Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/378

350 DICK SAHD^ THK BOT CAFTAIM. dqifli.theaoccesMoocrf'hîgehkfwif^QiieenHoeBa.iHi^ ' be diaputed, and that hls dommians woiild be înraded ^7 a younger and more active ne^;libour, ooe oi titc kings of Ukusu, who bad already seized apon some vïlltqrea dépendent on the govemment of Kazonnd£, and who was in alliance with a rival trader named Tipo-Tîpo, a nun Ot pure Arab extraction, from whom Camcron aftenrarda reccived a vif it at Nyangwé: To ail intents and purposes Alvez was the real sovere^ of the district, baving fostered the vices of tbe brutalîzed king till be had bim completely in his power. He was a man considerably advanced in yeais ; he was not (as hïs name might imply) a white man, but bad merely assumed his Portugucse title for purposes of business ; bis tnie name was Kcnddlé, and he was a pure n^^n) by bîrth, bdng a native of Dondo on the Coanza. He bad commenced life as a slave-dealcr's agent, and was now on his way towards becoming a first-class trader ; that îs to say, hc was a con- summatc rascal undcr the guîse of an honest man. He it was whom Cameron met at the end of 1874 at Kilemba, the capital of Urua, of which Kasongo is chicf, and with whose caravau he travcllcd to Bihé, a distance of seven hundrcd miles. It was midday wlien the caravan entered Kazonndé. The joumcy from the Coanza had lasted thirty-cight days, more than five wceks of misery as great as was withîn human power to endure. Amidst the noise of dmms and coodoo-horns the slaves were conducted to the market- place. The soldiers of the caravan dîscharged their guns into the air, and old Alvez' résident retinuc responded with a similar salute. The bandits, than which the soldiers were nothing bettcr, were deiighted to mcet agaîn, and would cclcbrate their return by a scason of riot and excess. The slaves, reduced to a total of about two hundrcd and fifty, were many of them almost dead from exhaustion ; the forks were removed from their necks, though the chains were still retaincd, and the wholc of them were driven into barracks that were unfit cven for cattle, to await (in Company with 1200 to I5cx3 otlicr captives alread/