lly
won't believe it either; she's got too much good sense for that. Come
along, however, you shall tell her and Mary about it, for I have not
taken in all the particulars."

The lieutenant stumped on, but Charley felt the hand which rested on his
shoulder press more and more heavily. They together entered the
parlour, where Miss Sarah and Mary were seated.

"Ned, Ned!" cried Miss Sally, mistaking him for her nephew; but she
quickly saw her mistake, while Mary knew him at once.

"Where is Ned?" they both inquired, after they had shaken hands, Mary
looking up into his face with an inquiring glance.

"He hasn't come home with us," said Charley, "and Mr Pack will tell you
what I have told him."

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.