Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/380

3S2 mCK SAIfl^ THE BOT CATTAIÎ*. to reacb himself: it vas, htnrmei', qtitte possible I Hemiles had takco tfac dog in aorocothcf dircctkMi.b lo gain sooK dcpât in the interior. But so thoroughiy had Dick penaadfd faïnisclf I Sirs. Wcidon had preceded hïm to Kazoandé Itiat 1 disapjvjirimcnl bt-camc more and more keeo wheo he Fail to div;o(r iiLr IV. r a whilc hc sccmcc! to yicld Iodes and sat down sorrowful and sick at heai^ Suddenly a chorus of vtnccs and trumpets broice npos bis car ; be was startled ïnto taking a nev înterest ïn wbit was going oa " Alvez ! Alvez ! " was the ay ^aïn and agaio f c p e a te d by thecTDwd. Here^ then, was the great man himsdf aboot to appeu*. Was it not likely that Harris or Negoro m^t be with bim ? Dick stood erect and resolute, hiseye vîvîd wîth expect- ation ; he fclt ail eagcrness to stand face to face wîth his betraycrs ; boy as he was, he was equal to cope with them both. The kitaitda, whtch came în sïght at the end of the Street, was nothing more than a kind of hammock covercd by a faded and ragged curtain. An old negro stepped out of it His attendants greetcd him wîth noisy acclamation& This, then, was the great trader, José Antonio Alvez. Immcdiately following him was his frîcnd Coimbra, scti of the chicf Coïmbra of Bihé, and, according to Cameron, the greatcst blackguard in the province. This swont ally of Alvez, tliis organizer ofhis slave-raids, this commander, worthy of his own horde of bandits, was utterly loathsome in his appcarance, his flesh was filthily dîrty, his eyes were bloodshot, his skin yellow, and his long hair ail dishevclled. He had ro othcr attire than a tattcred sliirt, a tunic madc of grass, and a battcred straw hat, under which his countcnance appeared lîke that of some old hag. Alvez himsclf, whose clothes were like those of an old Turk the day after a camival, was one degree more respect- able in appearance than his satellite, not that his lookl spoke much for the very highest class of African slave-