Next morning he was missed.
"Your pretty Indian," said Mr. Peter, with an ill-concealed sneer, "is a traitor, then, after all, and a spy, and it was no doubt he who instigated the abduction and the murder, for the sake of revenge, of your poor little sister."
"That remains to be seen, Mr. Peter. If he, or anyone else on the plantation, is a traitor, he shall hang as high as Haman."
Peter cowered visibly, but smiled his agitation off.
And that same night about twelve, while Roland sat smoking on the lawn with d.i.c.k, all in the moonlight, everyone else having retired--smoking and talking of the happy past--suddenly the gate hinges creaked, and with a low growl Brawn sprang forward. But he returned almost immediately, wagging his tail and being caressed by Benee himself.
Silently stood the Indian before them, silently as a statue, but in his left hand he carried a small bundle bound up in gra.s.s. It was not his place to speak first, and both young men were a little startled at his sudden appearance.
"What, Benee! and back so soon from the forest?"
"Benee did run plenty quickee. Plenty jaguar want eat Benee, but no can catchee."
"Well?"
"I would speekee you bof boys in de room."
The two started up together.
Here was some mystery that must be unravelled.
CHAPTER X--BENEE MAKES A STRANGE DISCOVERY
Benee followed them into Roland"s quiet study, and placed his strange gra.s.s-girt bundle on a cane chair.
Roland gave him a goblet of wine-and-water, which he drank eagerly, for he was faint and tired.
"Now, let us hear quickly what you have to say, Benee."
The Indian came forward, and his words, though uttered with some vehemence, and accompanied by much gesticulation, were delivered in almost a whisper.
It would have been impossible for any eavesdropper in the hall to have heard.
"Wat I tellee you "bout dat Peter?" he began.
"My good friend," said Roland, "Peter accuses you of being a spy and traitor."
"I killee he!"
"No, you will not; if Peter is guilty, I will see that justice overtakes him."
"Well, "fore I go, sah, I speakee you and say I bringee you de good news."
"Tell us quickly!" said d.i.c.k in a state of great excitement.
"Dis, den, is de good news: Missie Peggy not dead! No, no!"
"Explain, Benee, and do not raise false hopes in our b.r.e.a.s.t.s."
"De cannibals make believe she murder; dat all is."
"But have we not found portions of her raiment, her blood-dripping stockings, and also her charred remains?"
"Listen, sah. Dese cannibals not fools. Dey beat you plenty of trail, so you can easily find de clearing where de fire was. Dey wis" you to go to dat tree to see de blood, de shoe, and all. But when you seekee de trail after, where is she? Tellee me dat. Missie Peggy no murder.
No, no. She am carried away, far away, as one prisint to de queen ob de cannibals."
"What were the bones, my good Benee?"
Then Benee opened his strange bundle, and there fell on the floor the half-burned skull and jaws of a gigantic baboon.
"I find dat hid beside de tree. Ha, ha!"
"It is all clear now," said Roland. "My dear, faithful Benee," he continued, "can you guide us to the country of the cannibals? You will meet your reward, both here and hereafter."
"I not care. I lub Missie Peggy. Ah, she come backee once moh, foh true!"
And now d.i.c.k Temple, the impulsive, must step forward and seize Benee by the hand. "G.o.d bless you!" he said; and indeed it was all he could say.
When the Indian had gone, Roland and d.i.c.k drew closer together.
"The mystery," said the former, "seems to me, d.i.c.k, to be as dark and intricate as ever. I can understand the savages carrying poor Peggy away, but why the tricky deceit, the dropped shoe that poor, n.o.ble Brawn picked up, the pool of blood, the rent and torn garments, and the half-charred bones?"
"Well, I think I can see through that, Roland. I believe it was done to prevent your further pursuit; for, as Benee observes, the trail is left plainly enough for even a white man to see as far as the "fire-tree" and on to the brook. But farther there is none."
"Well, granting all this; think you, d.i.c.k, that no one instigated them, probably even suggested the crime and the infernal deceit they have practised?"
"Now you are thinking of, if not actually accusing, Mr. Peter?"
"I am, d.i.c.k. I have had my suspicions of him ever since a month after he came. It was strange how Benee hated him from the beginning, to say nothing of Brawn, the dog, and our dear lost Peggy."
"Cheer up!" said d.i.c.k. "Give Peter a show, though things look dark against him."
"Yes," said Roland sternly, "and with us and our expedition he must and shall go. We can watch his every move, and if I find that he is a villain, may G.o.d have mercy on his soul! His body shall feed the eagles."
d.i.c.k Temple was a wild and reckless boy, it is true, and always first, if possible, in any adventure which included a spice of danger, but he had a good deal of common sense notwithstanding.
He mused a little, and rolled himself a fresh cigarette before he replied.
"Your Mr. Peter," he said, "may or may not be guilty of duplicity, though I do not see the _raison d"etre_ for any such conduct, and I confess to you that I look upon lynching as a wild kind of justice. At the same time I must again beg of you, Roland, to give the man a decent show."
"Here is my hand on that, d.i.c.k. He shall have justice, even should that just finish with his dangling at a rope"s end."
The two shortly after this parted for the night, each going to his own room, but I do not think that either of them slept till long past midnight.