Left alone, Mrs. Weldon at first only her mind on this thought, that eight days would pass before Negoro would return for a definite answer. There was time to reflect and decide on a course of action. There could be no question of the 's except in his own interest. The "market value" that he attributed to his prisoner would evidently be a safeguard for her, and protect her for the time, at least, against any temptation that might put her in danger. Perhaps she would think of a compromise that would restore her to her husband without obliging Mr. Weldon to come to Kazounde. On receipt of a letter from his wife, she well knew that James Weldon would set out. He would brave the of this journey into the most dangerous countries of Africa. But, once at Kazounde, when Negoro should have that fortune of a hundred thousand dollars in his hands, what guaranty would James W. Weldon, his wife, his son and Cousin Benedict have, that they would be allowed to depart? Could not Queen Moini's caprice prevent them? Would not this "sale" of Mrs. Weldon and hers be better if it took place at the coast, at some point agreed upon, which would spare Mr. Weldon both the dangers of the journey to the interior, and the difficulties, not to say the impossibilities, of a return?  
So reflected Mrs. Weldon. That was why she had refused at once to to Negoro's proposition and give him a letter for her husband. She also thought that, if Negoro had put off his second visit for eight days, it was because he needed that time to prepare for his journey. If not, he would return sooner to force her consent.
 
"Would he really separate me from my child?" murmured she.
 
At that moment entered the hut, and, by an movement, his mother seized him, as if Negoro were there, ready to snatch him from her.
 
"You are in great grief, mother?" asked the little boy.
 
"No, dear Jack," replied Mrs. Weldon; "I was thinking of your papa!
You would be very glad to see him again?"
"Oh! yes, mother! Is he going to come?"
 
"No! no! He must not come!"
 
"Then we will go to see him again?"
 
"Yes, darling Jack!"
 
"With my friend Dick—and Hercules—and old Tom?"
 
"Yes! yes!" replied Mrs. Weldon, putting her head down to hide her tears.
 
"Has papa written to you?" asked little Jack.
 
"No, my love."
 
"Then you are going to write to him, mother?"
 
"Yes—yes—perhaps!" replied Mrs. Weldon.
 
And without knowing it, little Jack entered directly into his mother's thoughts. To avoid answering him further, she covered him with kisses.
 
It must be stated that another of some value was joined to the different reasons that had urged Mrs. Weldon to resist Negoro's injunctions. Perhaps Mrs. Weldon had a very unexpected chance of being restored to liberty without her husband's , and even against Negoro's will. It was only a faint ray of hope, very vague as yet, but it was one.
 
In fact, a few words of conversation, overheard by her several days before, made her foresee a possible near at hand—one might say a providential succor.
 
Alvez and a mongrel from Oujiji were talking a few steps from the hut occupied by Mrs. Weldon. It is not astonishing that the slave-trade was the subject of conversation between those merchants. The two in human flesh were talking business. They were discussing the future of their commerce, and were worried about the efforts the English were making to destroy it—not only on the , by cruisers, but in the interior, by their and their travelers.
 
Jose-Antonio Alvez found that the explorations of these pioneers could only injure commercial operations. His interlocutor shared his views, and thought that all these visitors, civil or religious, should be received with gun-shots.
 
This had been done to some extent. But, to the great displeasure of the traders, if they killed some of these curious ones, others escaped them. Now, these latter, on returning to their country, recounted "with exaggerations," Alvez said, the horrors of the slave-trade, and that injured this commerce immensely—it being too much diminished already.
 
The mongrel agreed to that, and it; above all, concerning the markets of N'yangwe, of Oujiji, of Zanzibar, and of all the great lake regions. There had come successively Speke, Grant, Livingstone, Stanley, and others. It was an invasion! Soon all England and all America would occupy the country!
 
Alvez sincerely pitied his comrade, and he declared that the provinces of Western Africa had been, till that time, less badly treated—that is to say, less visited; but the of travelers was beginning to spread. If Kazounde had been spared, it was not so with Cassange, and with Bihe, where Alvez owned factories. It may be remembered, also, that Harris had spoken to Negoro of a certain Cameron, who might, indeed, have the to cross Africa from one side to the other, and after entering it by Zanzibar, leave it by Angola.
 
In fact, the trader had reason to fear, and we know that, some years after, Cameron to the south and Stanley to the north, were going to explore these little-known provinces of the west, describe the permanent monstrosities of the trade, unveil the guilty complicities of foreign agents, and make the responsibility fall on the right parties.
 
