The news-democrat. (Providence, R.I.) 1906-1909, 1906-07-05
--THE
SLAVE SQUADRON
A THRILLING TALE OF ADVENTURE
By HARRY COLLINGWOOD
CHAPTER X.

for hand merciful enough 10 put nlm
out of his misery-but after the first
minute of suffering his stoicism aban-
doned him. and he writhed so violently
that the fetsh-man and his assistants
had to steady the shears IN order 20
prevent them from capsizing altogether
And with every writhe OF the victim the
slender poles bent and gave, letting the
miserable sufferer sink down some three
or four inches nearer the fire. The super
human struggles. the frightful contortions
and writings of the man. his ear-splltting
yels, the horrible smell OF roasting flesh
oh, Cod IL was awful beyond all attempt
at description. i pray-that i-fiiay never
look upon such a CHASTITY sight again.
The fendish exhibition had probably
reached It's most appalling phase. and
was wondering. shudderingly, what form
OF torture could possibly exceed IT in
cruelty. when there was sudden slight
movement OF my bonds; they slakened
and fell away from the tree-trunk against
which / leaned, and / was free. Not
moment was allowed me I'm which TO get
over the flpt shock Of my bewilderment; F;
a soft. plump hand grasped mine and
gently drew me round behind the tree,
so rapidly that ! had only time to note
the fact that apparently every eye I'm the
assembly was fixed upon the writhing
figure suspended over the fire, and before
/ had fairly realized what was happen
ing / found myself dozen yards away
from my starting point. gliding rapidly
and noiselessly through the deep shadows
cast by the tree-trunks, towards the
outer darkness which prevailed beyond
the range of the fire light. with our little
black Hebe friend OF a few hours before
dragging me along on one side OF her and
Smellie on the other.
Five minutes later we had left the vii
lage so far behind us that the barbarous
the yells of anguish from the tortured
victim. momentarily becoming more and
more softened by our increasing distance,
were the sole evidences that remained TO
us OF its existence. and we found our
selves hurrying along through the rank
grass. threading the mazes OF the park
like clumps of lofty timber. and forcing
passage through the thickly clustering
festoons OF parasitic orchids, under the
subdued light OF the mellow stars alone.
With almost breathiess rapidity our
tender hearted little delverer hurried us
forward. frequently exclaiming in low,
pressively uttered that we had no diff
Guilty In Interpreting the words to mean
that there was the most extreme neces-
sly ior rapid movement on our part.
We accordingly fastened our steps To the
utmost limit OF our capacity, and i'm about
ten minutes from the moment OF our lib
Grafton emerged upon a long narrow
sweeping grandly TO seaward before us
Here our guide paused for moment ap-
parently pondering as TO what it would
next be best to do. Glancng down the
river | saw indistinctly, at about 2OC
yards distance. some shapeless objects
which took TO be canoes drawn up on
the beach and pointing to them / ex-
claimed TO Smellie:
Are not those canoes? If they are
what Is TO prevent our seizing one and
making our way down the river without
Our little Hebe glanced in the direc-
tion / had indicated, and seemed quite to
understand the nature Of my suggestion,
for she shook her head violently and ex-
claimed, rapidly I'm accents of very de.
cided dissent. I'VE! Vet! Ve!lv' pointing
at the same time to Smellies and my own
INTENDED wounds.
At that moment n loud confused shout.
Ing arose in the distant village, strongly
suggestive Of the discovery Of our flight
The sounds apparently helped our guide
sezng our hands afresh, she led us
straight into the river until the water
was up TO her knees, and then turned
sharply to the right or up stream. Press
Ing forward rapidly, our way freshen-
ed very decidedly by unmistakable
SHOUTS OF pursuit emanating from the
neighborhood of the village, we reached.
after about a quarter Of an hour OF ar
duous toll, a small creek some forty
yards wide. Pausing here for a moment
our guide made with her hands and arms
the creek. touched Smellie on the breast
with the query, "YenuY' and then rap
idly repeated the same process with me.
We took this to mean an inquiry as TO
our ability TO swim the creek. and both
replied Yes" with affirmative mods
Whereupon our guide. raising her finger
to express the necessity for extreme eau
tion, and uttering "a warning "Ngandu"
as she next pointed TO the waters OF the
creek, waded gently and without raising
a ripple Into the deep water, Smellie and
/ following. and with a few quiet strokes
we happily reached the other side I'm
safety, TO plunge orthwiih into the
friendly shadows of the forest. Had we
known then-what We learned afterwards
that the word "Ngandu" Is Congoese
for crocodile" and that II was '-ttered
as an intimation TO us that the riv and
its creeks literally swarm with these rep
tiles. Il la possible that our swim, short
though IL was. would not have been un-
dertaken with 50 much composure.
once fairly In the forest. II became 80
dark that IL was quite impossible for us
TO sec whittier we were going, but our
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