"I hab Tom Haseelar," he cried, "I keep 'im fah away in de bush. Keepee all same one hostage. What you pay me foh Tom?"
"Nothing, you scoundrel, and if he isn't returned in half an hour I will fire your village." Thus spoke Guilford, whose watch it was.
There was plenty of bobbery and noise in the village now, and armed savages were seen rushing about, waving their spears aloft.
It was a beautiful, but a wild scene. How white the sands, how green the forests that climbed up the romantic glen and to the top of the highest hills. There was the bright blue of a calm sea, a cloudless azure sky, and every tree stem had a shadow black as night.
Another hour was spent, waiting in vain for Tom. Then the order was given by the Captain:--
"Man and arm boats."
"May I go, sir?" said Kep.
"Most certainly."
And away the boats sped with all the way on them that lusty arms could lend.
There was now silence in the village, a stillness indeed, that was ominous. But fearing an ambush, Guilford advanced his men with great caution.