ed, in whipping most unmercifully a
small boy whose piercing shrieks had no influence whatever on his
tormentor. Close beside them a large strong-boned man lay stretched on
the ground. He had just been felled with a heavy stick by Moosa for
interfering. He had raised himself on one elbow, while with his right
hand he wiped away the blood that oozed from the wound in his head, and
appeared to struggle to recover himself from the stunning blow.

"What has he been doing?" asked Yoosoof carelessly, in Portuguese.

"Oh, the old story, rebelling," said Moosa, savagely hurling the boy
into the midst of a group of cowering children, amongst whom he
instantly shrank as much as possible out of sight. "That brute,"
pointing to the prostrate man, "was a chief, it appears, in his own
country, and has not yet got all the spirit lashed out of him. But it
can't last much longer; either the spirit or the life must go. He has
carried that little whelp the last part of the way on his back, and now
objects to part with him,--got fond of him, I fancy. If you had taken
my advice you would have cast them both to the hyenas long ago."

"You are a bad judge of human flesh, Moosa," said Yoosoof, quietly;
"more than once you have allowed your passion to rob me of a valuable
piece of goods. This man will fetch a good price in Persia, and so will
his son. I know that the child is his son, though the fool thinks no
one knows that but himself, and rather prides himself on the clever way
in which he has continued to keep his whelp beside him on the journey
down. Bah! what can one expect from such cattle? Don't separate them,
Moosa. They will thrive better together. If we only get them to market
in good condition, then we can sell them in separate lots without
risking loss of value from pining."

In a somewhat sulky tone, for he was not pleased to be found fault with
by his chief, the slave-driver ordered out the boy, who was little more
than five years old, though the careworn expression of his thin face
seemed to indicate a much more advanced age.

Trembling with alarm, for he expected a repetition of the punishment,
yet not daring to disobey, the child came slowly out from the midst of
his hapless companions, and advanced. The man who had partly recovered
rose to a sitting position, and regarded Moosa and the Arab with a look
of hatred so intense that it is quite certain he would have sprung at
them, if the heavy slave-stick had no