Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/357

A SLAVE CARAVAN. 329 with the rest of hîs party, orders had becn p;îven that his life was to be protected. It was now nîne o'clock, and the beatîng of drums and the blowing of coodoo ' horns gave the signal that the morning march was to be continued. Instantly chiefs, sol- diers, porters, and slaves were upon their feet, and arranged themselves în theîr various groups with a havildar bearing a brîght-coloured banner at their head. The order was given ; the start was made. A strange song was heard rising in the air. It was a song, net of the victors, but of the vanquished. The slaves were chanting an imprécation on their oppressors ; and the burden of the chorus was that captured, tortured, slain — after death they would return and avenge their wrongs upon their murdercrs ! ' Coodoo, a ruminant common in Africa.