Page:Enterprise and Adventure.djvu/156

---

foot, beside his lamed mule, he found himself with his rear-guard at the foot of a lofty mountain, with sides almost vertical, and on a flat summit on the verge of the party beheld a fortress. A number of men of sinister aspect were soon seen approaching, armed with matchlocks, sabres, and bucklers. They summoned him as usual to attend their master, the chief of the castle, and receive a present, with which request Jacquemont found it prudent to comply. The men crowded round the mule on which he now mounted, and their chief, who was in fact the head of a number of banditti, quickly appeared in the midst of a crowd of soldiers, who, ragged as they were, were hardly worse clad than himself. This man, whose name was Neal Sing, affected great respect for the firman of the king, and even closed his hands before him in token of submission. But he then entered into a long exposition of the wrongs he had suffered from the king and his minister, and in a hypocritical tone declared that having by the possession of his visitor's person the means of forcing the king to redress his grievances, he would keep him prisoner until he obtained justice, and that his person his escort, and his baggage, would serve for hostages and security. Jacquemont perceived the effect of the governor's eloquence as he warmed in the recital of his wrongs. A general clamour from the hungry multitude frequently drowned his voice, and the menacing conclusion of his speech was not the part least applauded. Each of the men as he listened examined his lighted match and shook off the ashes; but the calmness of Jacquemont's language, and the haughty air which he found it convenient to assume, were evidently felt to be