to
find some one who will undertake to make inquiries in the interior about
some Englishmen, who are said to have been captured by the black fellows
and made slaves of."

"Does the consul know what tribe has captured them?" asked Yoosoof.

"I think not; but as he offers five hundred dollars for every lost white
man who shall be recovered and brought to the coast alive, I thought
that you might wish to aid him!"

"True," said Yoosoof, musing, "true, I will go and see him."

Accordingly, the slave-dealer had an interview with the consul, during
which he learned that there was no absolute certainty of any Englishmen
having been captured. It was only a vague rumour; nevertheless it was
sufficiently probable to warrant the offer of five hundred dollars to
any one who should effect a rescue; therefore Yoosoof, having occasion
to travel into the interior at any rate, undertook to make inquiries.

He was also told that two Englishmen had, not long before, purchased an
outfit, and started off with the intention of proceeding to the interior
by way of the Zambesi river, and they, the consul said, might possibly
be heard of by him near the regions to which he was bound; but these, he
suggested, could not be the men who were reported as missing.

Of course Yoosoof had not the most remote idea that these were the very
Englishmen whom he himself had captured on the coast, for, after parting
from them abruptly, as described in a former chapter, he had ceased to
care or think about them, and besides, was ignorant of the fact that
they had been to Zanzibar.

Yoosoof's own particular business required a rather imposing outfit.
First of all, he purchased and packed about 600 pounds worth of beads of
many colours, cloth of different kinds, thick brass wire, and a variety
of cheap trinkets, such as black men and women are fond of, for Yoosoof
was an "honest" trader, and paid his way when he found it suitable to do
so. He likewise hired a hundred men, whom he armed with guns, powder,
and ball, for Yoosoof was also a dishonest trader, and fought his way
when that course seemed most desirable.

With this imposing caravan he embarked in a large dhow, sailed for the
coast landed at Kilwa, and proceeded into the interior of Africa.

It was a long and toilsome journey over several hundred miles of
exceedingly fertile and beautiful country, eminently suited for the
happy abode of natives. But Yoosoof and his class who traded in black