what he said, and she was bitterly disappointed by his manner; but she bravely replied, "So long as you are near me, Will, what need I care?''and so saying clasped her hands caressingly on his arm. M'Gibbon hastily with drew it, and inuttering, "Well, as you are here, you'll have to stay, he went on to the veranda where Monke stood surveying him. That gentleman gave him the very tips of his fingers to shake, and was frigidly polite to him. There was not one thing in common between them save the fact that they had both failed in life; but Monke, though he had blundered, knew how and why he had blundered, and that his self exile on the African coast was of his own doing. Whereas the other was a coarse bully, who had sinned, and would sin again. He felt most uncomfortable under the keen eyes of the trader, particularly when the latter chided him in his most sarcastic manner for his want of attention to his sister, and let him know he thought him most unfeeling. Then there was that matter of Zinga. But as for Zinga, M'Gibbon swore that if he caught the rascal he would repeat the flogging he had given him; for he had been discovered in an attempt at theft. And as in principle theft, or attempt at theft, was never allowed to go unpunished by the traders, Monke said no more on the subject; but privately sent a message to the erring Zinga to the effect that it would be as well to keep out of the white man's way for a little while to avoid unpleasant consequences, a hint which Zinga at once took, and disappeared to his own village. James, M'Gibbon treated with the greatest curtness, despite the lad's care for his sister, of which he was informed by Monke. The lad was but an assistant or trader's servant in the man's eyes. Nevertheless, when the little coasting schooner that was to convey the brother and sister to their destination dropped anchor in the bay, James was the first to go on board to make its little three-cornered den of a cabin, with its curtained berths and its single-peaked sky-light, fit for her reception. In fact, he turned the skipper out of his cabin, much to that seaman's disgust at having to make way so unexpectedly for a womBut when Margaret stood upon his

an.

quarter-deck, as he called it-three steps and overboard-he, in his own vernacular, clapped a stopper on his jawing tackle, and bowed her below.

Before she went down, James took her hand to say "good-by ;" and so beautiful did she look to the foolish boy, as she stood on the moving deck with the blue sky and the rolling sea behind her-things dear to him-that he was hardly able to say the word. But presently the rough growl of the skipper gave the order to up anchor, and the foresheet was loosened, and James went over the side. But when a little way off he bade the crew of his boat lie on their oars, and they waited beside the low black hull of the schooner, as it dipped to the swell into the clear water, until the clank of the windlass board ceased, and her head pointed seaward. By the time James reached the shore she was already a far-off speck upon the water, and before long had vanished out of sight-but not out of mind.

on

For three months nothing more was heard of Margaret, and her stay at Kabooka had come to be regarded as a far-off remembrance. Monke's leave of absence had now come, and with it his substitute. To him Monke praised James's zeal and judgment, and recommended the lad strongly; but, to his surprise, when he told James of what he had said for him, he found him uneasy and dissatisfied. James did not like to offend his friend, that was evident, but there was something on his mind which turned that friend's kind words to gall. and Monke questioned him until he confessed that he too was going away from Kabooka. Monke turned on the lad, astonished. 'What!" exclaimed he, "that silly

notion again! Do not think of going home for many years, more than you've been here."

"I was not thinking of home," answered James; "I have no home," he added, simply.

What, then?" asked Monke. James placed a letter in his friend's hands, and on opening it Monke found it contained the offer from M'Gibbon of a situation on terms no better than the lad was receiving. The trader looked straight into James's face, and read him at once.

For the chance of seeing her you would sacrifice your prospects with the firm? Bah, it is the utmost silliness,' and Monke laughed outright. The result of this was that James walked away seemingly not the less determined. Monke, seeing that ridicule would have no effect upon the lad, strode after him, caught him by the shoulder, and, turning him round, endeavored to reason with him, but to no purpose.

"Yet you are as changeable as you can well be," said he at last. "Not long ago you wished to leave the coast to go to England with me, and now you wish to leave me to go to this M'Gibbon for a longer term of years than would see you master here. I am disappointed with you. However, you are nothing to me, to be sure, and Monke shrugged his shoulders, and turned away. "If you choose to may a fool of yourself, do so. Accept this berth," he added, with rising anger, "but do not call me your friend again.'

begrimed warehouses which overshadowed everything near them, except the flaunting gin-palaces, fed by the sailors, laborers, wagoners, and loafers, who pushed in and out of their greasy swingdoors in two almost never ceasing streams; how three golden balls, poised aloft, were the only signs that rivalled those of the drinking places; how the rumble and jolt of countless wagons, bearing merchandise in value untold, sounded from gray dawn to late night along those very streets, whose darkness, squalor, and wretchedness the lad had suddenly exchanged for the blue sea, the breezy sky, and the strong rushing wind, as he found himself on board ship.

These facts Monke knew, and they were commonplace and trite enough, and hardly to be twisted into any romance about James any more than the not less simple story of the little native boy, who on his knees was busily packing the great white man's boxes as neatly as could be, his black eyes sparkling the while in anticipation of receiving an old shirt or coat in a present. Both he got, though what possible use the garments could be to such a mite of naked humanity, whose sole attire was a narrow strip of cloth over his loins, was not apparent. But he rose and salaamed for them gracefully.

