Preparations began at once. At the end of the chief thoroughfare flowed a deep and rapid brook, an affluent of the Coango, in the dry bed of which the royal grave was to be formed. Natives were immediately set to work to construct a dam by means of which the water should be diverted, until the burial was over, into a temporary channel across the plain; the last act in the ceremonial being to undam the stream and allow it to resume its proper course.
Negoro had formed the resolution that Dick Sands should be one of the victims to be sacrificed upon the king's tomb. Thoroughly aware as he was that the indignation which had caused the death of Harris extended in at least an equal degree to himself, the cowardly rascal would not have ventured to approach Dick under similar circumstances at the risk of meeting a similar fate; but knowing him to be a prisoner bound hand and foot, from whom there could be nothing to fear, he resolved to go to him in his dungeon-*
Not only did he delight in torturing his victims, but he derived an especial gratification from witnessing the torture.
About the middle of the day, accordingly, he made his way to the cell where Dick was detained under the strict watch of a havildar. There, bound with fetters that penetrated his very flesh, lay the poor boy; for the last four and twenty hours he had not been allowed a morsel of food, and would gladly have faced the most painful death as a welcome relief to his miseries.
But at the sight of Negoro all his energy revived; instinctively he made an effort to burst his bonds, and to get a hold upon his persecutor; but the strength of a giant would have been utterly unavailing for such a design. Dick felt that the struggle he had to make was of another kind, and forcing himself to an apparent composure, he determined to look Negoro straight in the face, but to vouchsafe no reply to anything he might say.
"I felt bound," Negoro began, "to come and pay my respects to my young captain, and to tell him how sorry I am that he has not the same authority here that he had on board the 'Pilgrim.' "
Finding that Dick returned no answer, he continued,-
"You remember your old cook, captain: I have come to know what you would like to order for your breakfast."
Here he paused to give a brutal kick at Dick's foot, and went on,-
"I have also another question to ask you, captain; can you tell me how it was that you landed here in Angola instead of upon the coast of America?"