ad come back in the boat from the
hulk, with the news that the negroes berthed on board her had vanished
in the night, except for three or four whom the sailors had brought to
the tug. When Brown got cooler he went up to the men who squatted
tranquilly on the hatch. They were big muscular fellows and wore,
instead of the usual piece of cotton, ragged duck clothes.

"Where's the rest of the gang?" Brown asked.

"No savvy, sah," said one. "Some fella put them t'ing Ju-Ju on him and
he lib for bush."

"What's a Ju-Ju?" Lister inquired.

"Hocus-pocus, magic of a sort," the captain growled. "When a white man
knows much about Ju-Ju his proper place is an asylum." He turned to the
boys. "How did them other fellows go?"

"No savvy, sah. We done hear not'ing."

"I expect they were afraid to meddle," Brown remarked, and resumed: "Why
did you lib for stop?"

"We Accra boy; white man's boy. Them bushman him d--n fool too much. Run
in bush like monkey, without him clo'es."

Brown knitted his brows and then made a sign of resignation. "I reckon
it's all we'll know! Well, the tide's falling and we must shift for some
kernels before the sun is hot. Better start your pump."

The pump was soon at work, and Lister, watching the engine, mused. He
wondered how much the Accra boys knew, or if it was possible the others
had stolen away without waking them. Watson, the look-out, had heard
nothing, and Lister remembered Brown's remarks about the Ju-Ju and
thought the boys did know something but were afraid to tell. Watson had
said the country was queer, and if he meant fantastic, Lister agreed.
There was something about it that re-acted strangely on one's
imagination. In the North American wilds, one was, so to speak, a
materialist and conquered savage Nature by using well-known rules. In
Africa one did not know the rules and felt the power of the
supernatural. It looked as if there was a mysterious, malignant force.
But the pump was running badly and Lister saw he must not philosophize.

When the sun got hot he stopped for breakfast and afterwards he and
Brown smoked for a few minutes under the awning.

"I'm bothered about the boys' going," the captain declared. "There's not
much doubt Montgomery got somebody to put Ju-Ju on them; bribed a
magician to frighten them by a trick. Since they're a superstitious lot,
I reckon we can't hire another gang in this neighborhood. However, now
he's stopped our coal, you'll have to go to _Sar_