Creeping forward to an opening in the bushes close at hand, Moses peeped through. Then he turned and made facial signals of a kind so complicated that he could not be understood, as nothing was visible save the flashing of his teeth and eyes. Van der Kemp therefore recalled him by a sign, and, stepping ashore, whispered Nigel to land.
THEY DISCOVER A PIRATES' BIVOUAC
Another minute and the three travellers stood on the bank with their heads close together.
"Wait here for me," said the hermit, in the lowest possible whisper. "I will go and see who they are."
"Strange," said Nigel, when he was gone; "strange that in so short a time your master should twice have to stalk strangers in this way. History repeats itself, they say. It appears to do so rather fast in these regions! Does he not run a very great risk of being discovered?"
"Not de smallest," replied the negro, with as much emphasis as was possible in a whisper. "Massa hab ride wid de Vaquieros ob Ameriky an' hunt wid de Injuns on de Rockies. No more fear ob deir ketchin' him dan ob ketchin' a streak o' lightnin'. He come back bery soon wid all de news."
Moses was a true prophet. Within half-an-hour Van der Kemp returned as noiselessly as he had gone. He did not keep them long in uncertainty.
"I have heard enough," he whispered, "to assure me that a plot, of which I had already heard a rumour, has nearly been laid. We fell in with the chief plotters on the islet the other night; the band here is in connection with them and awaits their arrival before carrying out their dark designs. There is nothing very mysterious about it. One tribe plotting to attack another—that is all; but as a friend of mine dwells just now with the tribe to be secretly attacked, it behoves me to do what I can to save him. I am perplexed, however. It would seem sometimes as if we were left in perplexity for wise purposes which are beyond our knowledge."