“The blackbirders will come to your island by and by, but if you now make friends with the remainder of my people we will give you and your fellows and your women wonderful gifts and beautiful beads. See, here are some of them.”
He emptied his pockets as he spoke, of strings of beads that quite dazzled the savage king.
“Oh-h-h!” he cried, “and you will give me all this?”
“Yes, if you will come with me to-night, at once, through the moonlight in your big canoe to the creek where lies our ship.”
“And you will not kill me and eat me?”
“Eat you, King Karoo! I’d be precious hungry before I touched a morsel of such a tough old rascal as you. Be true to me as Tootaker has been, and you and your island will be spared when the great ship comes. For I can save you.”
“You are a white devil?” asked the king.
“Angel or devil, I’ll keep my word. Now, which do you choose, death or life?”
And Karoo bent his head in submission, only begging leave to take in his boat ten trusty warriors.
Stransom, by way of reply, coolly counted the number of chambers in his revolvers, going round them with his finger-tips—“One life, two lives, three lives,” etc., up to ten; then he nodded and smiled.