But, first of all, she determined, if it were possible, to discover the ultimate design of Negoro. She was not kept long in suspense. On the 6th of June, just a week after the royal funeral, the Portuguese entered the depot, in which he had not set foot since his return, and made his way straight to the hut in which he knew he should find the prisoner. Benedict was out insect-hunting; Jack, under Halima’s charge, was being taken for a walk. Mrs. Weldon was alone.
Negoro pushed open the door, and said abruptly—
“Mrs. Weldon, I have come to tell you, that Tom and his lot have been sold for the Ujiji market; Nan died on her way here; and Dick Sands is dead too.”
Mrs. Weldon uttered a cry of horror.
“Yes, Mrs. Weldon,” he continued; “he has got what he deserved; he shot Harris, and has been executed for the murder. And here you are alone! mark this! alone and in my power!”
What Negoro said was true; Tom, Bat, Actaeon, and Austin had all been sent off that morning on their way to Ujiji.
Mrs. Weldon groaned bitterly.
Negoro went on.
“If I chose, I could still further avenge upon you the ill-treatment I got on board that ship; but it does not suit my purpose to kill you. You and that boy of yours, and that idiot of a flycatcher, all have a certain value in the market. I mean to sell you.”
“You dare not!” said Mrs. Weldon firmly; “you know you are making an idle threat; who do you suppose would purchase people of white blood?”
“I know a customer who will give me the price I mean to ask,” replied Negoro with a brutal grin.
She bent down her head; only too well she knew that such things were possible in this horrid land.
“Tell me who he is!” she said; “tell the name of the man who …”
“James Weldon,” he answered slowly.
“My husband!” she cried; “what do you mean?”
“I mean what I say. I mean to make your husband buy you back at my price; and if he likes to pay for them, he shall have his son and his cousin too.”
“And when, and how, may I ask, do you propose to manage this?” replied Mrs. Weldon, forcing herself to be calm.
“Here, and soon too. I suppose Weldon will not mind coming to fetch you.”
“He would not hesitate to come; but how could he know we are here?”
“I will go to him. I have money that will take me to San Francisco.”
“What you stole from the Pilgrim?” said Mrs. Weldon.
“Just so,” replied Negoro; “and I have plenty more. I suppose when Weldon hears that you are a prisoner in Central Africa, he will not think much of a hundred thousand dollars.”
“But how is he to know the truth of your statement?”
“I shall take him a letter from you. You shall represent me as your faithful servant, just escaped from the hands of savages.”
“A letter such as that I will never write; never,” said Mrs. Weldon decisively.
“What? what? you refuse?”
“I refuse.”
She had all the natural cravings of a woman and a wife, but so thoroughly was she aware of the treachery of the man she had to deal with, that she dreaded lest, as soon as he had touched the ransom, he would dispose of her husband altogether.
There was a short silence.
“You will write that letter,” said Negoro.
“Never!” repeated Mrs. Weldon.
“Remember your child!”
Mrs. Weldon’s heart beat violently, but she did not answer a word.
“I will give you a week to think over this,” hissed out Negoro.
Mrs. Weldon was still silent.
“A week! I will come again in a week; you will do as I wish, or it will be the worse for you.”
He gnashed his teeth, turned on his heel, and left the hut.
XIV
A Ray of Hope
Mrs. Weldon’s first feeling on being left alone was a sense of relief at having a week’s respite. She had no trust in Negoro’s honesty, but she knew well enough that their “marketable value” would secure them from any personal danger, and she had time to consider whether some compromise might be effected by which her husband might be spared the necessity of coming to Kazonndé. Upon the receipt of a letter from herself, he would not hesitate for a moment in undertaking the journey, but she entertained no little fear that after all perhaps her own departure might not be permitted; the slightest caprice on the part of Queen Moena would detain her as a captive, whilst as to Negoro, if once he should get the ransom he wanted, he would take no further pains in the matter.
Accordingly, she resolved to make the proposition that she should be conveyed to some point upon the coast, where the bargain could be concluded without Mr. Weldon’s coming up the country.
She had to weigh all the consequences that would follow any refusal on her part to fall in with Negoro’s demands. Of course, he would spend the interval in preparing for his start to America, and when he should come back and find her still hesitating, was it not likely that he would find scope for his revenge in suggesting that she must be separated from her child.
The very thought sent a pang through her heart, and she clasped her little boy tenderly to her side.
“What makes you so sad, mamma?” asked Jack.
“I was thinking of your father, my child,” she answered; “would
