It was Pansy as he had never known her, frightened and clinging to him. Pansy as he would have her, looking at him with eyes full of love.
"So, little girl, you're quite pleased to see me?"
"Did you buy me?" she asked in a bewildered voice.
"How else could I get you?" he asked, smiling slightly. His voice and touch calmed her a little.
"But you! How did you get here?" she asked.
"You know I'm an African merchant, don't you?" he said easily. "This is my special province. I do most of the trading in this part. And El-Ammeh is my headquarters."
"But how did you know I was here?" she asked in a dazed tone.
"You told me you were coming out to Africa. I heard the Governor of the adjacent English colony was on tour, his ultimate point a spot some six hundred miles or so from here. Some weeks ago the Sultan went out on a foray, returning with some English prisoners, a girl among them. There are not many blue-eyed, golden-haired girls in these parts, Pansy, so I guessed who she was."
It all sounded very feasible. And Pansy was in no mood to dispute with miracles.
"He hates my father; that's why he did it," she began in a weak, wild way.