, with the evident intention of
preventing any attempt on our part to go ashore and satisfy our
curiosity by an inspection of his town; we therefore accepted the
palpable hint thus conveyed, and stuck to the ship, which, I need
scarcely say, had been cleared for action and held ready for any
emergency from the moment of our arrival abreast the town.

It was by this time growing late in the afternoon, and as I was anxious
to obtain possession of my unfortunate countrymen and leave Matadi's
rather dangerous neighbourhood before nightfall, we watched the
proceedings in the town narrowly and with a great deal of interest. But
although we were enabled with the aid of our telescopes to follow Matadi
and his little coterie of chiefs to a large building abutting on the
square at the intersection of the cross streets, and which we took to be
the "palace," we were unable to detect anything of an unusual character
in the appearance or movements of the people until close upon sunset,
when we observed a small canoe coming off to the schooner--a craft
propelled by four paddlers, with a single individual sitting in the
stern. This person we presently recognised as one of the chiefs who had
accompanied Matadi alongside earlier in the day; and he brought a
message to the effect that the king had ascertained that the white men
about whom we had inquired were all safe in a village a day's march
distant, and that Matadi would send for them on the morrow, unless we
were prepared to make him a present of a musket, five strings of beads,
a bandana handkerchief, and a roll of printed calico, in which case he
would so far discommode himself as to send off a messenger at once.
This was of course very annoying, and I did not at all like the idea of
giving these savages anything without a tangible return for it; still,
after considering the matter a little, I arrived at the conclusion that
to expedite affairs by twelve hours was quite worth the price asked, and
the articles were accordingly handed over, not without grave misgivings
as to the wisdom of the proceeding. Soon after this it fell dark, the
stars sparkled out one after another, lighting up the scene with their
soft effulgence, the noises in the town became hushed, save for the
occasional barking of a dog here and there, and a deep, solemn hush fell
upon us, in which the deep, hoarse, tumbling roar of a whirl-pool at no
great distance, and the gurgle and rush of the turbid river past th