"You see," said he, "I did not come here on a wild-goose chase after all. I first came to this river five years ago, and discovered the rubies of Makanda. I promptly engaged the services of de Costa, who had worked in the mines of Santa Fé in Mexico. This treasure-chest contains the result of the labour of two years."
"And why have you employed slaves?" asked Max. "Why did you not set to work like an honest man?"
"For a simple reason," answered Cæsar; "I desired the maximum of profit. No one knows of my discovery. I intend no one to know. Paid labour is not only expensive, but workmen would come and go at their pleasure, and word of this would reach the Coast. That is precisely what I desire to prevent. There would be talk of rights and royalties, and probably international complications. At present it is not known that rubies can be found in Africa. I cannot speak too highly of these gems. One of these stones, weighing five carats, is worth at least twelve times as much as a diamond of equal weight. I am prepared to receive your congratulations."
It was some time before Max Harden spoke.
"Why is it," he asked, "that you tell me the secret you have kept for years?"
Cæsar smiled again.
"Because," said he, "I number you among my slaves."
It was then that Max heard the jangling of a chain without the hut. The Arab had returned.
Max was led forth into the moonlight. The storm was past, the water lay inches deep upon the ground. There, shivering from fear, were five slaves--men who had been born and bred in the Pambala village on the mountain slope--fastened one to the other like so many dogs upon a leash. At the end of the chain was an empty collar, which one of the Arabs opened with a key. It closed with a snap around Max Harden's neck, and from that moment, according to the law of the slave trade, his soul was not his own. The Arab cracked the whip he held in his hand, and like a team of dumb, patient animals, the gang filed from the stockade.
It wanted but an hour to daylight, but the misery of that hour stands alone in the life of the young Englishman as the most terrible experience that ever came his way. He found himself and his five bond-companions confined in a narrow hut in which there was scarcely air to breathe. They had to sleep upon straw mats spread upon the floor. The long chain bound them one to another, so that if one man moved in his sleep he disturbed the others.