"I must know their nature first, so you had better ask them."
"What has become of my slave?"
"Do you mean the man who leaped off the platform just before you reached it?"
"Yes. Where is he?"
"Here, by my side."
In fact, the Negro, his strength and courage quite exhausted from the desperate efforts he had made during the obstinate pursuit of which he had been the object, had dragged himself to the spot where the Canadian stood, and now lay in a half fainting condition at his feet.
On hearing the hunter reveal his presence so clearly, he clasped his hands with an effort, and raised toward him a face bathed in tears.
"Oh! master, master!" he cried, with an expression of agony impossible to render, "Save me! Save me!"
"Ah, ah!" John Davis shouted, with a grin, "I fancy we can come to an understanding, my fine fellow, and that you will not be sorry to gain the reward."
"In truth I should not be sorry to hear the price set on human flesh in what is called your free country. Is the reward large?"