he arm of Mr. Kentish, I begged him
to tell me what it meant.

"Nay, madam," he returned, "_you_ know." And leading me smartly through
the crowd, which continued to follow at a considerable distance, and at
which he still kept looking back, I thought, with apprehension, he
brought me to a low house that stood alone in an encumbered yard, opened
the door, and begged me to enter.

"But why?" said I. "I demand to see Sir George."

"Madam," returned Mr. Kentish, looking suddenly as black as thunder, "to
drop all fence, I know neither who nor what you are; beyond the fact
that you are not the person whose name you have assumed. But be what you
please, spy, ghost, devil, or most ill-judging jester, if you do not
immediately enter that house, I will cut you to the earth." And even as
he spoke, he threw an uneasy glance behind him at the following crowd of
blacks.

I did not wait to be twice threatened; I obeyed at once and with a
palpitating heart; and the next moment, the door was locked from the
outside and the key withdrawn. The interior was long, low, and quite
unfurnished, but filled, almost from end to end, with sugar-cane,
tar-barrels, old tarry rope, and other incongruous and highly
inflammable material; and not only was the door locked, but the solitary
window barred with iron.

I was by this time so exceedingly bewildered and afraid, that I would
have given years of my life to be once more the slave of Mr. Caulder. I
still stood, with my hands clasped, the image of despair, looking about
me on the lumber of the room or raising my eyes to Heaven; when there
appeared, outside the window bars, the face of a very black negro, who
signed to me imperiously to draw near. I did so, and he instantly, and
with every mark of fervour, addressed me a long speech in some unknown
and barbarous tongue.

"I declare," I cried, clasping my brow, "I do not understand one
syllable."

"Not?" he said in Spanish. "Great, great, are the powers of Hoodoo! Her
very mind is changed! But, O chief priestess, why have you suffered
yourself to be shut into this cage? why did you not call your slaves at
once to your defence? Do you not see that all has been prepared to
murder you? at a spark, this flimsy house will go in flames; and alas!
who shall then be the chief priestess? and what shall be the profit of
the miracle?"

"Heavens!" cried I, "can I not see Sir George? I must, I must, come by
speech of him. Oh, bring me to Sir George!" An