ACCOMPLICES.
On the day following that on which d.i.c.k Sands and his party had made their last halt in the forest, two men met by appointment at a spot about three miles distant.
The two men were Harris and Negoro, the one lately landed from New Zealand, the other pursuing his wonted occupation of slave-dealer in the province of Angola. They were seated at the foot of an enormous banyan-tree, on the banks of a rushing torrent that streamed between tall borders of papyrus.
After the conversation had turned awhile upon the events of the last few hours, Negoro said abruptly,-
"Couldn"t you manage to get that young fifteen-year-old any farther into the interior?"
"No, indeed; it was a hard matter enough to bring him thus far; for the last few days his suspicions have been wide awake."
"But just another hundred miles, you know," continued Negoro, "would have finished the business off well, and those black fellows would have been ours to a dead certainty."
"Don"t I tell you, my dear fellow, that it was more than time for me to give them the slip?" replied Harris, shrugging his shoulders. "Only too well I knew that our young friend was longing to put a shot into my body, and that was a sugar-plum I might not be able to digest."
The Portuguese gave a grunt of a.s.sent, and Harris went on,-
"For several days I succeeded well enough. I managed to palm off the country as the forest of Atacama, which you may recollect I once visited; but when the youngster began to ask for gutta-percha and humming-birds, and his mother wanted quinquina-trees, and when that old fool of a cousin was bent on finding cocuyos, I was rather nonplussed. One day I had to swear that giraffes were ostriches, but the young captain did not seem to swallow the dose at all easily. Then we saw traces of elephants and hippopotamuses, which of course are as often seen in America as an honest man in a Benguela penitentiary; then that old n.i.g.g.e.r Tom discovered a lot of forks and chains left by some runaway slaves at the foot of a tree; but when, last of all, a lion roared,-and the noise, you know, is rather louder than the mewing of a cat,-I thought it was time to take my horse and decamp."
Negoro repeated his expression of regret that the whole party had not been carried another hundred miles into the province.
"It really cannot be helped," rejoined the American; "I have done the best I could; and I think, mate," he added confidentially, "that you have done wisely in following the caravan at a good distance; that dog of theirs evidently owes you a grudge, and might prove an ugly customer."
"I shall put a bullet into that beast"s head before long," growled Negoro.
"Take care you don"t get one through your own first," laughed Harris; "that young Sands, I warn you, is a first-rate shot, and between ourselves, is rather a fine fellow of his kind."
"Fine fellow, indeed!" sneered Negoro; "whatever he is, he is a young upstart, and I have a long score to wipe off against him;" and, as he spoke, an expression of the utmost malignity pa.s.sed over his countenance.
Harris smiled.
"Well, mate," he said; "your travels have not improved your temper, I see. But come now, tell me what you have been doing all this time. When I found you just after the wreck, at the mouth of the Longa, you had only time to ask me to get this party, somehow or other, up into the country. But it is just upon two years since you left Ca.s.sange with that caravan of slaves for our old master Alvez. What have you been doing since? The last I heard of you was that you had run foul of an English cruiser, and that you were condemned to be hanged."
"So I was very nearly," muttered Negoro.
"Ah, well, that will come sooner or later," rejoined the American with philosophic indifference; "men of our trade can"t expect to die quietly in our beds, you know. But were you caught by the English?"
"No, by the Portuguese."
"Before you had got rid of your cargo?"
Negoro hesitated a moment before replying.
"No," he said, presently, and added, "The Portuguese have changed their game: for a long time they carried on the trade themselves, but now they have got wonderfully particular; so I was caught, and condemned to end my days in the penitentiary at St. Paul de Loanda."
"Confound it!" exclaimed Harris, "a hundred times better be hanged!"
"I"m not so sure of that," the Portuguese replied, "for when I had been at the galleys about a fortnight I managed to escape, and got into the hold of an English steamer bound for New Zealand. I wedged myself in between a cask of water and a case of preserved meat, and so managed to exist for a month. It was close quarters, I can tell you, but I preferred to travel incognito rather than run the risk of being handed over again to the authorities at Loanda."
"Well done!" exclaimed the American, "and so you had a free pa.s.sage to the land of the Maoris. But you didn"t come back in the same fashion?"
"No; I always had a hankering to be here again at my old trade; but for a year and a half...."
He stopped abruptly, and grasped Harris by the arm.
"Hush," he whispered, "didn"t you hear a rustling in that clump of papyrus?"
In a moment Harris had caught up his loaded gun; and both men, starting to their feet, looked anxiously around them.
"It was nothing," said Harris presently; "the stream is swollen by the storm, that is all; your two years" travelling has made you forget the sounds of the forest, mate. Sit down again, and go on with your story. When I know the past, I shall be better able to talk about the future."
They reseated themselves, and Negoro went on,-
"For a whole year and a half I vegetated at Auckland. I left the hold of the steamer without a dollar in my pocket, and had to turn my hand to every trade imaginable in order to get a living."
"Poor fellow! I daresay you even tried the trade of being an honest man," put in the American.
"Just so," said Negoro, "and in course of time the "Pilgrim," the vessel by which I came here, put in at Auckland. While she was waiting to take Mrs. Weldon and her party on board, I applied to the captain for a post, for I was once mate on board a slaver, and know something of seamanship. The "Pilgrim"s" crew was complete, but fortunately the ship"s cook had just deserted; I offered to supply his place; in default of better my services were accepted, and in a few days we were out of sight of New Zealand."
"I have heard something about the voyage from young Sands," said Harris, "but even now I can"t understand how you reached here."
"Neither does he," said Negoro, with a malicious grin. "I will tell you now, and you may repeat the story to your young friend if you like."
"Well, go on," said Harris.
"When we started," continued Negoro, "it was my intention to sail only as far as Chili: that would have brought me nearly half way to Angola; but three weeks after leaving Auckland, Captain Hull and all his crew were lost in chasing a whale, and I and the apprentice were the only seamen left on board."
"Then why in the name of peace didn"t you take command of the ship?" exclaimed Harris.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Both men, starting to their feet, looked anxiously around them.]
"Because there were five strong n.i.g.g.e.rs who didn"t trust me; so, on second thoughts, I determined to keep my old post as cook."
"Then do you mean to say that it was mere accident that brought you to the coast of Africa?"
"Not a bit of it; the only accident,-and a very lucky one it was-was meeting you on the very spot where we stranded. But it was my doing that we got so far. Young Sands understood nothing more of navigation than the use of the log and compa.s.s. Well, one fine day, you understand, the log remained at the bottom of the sea, and one night the compa.s.s was tampered with, so that the "Pilgrim," scudding along before a tempest, was carried altogether out of her course. You may imagine the young captain was puzzled at the length of the voyage; it would have bewildered a more experienced head than his. Before he was aware of it, we had rounded Cape Horn; I recognized it through the mist. Then at once I put the compa.s.s to rights again, and the "Pilgrim " was carried north-eastwards by a tremendous hurricane to the very place I wanted. The island d.i.c.k Sands took for Easter Island was really Tristan d"Acunha."
"Good!" said Harris; "I think I understand now how our friends have been persuaded to take Angola for Bolivia. But they are undeceived now, you know," he added.
"I know all about that," replied the Portuguese.
"Then what do you intend to do?" said Harris.
"You will see," answered Negoro significantly; "but first of all tell me something about our employer, old Alvez; how is he?"
"Oh, the old rascal is well enough, and will be delighted to see you again," replied Harris.
"Is he at the market at Bihe?"