de towards the city at full gallop.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

A STRANGE VISIT, A STRANGE COMMISSION, AND A STRANGE DISPLAY OF TEMPER.

After Ben-Ahmed had departed on his mission to the Dey of Algiers,
George Foster and Peter the Great re-entered the house, and in the
seclusion of the bower continued to discuss the hopes, fears, and
possibilities connected with the situation.

"Dat was a clebber dodge ob yours, Geo'ge," remarked the negro, "an' I's
got good hope dat somet'ing will come ob it, for massa's pretty sure to
succeed w'en he take a t'ing in hand."

"I'm glad you think so, Peter. And, to say truth, I am myself very
sanguine."

"But dere's one t'ing dat 'plexes me bery much. What is we to do about
poo' Hester's fadder w'en he's pardoned? De Dey can spare his life, but
he won't set him free--an' if he don't set him free de slabe-drivers 'll
be sure to kill 'im out ob spite."

The middy was silent, for he could not see his way out of this
difficulty.

"Perhaps," he said, "Ben-Ahmed may have thought of that, and will
provide against it, for of course he knows all the outs and ins of
Moorish life, and he is a thoughtful man."

"Das true, Geo'ge. He _am_ a t'oughtful man. Anyhow, we kin do not'ing
more, 'cept wait an' see. But I's much more 'plexed about Hester, for
eben if de sailor am a good an' true man, as you say, he can't keep her
or his-self alibe on not'ing in de mountains, no more'n he could swim
wid her on his back across de Mederainyon!"

Again the middy was silent for a time. He could by no means see his way
out of this greater difficulty, and his heart almost failed him as he
thought of the poor girl wandering in the wilderness without food or
shelter.

"P'r'aps," suggested Peter, "she may manage to git into de town an' pass
for a nigger as she's dood before, an' make tracks for her old place wid
Missis Lilly--or wid Dinah."

"No doubt she may," cried Foster, grasping at the hope as a drowning man
grasps at a plank. "Nothing more likely. Wouldn't it be a good plan
for you to go into town at once and make inquiry?"

"Dessay it would," returned the negro. "Das just what I'll do, an' if
she's not dere, Dinah may gib my int'lec' a jog. She's a wonderful
woman, Dinah, for workin' up de human mind w'en it's like goin' to
sleep. Poo' Samson hab diskivered dat many times. I'll go at once."

"Do, Peter, my fine fellow, and you'll lay me for ever under the deepest
ob--"

He was interr