b de mountain," answered the negro, who looked
at his companion somewhat uneasily.

"Why, what's the matter, Moses?"

"Nuffin'--oh! nuffin'--but--but when massa axes you who you is, an' what
you bin up to, an' whar you're a-gwine to, an' what wages you want, jist
you answer 'im in a sorter permiscuous way, an' don't be too partikler."

"Wages! man, what d'ye mean?"

"Well, you'll 'scuse me, sar," returned the negro with an air of
profound humility, "but my massa lost a old sarvint--a nigger like
myself--only last munt', an' he wants to go on one ob his usual
expeditions jus' now, so he sends me to Batavia to git anoder man--`a
good one, you know,' says massa,--an' as you, sar, was good 'nuff to ax
me what you should do, an' you looked a pritty smart man, I--"

"You scoundrel!" cried Nigel, interrupting him, "do you really mean to
tell me that you've brought me here as a hired servant?"

"Well, not zackly," returned Moses, with solemn simplicity, "you needn't
ax no wages unless you like."

"But what if I don't want to take service?" demanded our hero, with a
savage frown.

"You kin go home agin," answered Moses, humbly.

Nigel could contain himself no longer. As he observed the man's
deprecatory air, and thought of his own position, he burst into a fit of
hearty laughter, whereupon the negro recovered himself and smiled the
smile of the guiltless.

"Come," said Nigel at last. "Lead on, you rascal! When I see your
master I shall know what to say."

"All right, Massa Nadgel, but mind what you say, else I won't answer for
de consikences. Foller me an' look arter your feet, for de road is
roughish."

The negro's last remark was unquestionably true, for the road--if a mere
footpath merits the name--was rugged in the extreme--here winding round
the base of steep cliffs, there traversing portions of luxuriant forest,
elsewhere skirting the margin of the sea.

Moses walked at such a pace that Nigel, young and active though he was,
found it no easy matter to keep up with him. Pride, however, forbade
him to show the slightest sign of difficulty, and made him even converse
now and then in tones of simulated placidity. At last the path turned
abruptly towards the face of a precipice and seemed to terminate in a
small shallow cave. Any one following the path out of mere curiosity
would have naturally imagined that the cave was the termination of it;
and a very poor termination too, seeing that it was a rather