The lieutenant was glad of this opportunity to give his own version of the story, for he was afraid Charley would alarm his sister and Mary.
“You see Ned’s not come home in the ‘Ione,’ and that’s a disappointment, I’ll own. That he is all right I have no doubt, somewhere out in Africa among some Arabs who got hold of him while performing his duty—you may be sure Ned would be always doing that—and he hasn’t yet been able to make his way down to the coast, or at all events to get on board an English ship. He’ll do so by-and-by though. You two must not fret about him in the meantime. I know what Ned’s made of; he has a fine constitution, and is not likely to succumb to the climate; and as to the Arabs, except in the matter of slavery, they are not a bad set of fellows.”
Thus the lieutenant ran on, until Miss Sarah, turning to Charley, asked him to give a more particular account. This he did, omitting no circumstance which might support the idea that Ned had escaped.
Miss Sarah every now and then interrupted him with an ejaculation or a question, but poor Mary sat looking very pale and anxious, with her eyes fixed upon his countenance all the time and not uttering a word. Tom Baraka had seen Charley arrive with the lieutenant, and guessing that he had belonged to the “Ione,” and had brought news of Ned, waited outside, hoping to learn from him why Ned had not come home. At length, however, unable to endure the suspense, he took the privilege of a favoured servant and came into the room.
“You come from de ‘Ione,’ massa?” he said, looking at Charley. “Pray tell me why Massa Ned not come back. Hab him gone in nudder ship?”
Charley, who remembered Tom, briefly told him the particulars of Ned’s disappearance.
“Den I go an’ look for him!” exclaimed Tom. “He go search for my boy, what I do better dan go look for him?”
“O do, do!” cried Mary, springing up. “I would go too if I could be of any use.”
“You do not know the character of the country, Miss Mary,” said Charley; “but if Tom would go, if he escapes being caught by the Arabs, he would have a better chance of finding him than any one else. How to get there would be the difficulty, unless he could obtain a passage on board a man-of-war going out to the coast.”
“Yes, yes, I go!” cried Tom; “I find a way, nebber fear.”