Neither Alvez nor the mongrel could know anything yet of this exploration of Cameron's and of Stanley's; but what they did know, what they said, what Mrs. Weldon heard, and what was of such great interest to her—in a word, what had sustained her in her refusal to at once to Negoro's demands, was this:
 
Before long, very probably, Dr. David Livingstone would arrive at
Kazounde.
Now, the arrival of Livingstone with his escort, the influence which the great traveler enjoyed in Africa, the concourse of Portuguese authorities from Angola that could not fail to meet him, all that might bring about the deliverance of Mrs. Weldon and hers, in spite of Negoro, in spite of Alvez. It was perhaps their restoration to their country within a short time, and without James W. Weldon risking his life in a journey, the result of which could only be deplorable.
 
But was there any probability that Dr. Livingstone would soon visit that part of the continent? Yes, for in following that tour, he was going to complete the exploration of Central Africa.
 
We know the heroic life of this son of the tea merchant, who lived in Blantyre, a village in the county of Lanark. Born on the 13th of March, 1813, David Livingstone, the second of six children, became, by force of study, both a theologian and doctor. After making his novitiate in the "London Missionary Society," he for the in 1840, with the intention of joining the missionary Moffat in Southern Africa.
 
From the Cape, the future traveler repaired to the country of the Bechnanas, which he explored for the first time, returned to Kuruman and married Moffat's daughter, that brave companion who would be worthy of him. In 1843 he founded a mission in the valley of the Mabotsa.
 
Four years later, we find him established at Kolobeng, two hundred and twenty-five miles to the north of Kuruman, in the country of the Bechnanas.
 
Two years after, in 1849, Livingstone left Kolobeng with his wife, his three children and two friends, Messrs. Oswell and Murray. August 1st, of the same year, he discovered Lake N'gami, and returned to Kolobeng, by the Zouga.
 
In this journey Livingstone, stopped by the bad will of the natives, had not passed beyond the N'gami. A second attempt was not more fortunate. A third must succeed. Then, taking a northern route, again with his family and Mr. Oswell, after sufferings (for lack of food, for lack of water) that almost cost him the lives of his children, he reached the country of the Makalolos beside the Chobe, a branch of the Zambezi. The chief, Sebituane, joined him at Linyanti. At the end of June, 1851, the Zambezi was discovered, and the doctor returned to the Cape to bring his family to England.
 
In fact, the Livingstone wished to be alone while risking his life in the daring journey he was going to undertake.
 
On leaving the Cape this time, the question was to cross Africa from the south to the west, so as to reach Saint Paul de Loanda.
 
On the third of June, 1852, the doctor set out with a few natives.
He arrived at Kuruman and skirted the Desert of Kalahari. The 31st
December he entered Litoubarouba and found the country of the
Bechnanas by the Boers, old Dutch , who were masters
of the Cape before the English took possession of it.
Livingstone left Litoubarouba on the 15th of January, 1853, to the center of the country of the Bamangouatos, and, on May 23d, he arrived at Linyanti, where the young sovereign of the Makalolos, Sckeletou, received him with great honor.
 
There, the doctor held back by the intense fevers, himself to studying the manners of the country, and, for the first time, he could the made by the slave-trade in Africa.
 
One month after he the Chobe, reached the Zambezi, entered Naniele, visited Katonga and Libonta, arrived at the of the Zambezi and the Leeba, formed the project of by that watercourse as far as the Portuguese possessions of the west, and, after nine weeks' absence, returned to Linyanti to make preparations.
 
On the 11th of November, 1853, the doctor, accompanied by twenty-seven Makalolos, left Linyanti, and on the 27th of December he reached the mouth of the Leeba. This watercourse was as far as the territory of the Balondas, there where it receives the Makonda, which comes from the east. It was the first time that a white man penetrated into this region.
 
January 14th, Livingstone entered Shinte's residence. He was the most powerful sovereign of the Balondas. He gave Livingstone a good reception, and, the 26th of the same month, after crossing the Leeba, he arrived at King Katema's. There, again, a good reception, and thence the departure of the little troop that on the 20th of February encamped on the borders of Lake Dilolo.
 
On setting out from this point, a difficult country, of the natives, attacks from the tribes, revolt of his companions, threats of death, everything against Livingstone, and a less energetic man would have abandoned the party. The doctor , and on the 4th of April, he reached the banks of the Coango, a large watercourse which forms the eastern boundary of the Portuguese possessions, and flows into the Zaire.
 
Six days after, Livingstone entered Cassange, where the trader Alvez had seen him passing through, and on the 31st ............