A few days after this Monke had embarked, and James had set out on his journey by land, and the factory was left in other hands, to the great outward grief and lamentation of the head men, who had certainly received enough parting gifts to console them, but who thought it politic to impress upon the new-comers a sense of the ineffable goodness of the white men who had gone, and the miserable inferiority of their

successors.

At Donde all James's regret at losing his only friend was at once swept away by the mere sight of Margaret, who received him with an eagerness which brought a sparkle to his eyes. But he perceived at once that she looked pale and thin, and not at all so strong as when she had arrived on the coast, and there was in addition a wistfulness in her eyes which told his eager and concerned glance that something more than

fading health affected her. He had not been many days in Donde before he found out that she had always been neglected and left alone in that solitary spot. It, like Kabooka, was a bay; but a beautiful one. It was landlocked, and surrounded by steep hills, wooded down to a tiny strip of circular beach, upon which there was scarcely a ripple, so smooth was the water. It was so nearly round in shape, that from most parts of it appeared a half circle of the dense vegetation of the valleys and the more scattered hardwood forests on the hill sides, some of which were reflected in the pool of water, as it, were, for the height of the hills dwarfed the size of the bay, so that it appeared much smaller than it really was, and not until one took boat and tried to reach an opposite shore was its size revealed. To the southwest a narrow opening led to the sea. The soil of the country was heavy and rich, and consequently the chief trade was in the products of it palm-oil, kernels, and earth-nuts. Of this trade M'Gibbon ought to have had the better share, for his only opponent was a Portuguese of the name of João Chaves, who lived in a mat-house surrounded by woods. But, as James soon found out, the Portuguese had the better trade, and what was more curious, the Scotchman, instead of being jealous of Chaves, spent no little time with him, to the neglect of his own business. Moreover, he was always assisting him with goods, for which he received apparently no return.

James could not account for all this. The Portuguese was known to him as one of the many convicts who are deported to West Africa by the Lisbon Government, and after a time are allowed to go at large, provided they do not return to Portugal. What particular crime Chaves had committed James did not know; but his face, to the lad's eye, was not a pleasant one. And in truth he was cruelty itself to the natives he was possessed of. In frame he was a tall, loosely made, powerful man. From his straight heavy eyebrows his dark eyes flashed quick furtive glances, while his lips kept their alertness company with a shifty smile, which appeared to be always verging upon a snarl. This was partially concealed by a thick black

mustache and a tangled beard. There was a something about his presence that always took James by surprise. It flashed upon the lad like that of some wild animal. Nevertheless, Chaves tried to be on good terms with James, and would bid him good-day, with a sweep of his sombrero, and the smile that was like a snarl, whenever he saw him, which was not often. Margaret shrank from the man.

M'Gibbon's neglect of his sister was James's opportunity, and Margaret and he became closer companions than ever. He shortly worshipped the very ground she stood on, and while doing his work faithfully, tried to comfort and amuse her to the best of his ability. But somehow never did he show by word or deed what was in his inmost heart. considered her too beautiful, too far above him for that, and she-well she looked upon him only as a sailor.

He

As time flew on, the factory, denuded from time to time of goods, gradually fell into disrepute with the native traders, and the trade dwindled away slowly but surely during all the wet season. James ventured to remonstrate about this, but was roughly told to keep a silent tongue in his head, and to do the best he could, which he did, until at last all the goods, except a supply sufficient to buy provisions with, had been either bartered away or sent to the Portuguese.

Then it was, after a week of nearly constant rain, one stormy night as the lightning zigzagged in the heavens in constant, broad, violet-white bands, blinding in intensity, and the heavy thunder rolled peal after peal right over the house, shaking it to its foundation of bricks, and the rain plashed down in almost solid sheets of water, that James was awakened during a slight lull in the storm by the sound of a woman's scream, followed by the noise of the heavy footsteps of a white man staggering along the veranda, and the patter of the bare feet of the black boys as they fled before him. To throw aside his mosquito curtains and leap out of his bed, took the lad but a few moments; but during those moments the scream was repeated. He dashed into the chief room of the factory, and saw, by the light of the lamp that burnt there of nights, a sight that for a second almost

paralyzed him. Margaret was struggling in the arms of the Portuguese, and at one end of the room stood her brother, swaying to and fro, and fumbling at the lock of a revolver.

Without a thought James sprang upon Chaves, and struggled with him to bring him down, and so far succeeded that Margaret was enabled to escape from him; but the strong man, recovering from the shock, threw the lad from him, so that he staggered and fell. The Portuguese then strode out of the room into the darkness, M'Gibbon daring him. with many curses and flourishes of his weapon to return. At once James did his best to calm his drunken master, and relieving him of his weapon, got him out of the room and into his bed, and hastening back, he found Margaret in a faint. He bathed her face with water, and when she had recovered a little, supported her to the door of her room. As she was about to enter it, she suddenly turned and clung to him convulsively. You will not-you will not leave me?" she whispered, affrighted.

