"You have good cheek, but you will sing a different song before you are many hours older, my fine lad," said the colonel; and Oscar thought, from the tone in which the words were spoken, that the man would feel a grim satisfaction if he could see him come back defeated and utterly disheartened. "Wait until your chains begin to break and your servants to show their treachery."
"My chains will not break, for they have been so closely watched that no one has had a chance to tamper with them," was the confident reply; "and neither will my men prove treacherous. I did not take the first who offered themselves, but selected those recommended by my friends."
Again the colonel looked at Oscar in surprise.
"Your friends?" he repeated. "I thought you were a stranger here, like myself."
"So I was when I first arrived, but the letters I brought from England made friends for me at once."
"From England! Whom do you know there?"
Oscar mentioned several names, among them that of a well-known African hunter, whose exploits, and the book he wrote about them, had rendered him famous the world over, adding:
"I spent a very pleasant week with that particular gentleman, and should have remained longer with him had I been at liberty to do as I pleased. From him I received advice that enabled me to avoid the difficulties that have already begun to beset you."
Oscar was almost bewildered by the effect that was produced by these words. He could hardly believe that the man who shook him so cordially by the hand when he ceased speaking was the same Colonel Dunhaven who had always repelled his advances with the utmost haughtiness.