haulage, and taking advantage of the wind, the sloop soon rose upon an even keel and rested at last in a safe position. The tide that ran up as far as the black king’s city did the rest, and the next day the sloop lay at anchor just where the schooner had been the previous morning, that is to say, in a position where she could easily gain access to the sea.
Once the sloop was in safety and the officers had pretty well mastered the intricacies of the river’s course, and the tidal and other currents which protected the slaver’s lair, a couple of armed boats pulled ashore to examine the place with caution, lest they should encounter some other trap.
“There’s no knowing, Mr Anderson,” said the captain, “so at the slightest sign of danger draw back. I don’t want a man to be even wounded at the expense of capturing a score of the black scum, even if one of them proves to be the king.”
The captain’s orders were carefully carried out, while once more the two midshipmen succeeded in accompanying the landing parties, to find that the king’s town of palm-thatched hovels was completely deserted. It had evidently been a busy, thickly inhabited place, where prisoners were herded together by the brutal savages who made incursions in different directions, and held their unfortunate captives ready for the coming of the slaver. But now the place was a dreary silent waste, and the trail well marked showed plainly the direction taken by the native marauders to some forest stronghold, near at hand or far distant, it was impossible to say which.
“Pah!” ejaculated Murray, as he sprang back with disgust from the strongly palisaded enclosure which was evidently the prisoners’ barracks. “Let’s get away, Dick.”
“I’m ready,” was the reply, “but I say, did you go round the other side yonder?”
The lad pointed as he spoke.
“No. What was there to see?”
“Tom May found it out,” replied the midshipman, “and I was idiot enough to go. Here, Tom,” he cried, signing to the generally amiable-looking sailor to approach; and he strode up, cutlass in hand, musket over his shoulder, scowling and fierce of aspect. “Tell Mr Murray what you showed me over yonder, Tom.”
The man’s face puckered up as he turned and met Murray’s eyes.
“It’s ’most too horrid, sir,” he said, “and don’t do no good but make a man savage, sir. There’s just fourteen of ’em among the trees there.”
“What, prisoners?” said Murray excitedly.
“Yes, sir, and six on ’em got the chains on ’em still.”
“Well, what about the armourer?” cried Murray excitedly, turning upon Roberts. “Didn’t Mr Anderson have them struck off?”
“No, lad,” replied Roberts. “There was only one of them alive out of the whole fourteen, and I don’t think she’ll be alive when Munday comes back.”
“Comes back! I didn’t know he had put off again.”
“Gone for the doctor,” said Roberts. “Go on, Tom May. Tell him what you made it out to be.”
“Just this, sir – that they’d got more than the schooner could take away, and they finished off the sick and wounded.”
“How could you tell that?” said Murray, with a look of horror.
“Seemed pretty plain, sir. All the men had old wounds as well as what must have been given them to finish ’em yes’day morning, sir, when the black fellows forsook the place.”
“But you said – finished the men who had old wounds?”
“Yes, sir; half healed. T’other wounds was fresh, and the women and children – ”
“Women and children!” cried Murray excitedly.
“Yes, sir; knocked on the head – clubbed. Didn’t care to take ’em away with them, sir, when we come.”
“Oh, Dick,” said Murray, whose face now looked ghastly, “I knew that there were horrors enough over the slave-trade, but I never thought it could be so bad as that. Here, Tom, where is this? Show me.”
“Don’t be a fool, old chap,” whispered Roberts, grasping his companion’s arm. “You’ve heard what Tom said. I’ve seen it too, and I could tell you, but I won’t. It’s too horrid to go and see again.”
“Yes, it must be horrible,” said the young man passionately; “but you said one poor creature was still alive?”
“Yes, and the doctor’s being fetched.”
“But something might be done – water – carried into the shade.”
“We did all that, sir,” said the sailor gruffly.
“Who did?” asked Murray excitedly.
“Well, I helped, sir, and the poor black lass looked at me as if she thought I was one of ’em going to take her aboard a slaver.”
“But didn’t you tell her – Oh, you are right, Dick; I am a fool! She couldn’t have understood unless it was by our acts.”
“Oh, don’t you worry about that, Mr Murray, sir,” said the man eagerly. “The poor thing took quite a turn like when I knelt down and held my waterbottle to her lips.”
Murray stood looking at the man, with his brow furrowed, and then he nodded.
“Now then,” he said, “where was this?”
“T’other side of this barrack place, sir,” said the man; “just over yonder.”
“Show me,” said Murray abruptly.
“I wouldn’t go, Frank,” whispered Roberts.
“I must,” was the reply. “Lead the way, Tom.”
“One of our lads is with her, sir,” said the man, hesitating.
“So much the better,” cried Murray firmly. “You heard what I said?”
Roberts, who was nearest to the sailor, heard him heave a deep sigh as he gave his trousers a hitch, and led the way past the vile-smelling palm and bamboo erection which had quite lately been the prison of a large number of wretched beings, the captives made by the warlike tribe who kept up the supply of slaves for bartering to the miscreants. Those who from time to time sailed up the river to the king’s town to carry on the hateful trade content if they could load up with a terrible cargo and succeed in getting one-half of the wretched captives alive to their destination in one of the plantation islands, or on the mainland.
Tom May took as roundabout a route as he could contrive so as to spare the young officers the gruesome sights that he and the other men had encountered; but enough was left to make Murray wince again and again.
“Why, Tom,” he exclaimed at last, “no punishment could be too bad for the wretches who are answerable for all this.”
“That’s what me and my messmates have been saying, sir; and of course it’s going to be a nasty job, but we’re all ready and waiting for our officers to give the word – Course I mean, sir, as soon as we get the chance.”
“Only
