CHAPTER VII. OFF FOR AFRICA.
Dinner was served at six o'clock in the evening. It took almost an hour to eat it, and when it had been disposed of the captain was ready for business, as Oscar thought he would be. He conducted his guest to the library, and said, as he filled and lighted his well-blackened pipe:
"Now, then, my boy, what are your plans? Be explicit, so that I may know just how I can aid you."
Oscar replied by repeating his written instructions, which he had read so often that he knew them by heart.
"All right, so far," said the captain approvingly. "Now where's your ordnance?"
"In my trunk," answered Oscar.
"In your trunk?" repeated the captain, opening his eyes and looking up at his own tried and trusted "battery" on the walls. "It must be rather smaller than mine, or else your trunk is larger than any I ever heard of. Go and get it; I want to look at it."
Oscar left the room, and presently returned with his little fowling-piece in one hand and his Sharp's rifle in the other. The captain took the double-barrel and looked critically into the muzzle of it.