“Gone,” said Pereira again. “Now, friend Pierre, before we ratify this matter by the aid of holy Church, perhaps you will table the gold. This is a cash transaction, remember.”
“Certainly,” answered Leonard. “Where is that black dog of mine, the dwarf? Ah! there he is. Dog, weigh out the stuff; if you have not enough, here is more.” And he unbuckled his belt, from which he had been careful to extract the ruby, and threw it to Otter.
“Now, gentlemen and companions,” he went on, “for I hope that we may do business together by and by, drink my health and my bride’s. I have paid pretty dear for her, but what of it? A gentleman of our profession should always be ready to back his fancy, for if his is apt to be a short life he may as well make it a merry one.”
“She will think the better of you, and you of her for it,” cried a voice. “Here is to Captain Pierre and the girl.” And they drank, shouting aloud in their half-drunken merriment.
Meanwhile Otter, advancing with obsequious steps, was pouring handful after handful of gold coin and ingots into the large scales which Pereira caused to be held before him. At length all the gold was in, a shining heap.
“The balance does not turn,” said Xavier; “I claim the girl.”
“Baas,” said Otter in a low voice, and speaking in Dutch, “have you more gold? The weight is short.”
Leonard glanced carelessly at the scales: they were trembling on the turn.
“As much as you like,” he said, “but here is what will do it.”
And drawing off his signet ring he threw it on the pile. The ruby excepted, it was the last thing of value that he had about him. Then the scale vibrated and sank down.
“Good,” said Pereira, rubbing his hands at the sight of so much treasure. “Bring me the acid that I may test the stuff. No offence, stranger Pierre, but this is a wicked world, in which brass has passed for gold before today.”
The acid was brought and the ingots were tested at hazard, Pereira holding them up to the light of a lamp.
“They are good,” he said. “Now, Father, do your part.”
The priest Francisco stepped forward. He was very pale and seemed terrified. Leonard, watching him, wondered what had brought him into such company, for the man’s face was good and even refined.
“Dom Antonio,” said the priest in a soft girlish voice, “I protest against this. Fate has brought me among you, though not of my own will, and I have been forced to bear the sight of much evil, but I have wrought none. I have shriven the dying, I have ministered to the sick, I have comforted the oppressed, but I have taken no share of the price of blood. I am a priest of our holy Church, and if I wed these two before the sight of men, they will be husband and wife till death, and I shall have set the seal of the blessing of the Church upon an act of shame. I will not do it.”
“You will not do it, you shaveling traitor?” screamed Pereira in a voice hoarse with rage. “Do you want to follow your brother then? Look here, my friend, either you obey me and marry these two or ——” and he hissed a horrible threat.
“NO, no,” said Leonard, anxious to find an escape from this abominable mockery. “Let him be. What do the cheat’s prayers matter? The lady and I can do without them.”
“I tell you, stranger, that you shall marry the girl, and this sniveller must marry you. If you don’t, I will keep both her and the gold. And as for him, he can choose. Here, slaves, bring the sjamboch.”
Francisco’s delicate face flushed pink. “I am no hero that I can suffer thus,” he said; “I will do your bidding, Dom Antonio, and may God forgive me the sin! For you, Pierre and Juanna, I am about to make you man and wife, to join you in a sacrament that is none the less holy and indissoluble because of the dreadful circumstances under which it is celebrated. I say to you, Pierre, abandon your wickedness, and love and cherish this woman, lest a curse from heaven fall upon you. I say to you, Juanna, put your trust in God, the God of the fatherless and oppressed, who will avenge your wrongs — and forgive me. Let water be brought, that I may consecrate it — water and a ring.”
“Here, take this one,” said Pereira, lifting Leonard’s signet ring from the pile of gold. “I give it back for a luck-penny.”
And he tossed the ring to the priest.
Water was brought in a basin, and the father consecrated it.
Then he bade Leonard stand by the girl and motioned to the crowd to fall back from them. All this while Leonard had been watching Juanna. She said no word, and her face was calm, but her eyes told him the terror and perplexity which tore her heart.
Once or twice she lifted her clenched right hand towards her lips, then dropped it without touching them. Leonard knew but too well what deed she meditated. He knew also the deadly nature of the drug she carried. If once it touched her tongue! The suspense was terrible. He could bear it no longer; even at the risk of discovery he must speak with her.
In obedience to the priest’s direction he sauntered to her side laughing. Then, still laughing, with his hand he separated the tresses of dark hair, as though to look at the beauty of her side face, and bent down as if to kiss her.
