“As soon as you are ready,” answered Otter. “You will not come easily to the back of them. Farewell, my children, and if you dare to fail, pray that you may die rather than look upon my face again.”
“Ou! We have seen it once, is that not enough?” answered the spokesman, looking at Otter’s huge nose with wonder not untouched by fear.
Two minutes later the four men were swimming swiftly down the dike, taking their chance of the alligators.
“Drop the bridge,” said Leonard; “we must start.”
Otter lowered it, at the same time explaining its mechanism, which was very simple, to Soa, Peter, and some of the other Settlement men.
“Now, mother, good-bye,” said Leonard. “Loose all the men you can, and keep a keen look-out, so as to be ready to lower the bridge if you should see us or your mistress coming towards it. If we should not come by dawn, be ready also, for then we shall probably be dead, or prisoners, and you must act for yourself.”
“I hear you, Lord,” answered Soa, “and I say that you are a brave man. Whether you win or lose, the red stone is well earned already.”
Another minute and they were gone.
Having crossed the bridge, which was instantly hoisted again, Leonard and Otter avoided observation by creeping back towards the water-gate as they had come—that is, behind the shelter of the shed. Emerging from this, they ran a few yards till they were opposite the gate, then walked leisurely across the open space, a distance of fifty paces or more, to the thatched hut where the sale of slaves was carried on.
There was nobody in this hut, but looking between the posts upon which it was supported, they could see by the light of the moon, now growing momentarily clearer, that a great and uproarious concourse of people was gathered beyond in front of the verandah of the Nest itself.