er after a pause. "Well, the Shepherdess, as these
Settlement people call her, will want to find her father. Say, Baas, she
is proud, is she not? She looks over our heads and speaks little."

"Yes, Otter, she is proud."

"And she is beautiful; no woman was ever so beautiful."

"Yes, Otter, she is beautiful."

"And she is cold, Baas; she does not say 'thank you' nicely for all that
you have done."

"Perhaps she thinks it the more, Otter."

"Perhaps she thinks it the more. Still, she might say 'thank you' to
you, Baas, who are her--husband."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, Baas, that you bought her first, according to our custom, and
married her afterwards according to your own, and if that does not make
her your wife, nothing can."

"Stop that fool's talk," said Leonard angrily, "and never let me hear
you repeat it. It was only a game that we played."

"As the Baas desires, so be it. I do but speak from my heart when I say
that she is your wife, and some might think that not so ill, for she is
fair and clever. Will the Baas rise and come to the river to bathe, that
his soreness may leave him?"

Leonard took the suggestion, and came back from his bath a new man, for
rest and the cold water had acted on him like magic. He was still stiff,
indeed, and remained lame in one leg for ten days or more, but, with the
exception of an aching of the throat where Xavier had gripped him, no
other ill effects were left. Among the booty of the slave camp was
a good supply of clothing, flannel shirts, corduroy suits, and hats.
Casting aside the rags of the Portuguese uniform in which he had
disguised himself, Leonard put on some of these articles and reappeared
in the camp dressed like an ordinary English colonist, roughly indeed,
but becomingly.

Meanwhile Juanna had also been making her toilet, with the help of
Soa, who took this opportunity to tell her mistress the history of her
meeting with Leonard Outram. But, either from design or because she
forgot to do so, she did not at this time tell her about the agreement
which had been entered into between them. As yet Soa had never spoken
fully to her mistress of her early life or of the mysterious People of
the Mist from whom she sprang, though she had taught her the language
they spoke. Perhaps, for reasons of her own, she did not think this a
favourable occasion on which to begin the story.

When Soa had finished Juanna fell into a reverie. She remembered that
s