ish to complicate my relations with the leading
chiefs of the interior; but, in a few moments, natural sensibility
mastered every selfish impulse, and I told the envoy to hasten back on
the path of the suffering brother, and assure him I would shield his
sister, even at the risk of his kindred's wrath.

About a week afterwards I was aroused one morning by a runner from a
neighboring village over the hill, who stated that a courier reached
his town the night before from Sulimani-Ali,--a prince of
Timbo,--conducting a Fullah girl, who was to be sold by me
_immediately_ to a Spanish slaver. The girl, he said, resisted with
all her energy. She refused to walk. For the last four days she had
been borne along in a litter. She swore never to "see the ocean;" and
threatened to dash her skull against the first rock in her path, if
they attempted to carry her further. The stanch refusal embarrassed
her Mahometan conductor, inasmuch as his country's law forbade him to
use extraordinary compulsion, or degrade the maiden with a whip.

I saw at once that this delay and hesitation afforded an opportunity
to interfere judiciously in behalf of the spirited girl, whose sins or
faults were still unknown to me. Accordingly, I imparted the tale to
Ali-Ninpha; and, with his consent, despatched a shrewd dame from the
Mandingo's _harem_, with directions for her conduct to the village.
Woman's tact and woman's sympathy are the same throughout the world,
and the proud ambassadress undertook her task with pleased alacrity. I
warned her to be extremely cautious before the myrmidons of Sulimani,
but to seize a secret moment when she might win the maiden's
confidence, to inform her that I was the sworn friend of
Ahmah-de-Bellah, and would save her _if she followed my commands
implicitly_. She must cease resistance at once. She must come to the
river, which was fresh water, and not salt; and she must allow her
jailers to fulfil all the orders they received from her tyrannical
kinsmen. Muffled in the messenger's garments, I sent the manuscript
Koran of Ahmah-de-Bellah as a token of my truth, and bade the dame
assure Beeljie that her brother was already far on his journey to
redeem her in Kambia.

The mission was successful, and, early next day, the girl was brought
to my factory, _with a rope round her neck_.

The preliminaries for her purchase were tedious and formal. As her
sale was compulsory, there was not much question as to quality or
price