observed the daily gift; "she is my daughter."

"I guessed as much by the cut o' your jibs. But she's in danger, for I
noticed that one o' the drivers looked at her suspiciously to-day, and
once suspicion is roused the villains never rest. Is there no means of
preventing her coming this way to-morrow?"

"None. I don't even know where she comes from or goes to. God help
her! If suspected, she is lost, for she will be sure to come
to-morrow."

"Don't break down, old man; they'll observe you. If she is taken are
you willing to fight?"

"Yes," answered the merchant sternly.

"I am with you, then. Your name?"

"Sommers. Yours?"

"Brown."

A driver had been coming towards them, so that the last few words had
been spoken in low whispers. A sharp cut of the whip on the shoulders
of each showed that the driver had observed them talking. They received
it in absolute silence and without any outward display of feeling. To
that extent, at all events, they had both been "tamed."

But the stout seaman had been for many weeks acting a part. At first,
like Sommers, he had been put in heavy irons on account of his violence
and ferocity; but after many weeks of childlike submission on his part,
the irons were removed. Despite the vigilance of the guards, a plot had
been hatched by the gang to which Brown belonged, and it was almost,
though not quite, ripe for execution when the events we are describing
occurred. Poor Hester's action next day precipitated matters and caused
the failure of the plot--at least to some extent.

She had gone as usual with Sally to visit the slave-gang, and had
dropped her biscuits, when her anxious father said, in a low but hurried
voice, "Pass quickly, and don't come again for some time!"

Hester involuntarily stopped.

"Darling father!" she said, restraining herself with difficulty from
leaping into his arms, "why--oh! why am I not--"

She had only got thus far when the janissary, whose suspicions had been
aroused, pounced upon her, and, seizing her by the wrist, looked keenly
into her face.

"Ho! ho!" he exclaimed, glancing from the girl to her sire, "what
mystery have we here? Come, we must investigate this."

Poor Hester winced from the pain of the rude soldier's grip as he
proceeded to drag her away. Her father, seeing that further concealment
was impossible, and that final separation was inevitable, became
desperate. With the bound of an enraged tiger he sprang on the