Mr. Cato, the port officer at
Durban, mentioned to me that the /Crocodile/ was expected to call
there within the next fortnight to take in stores after a slave-
hunting cruise down the coast. Now it would be odd if she chanced to
meet the /Maria/ and asked to have a look at her cargo, wouldn't it?"
"Not at all, Quatermain, for unless one or the other of them changes
her course that is just what she must do within the next hour or so,
and I jolly well hope she will. I haven't forgiven that beast,
Delgado, the trick he tried to play on us by slipping away with our
goods, to say nothing of those poor devils of slaves. Pass the coffee,
will you?"
For the next ten minutes we ate in silence, for Stephen had an
excellent appetite and was hungry after his morning climb.
Just as we finished our meal Hassan appeared, looking even more
villainous than he had done the previous day. I saw also that he was
in a truculent mood, induced perhaps by the headache from which he was
evidently suffering as a result of his potations.
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