hail to a stranger, in the
same way that "Rafiki," my friend, is. But Kalulu advanced, and many
men--probably thirty--hurried to meet him. Three men, apparently chiefs
of the party--but they were not white, like Selim or Abdullah--were
talking together as he came up to them.

The oldest of them--marked with the small-pox, a man with very small
eyes--who had a light bamboo cane in his hand, turned towards him, and
asked him who he was, where he came from, what he was doing in the
forest all alone, to which Kalulu answered as well as he was able in
broken Kisawhili--the coast language--smiling all the time, and wishing
he would testify some pleasure at seeing him. The man turned round to
his companions, and talked with them rapidly a language he did not
understand, but it was horribly guttural. It was Arabic; and as the
harsh words were heard Kalulu almost shuddered. The man with the stick
pointed to Kalulu often, the others nodded, apparently agreeing with
what the pock-marked, small-eyed chief said.

The chief Arab--he was not an Arab, but a half-caste, half-negro,
half-Arab--sat down and pointed to Kalulu to seat himself by him. This,
thought Kalulu, was friendly; and in pure guilelessness he asked him:

"Are ye Arabs?"

"Certainly. Mashallah! What did you take us for?" replied the chief.

"I don't know. I thought ye were Arabs, but I was not sure."

Then Kalulu looked round, more at home. In one corner of the camp he
saw a large gang of slaves, chained and padlocked safe. No chance of
running for any of those, he thought. Simba could not break that chain,
nor any of the strong iron padlocks which confined each collar.

He was about to ask another question, when, without warning, without the
least suspicion having been raised in his mind, he was pounced upon by
half-a-dozen men from behind and disarmed. The slave-gang was brought
up close to him, an iron collar was handed to the chief, who encircled
the young neck of Kalulu with it, slipped an iron loop over the folding
crescents, introduced a strong padlock into a staple after it, locked
it, and then stood up to survey his captive. He nodded to the men who
had hold of him. They released him, and the boy stood up, and the
captor and captive looked at each other.

"Did ye not tell me ye were Arabs?"

"We are Arabs," answered the chief, laughing at his simplicity.

"Then if ye are Arabs, what does this violence mean?"

"It means you are my sla