Constantly, however, the thought
of Naratu and her temper arose to take the keen edge from his pleasant
imaginings. If he could but rid himself of her! The thought having
taken form persisted, but always it was more than outweighed by the
fact that the black sergeant was actually afraid of his woman, so
much afraid of her in fact that he would not have dared to attempt
to put her out of the way unless he could do so secretly while
she slept. However, as one plan after another was conjured by the
strength of his desires, he at last hit upon one which came to him
almost with the force of a blow and brought him sitting upright
among his sleeping companions.
When morning dawned Usanga could scarce wait for an opportunity to
put his scheme into execution, and the moment that he had eaten,
he called several of his warriors aside and talked with them for
some moments.
The Englishman, who usually kept an eye upon his black captor,
saw now that the latter was explaining something in detail to his
warriors, and from his gestures and his manner it was apparent that
he was persuading them to some new plan as well as giving them
instructions as to what they were to do. Several times, too, he
saw the eyes of the Negroes turned upon him and once they flashed
simultaneously toward the white girl.
Everything about the occurrence, which in itself seemed trivial enough,
aroused in the mind of the Englishman a well-defined apprehension
that something was afoot that boded ill for him and for the girl.
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