANY

Publishers New York

Published by arrangement with the Bobb-Merrill Company

Copyright 1919
The Bobb-Merrill Company

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES
AT
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y.

Chapters (not listed in original)

THE NJO HAPA^[1] SONG

Green, ah greener than emeralds are, tree-tops beckon the dhows to land,
White, oh whiter than diamonds are, blue waves burst on the amber sand,
And nothing is fairer than Zanzibar from the Isles o’ the West to the Marquesand.

I was old when the world was wild with youth.
(All love was lawless then!)
Since ‘Venture’s birth from ends of earth
I ha’ called the sons of men,
And their women have wept the ages out
In travail sore to know
What lure of opiate art can leach
Along bare seas from reef to beach
Until from port and river reach
The fever’d captains go.

Red, oh redder than red lips are my flowers that nod in the blazing noon,
Blue, oh bluer than maidens’ eyes are the breasts o’ my waves in the young monsoon,
And there are cloves to smell, and musk, and lemon trees, and cinnamon.

↑ The words “Njo Hapa” in the Kiswahili tongue are the equivalent of “come hither!”

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1940, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 83 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

[1] The words “Njo Hapa” in the Kiswahili tongue are the equivalent of “come hither!”

[1]