The

somehow a hold over M'Gibbon. latter, in spite of his bluster, was afraid of Chaves, and if-if the latter had taken a fancy to Margaret? And, sickened by the thought of what might happen to her in such a case, James lay awake until the dawn.

When he saw Margaret again alone, she added to his suspicion by confessing to him that her brother had even gone the length of hinting to her that the Portuguese admired her, and it would be for her advantage if she did not discourage him; and he had backed his hints up by coarsely reminding her that she might any day find herself a begger.

James's indignation at this knew no bounds, and on Margaret adding that her sole anxiety now was to leave the country, he, without a moment's hesitation, offered her the bill that represented the whole of his savings, to pay her passage. Even the generosity of this did not reveal to her all that was in the lad's heart toward her.

Present the order to the captain of the next schooner that calls here, said he, "and get you away while you are safe. The captain will take it, for it is on the firm I was with, is signed by their agent, and nearly due. But will M'Gibbon permit you to leave?" he added.

"He cannot surely prevent me," she replied, "except by force, and he could not use that. And you-you will be on ny side, will you not?" and she laid her hands on his arm.

James smiled at the trust she had in him, and at the thought that he could be anywhere else except on her side, and then he told her how much he feared from the ascendancy the Portuguese had over her brother.

"Yes, yes," she answered, "there is something between them-something that gives that man"-and she shuddered-" power over him. I had felt it before you came, and now I fear it. "He has already about ruined him," said James.

"

I fear he may do worse," she re

James said nothing more to her; but he resolved that that night he would, if possible, satisfy himself as to what bond kept the two men together. He had

already a suspicion; but he was determined to verify it.

M'Gibbon, after having mooned about the factory for the whole of the day, and without referring to what had occurred the night before, or even showing that he expected it to be referred to, went as usual to the factory of Chaves. James waited until darkness had well set in, and then placing Margaret in the charge of two brawny natives, armed with machets, followed him.

The single path wound gradually upward past scattered trees and brushwood until above the point of the bay, near to which the house of Chaves stood. Then it descended into a valley where the forest was thick and tangled, and the trunks of the huge red-wood trees so encircled by thick creepers, so matted and interwoven overhead, that the starlight only flickered through them here and there to make the darkness visible. On the opposite side of this valley the factory of the Portuguese was built, encircled by the forest except to within fifty yards or so of the house, where the ground was clear.

James, when quit of the wood, crept as softly as he could through the grass so as not to disturb the watch, and succeeded in passing the sentries unobserved. He halted beneath a single tree on a small level space. All was silent about him except the ceaseless tick, tick, tick" of the insects in the tree above, and the solemn "croak, croak" of the frogs in the marshy places far below. Before him the light given by a twisted rag floating in a dish of palm oil, shone yellow and dim through the reed blinds of the open veranda of the house. He could hear his own breath. All at once the long-drawn moans of some one in intense agony fell upon his ear, and sounded as if from close beside him. He started, and peered about, and again he heard a moan. Guided by the sound, he saw, a little way off, the punishment post of the factory, and beside it lay the naked form of a negro, and a puff of wind coming from that quarter brought with it a sickening smell.

The man was chained to the post, and the moans he made were so distressful that James crept up to him. He was lying on one side fastened by

his wrists tightly, so that he could hardly touch any part of his body with his hands. His ribs showed through his skin, which was covered with mud, wrinkled and cracked by exposure, and seamed by raw and partially healed welts where the lash had twisted round him. His arms and legs were wasted away, and his face was hollow. The only sign of life about him was his eyes, which glittered with a piteous stare as James knelt down beside him. This the lad was hardly able to do for the stench and filth about the slave, who must have been chained, exposed to sun, rain, and dew, for some weeks. There was a tiny cup with a little water in it, which James put to the lips of the man, who made one effort to swallow, but could not. He was evidently dying. James thought to put him on his back, and to support his head a little; but on placing his hand behind him, felt that it was covered with blood, and that little strips of flesh were adhering to it. The whole of the slave's back was one mass of deep cuts crossed and recrossed, as he had been flogged again and again, with just sufficient intervals between each flogging to allow him to recover some vitality. This was a piece of the cruelty of Chaves, thought James, as he slipped a billet of wood under the man's head, and rose to leave him. He could do nothing for him, and he had yet to accomplish the discovery he had come to make.

As

Notwithstanding the want of cover, he managed to gain the edge of the floor of the veranda undiscovered. This was elevated a couple of feet or so above the ground, and he could hear the voices of the two men in the room inside. he lifted a corner of the rattans, M'Gibbon gave a loud laugh. James paused and heard a slight rattling sound, followed by a second or two of silence, and then a low chuckle of exultation. He knew now what he had come to find out.

PART II.

The sound was the rattle of the dice, and M'Gibbon and the Portuguese were the gamblers. For some time the pair continued to throw the Portuguese always in silence and determinedly, while M'Gibbon threw very slowly but