She stood pale and rigid, but once more her hand was lifted towards her mouth.
“Stop,” he whispered swiftly into her ear, speaking in English, “I have come to rescue you. Go through with this farce, it means nothing. Then, if I bid you, run for the drawbridge into the slave-camp.”
She heard, a light of intelligence shone in her eyes, and her hand fell again.
“Come, stop that, friend Pierre,” said Pereira suspiciously. “What are you whispering about?”
“I was telling the bride how beautiful I think her,” he answered carelessly.
Juanna turned and flashed on him a well-simulated glance of hate and scorn. Then the service began.
The young priest was gifted with a low and beautiful voice, and by the light of the moon he read the ritual of marriage so solemnly that even the villains who stood round ceased their jokes and sneers and were silent. All things were done in order, though Juanna made no reply to the usual questions. With much sham courtesy the loathsome Pereira presided over the ceremony — their hands were joined, the ring was set upon Juanna’s finger, the blessing was pronounced, and it was finished.
All this while Leonard stood like a man in a dream. He felt as though he were really being married; it even came into his mind, as he looked upon the loveliness of the mock bride at his side, that a worse fate might befall him. Then of a sudden he woke from his reverie — the farce was played, now they must strive to escape.
“There, that is done with, Dom Antonio,” he said, “and I think I heard this lady whisper that with your permission we will bid you good-bye. My canoe ——”
“Nonsense, you will stop here to-night,” said Pereira.
“Thanks, I think not,” answered Leonard. “To-morrow I may return to do a little business of another kind. I have a commission for about fifty, at a good price for the right sort.”
As Leonard spoke thus, glancing to the east, he saw dense masses of vapour rising into the air far away. The damp reeds were fired at last. The Settlement men had not failed in their task, and soon the flames would be discovered; he must be gone and swiftly.
“Well, if you must, you must,” answered Pereira, and Leonard observed that he looked relieved as he said it. He did not know the reason at the time. It was this: Juanna had told him that the man who bought her would find his death in it. He had a superstitious fear of the girl, and believed her; therefore he was glad that her purchaser should go, lest it might be said that he had murdered him in order to retain both the woman and her price. So he bade him farewell, and Leonard turned to depart, followed by Otter and Juanna, whom he led by the hand.
All might have gone well for that time had it not been for an unlucky chance. Leonard’s scheme was to walk towards the water-gate, but, if no better plan of reaching it should offer, to turn suddenly and run for the drawbridge, where Soa and the others would be waiting, and thence, with or without the people of Mavoom, to escape up the banks of the Zambesi.
Already he had started when the great Portuguese, Xavier, who was watching plunged in sullen thought, stepped forward. “At least I will have a kiss for my trouble,” he said, and seizing Juanna round the waist, he drew her towards him.
Then it was that Leonard forgot his caution, as under such circumstances a man, with nerves already strained to breaking point, well might do. Doubling his fist, he struck the giant in the face with such force that Xavier fell headlong to the ground, dragging Juanna after him. Leonard would have done better had he suffered her to be insulted, but just then he remembered only that he was protecting a helpless girl.
Juanna was up in a moment and at his side. Xavier also sprang to his feet, cursing with fury and drawing his sabre as he rose.
“Follow me,” said Leonard to Juanna and Otter. Then without more ado he took to his heels.
A shout of laughter went up from the mob.
“This is the brave man. This is the French fire-eater,” they cried. “He strikes unawares and is afraid to fight.” Nor did they stop at words. All of them were jealous of the stranger, and would have rejoiced to see him dead.
“Stop him!” they shouted, and many of the men started, running like dogs to turn a hare.
Still Leonard might have won through, for he was swift of foot. But neither Juanna nor Otter could run so fast as he, and his pace must be their pace. Before he had gone a hundred yards he found himself confronted by a dozen or more of the slavers, some of whom had knives in their hands.
“Stop, coward, stop and fight,” they yelled in Portuguese and Arabic, waving their weapons in his face.
“Certainly,” answered Leonard, wheeling round and glancing about him.
There, not thirty yards away, was the drawbridge of the slave camp, and he thought that he saw it tremble, as if it was about to fall. At his side were Otter and Juanna, and towards him, his hideous face red with blood, rushed the great Portugee, sabre aloft, and screaming imprecations.
“Otter,” Leonard said quickly, as he drew his sword, “guard my back, for when I have killed this one the rest will spring. For you, young lady, reach the bridge if you can. Soa and your people are............