The two men were Harris and Negoro, the one lately landed from New Zealand, the other pursuing his wonted occupation of slave-dealer1 in the province of Angola. They were seated at the foot of an enormous banyan-tree, on the banks of a rushing torrent2 that streamed between tall borders of papyrus3.
After the conversation had turned awhile upon the events of the last few hours, Negoro said abruptly4,-
"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 longing5 to put a shot into my body, and that was a sugar-plum I might not be able to digest."
The Portuguese6 gave a grunt7 of assent8, 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 recollect9 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 bent10 on finding cocuyos, I was rather nonplussed11. One day I had to swear that giraffes were ostriches12, but the young captain did not seem to swallow the dose at all easily. Then we saw traces of elephants and hippopotamuses13, which of course are as often seen in America as an honest man in a Benguela penitentiary14; then that old nigger Tom discovered a lot of forks and chains left by some runaway15 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 confidentially16, "that you have done wisely in following the caravan17 at a good distance; that dog of theirs evidently owes you a grudge18, and might prove an ugly customer."
"I shall put a bullet into that beast's head before long," growled19 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!" sneered21 Negoro; "whatever he is, he is a young upstart, and I have a long score to wipe off against him;" and, as he spoke22, an expression of the utmost malignity23 passed over his countenance24.
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 wreck25, 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 Cassange 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 foul26 of an English cruiser, and that you were condemned27 to be hanged."
"So I was very nearly," muttered Negoro.
"Ah, well, that will come sooner or later," rejoined the American with philosophic28 indifference29; "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 cargo30?"
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 galleys32 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 incognito34 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 passage 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 rustling35 in that clump36 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 swollen37 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 vegetated38 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 vessel39 by which I came here, put in at Auckland. While she was waiting to take Mrs. Weldon and her party on board, I applied40 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 deserted41; 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 malicious42 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 Chili43: that would have brought me nearly half way to Angola; but three weeks after leaving Auckland, Captain Hull44 and all his crew were lost in chasing a whale, and I and the
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