red with damask or silk.
The king, for so he called himself, looked at Jack sternly and said,
"For what you come to my country, eh?"

Jack answered that he had been brought there against his will, and that
he had no intention of coming. But his Majesty seemed to doubt him, and
asked him a number of questions to elicit the truth. At length,
however, he seemed satisfied. Jack was in hopes that he had made a
favourable impression, and as he was getting hungry, he intimated that
he should like some dinner. The king seemed pleased at the request, and
ordered it to be brought into the room. It was a very good repast, and
Jack was getting very happy, and hoping that there would be no great
difficulty in making his escape, when the aspect of affairs was once
more changed by the appearance of the two Spaniards who had picked him
off the wreck of the slaver. They looked very fierce, and made
threatening gestures at him, and abused him to the king for running away
from them, and he discovered that they knew all about the expedition of
the _Archer's_ boats up the river, and the capture of the schooner. He,
however, went on eating his dinner, and tried to look unconcerned about
the matter. This enraged them still more. What they might have done he
could not tell; but suddenly a man rushed into the room, and gave some
piece of information which seemed to put them all into a state of great
agitation. They seized upon Jack and dragged him off, and they and a
number of other people, headed by the king, rushed down the bill towards
the fort. From the few words dropped which Jack could comprehend, he
understood that they expected an attack to be made on it for the purpose
of rescuing the slaves, and that they were resolved to defend it to the
last. He found himself dragged along till he was carried into the fort
with the crowd; he was then shown a gun, and it was intimated to him
that if he did not do his best to fight, he should forthwith have his
brains blown out--a dreadful alternative, but from which he could
discover not the slightest prospect of escaping.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

IN THE NEGRO PRISON.

Jack Rogers stood near the gun at which he had been placed in the
slavers' fort. He had plenty of time to consider how he should act;
but, turn the matter over in his mind as much as he would, he could not
arrive at a satisfactory decision. The alternatives left for his choice
were to fire at his friends or to be shot