Even the savage blacks had been less harsh to her than he. Not
understanding their tongue she could not guess what purpose they
had in keeping her a prisoner. She knew that man ate man, and she
had expected to be eaten; but she had been with them for some time
now and no harm had befallen her. She did not know that a runner
had been dispatched to the distant village of The Sheik to barter
with him for a ransom. She did not know, nor did Kovudoo, that
the runner had never reached his destination--that he had fallen in
with the safari of Jenssen and Malbihn and with the talkativeness
of a native to other natives had unfolded his whole mission to
the black servants of the two Swedes. These had not been long in
retailing the matter to their masters, and the result was that when
the runner left their camp to continue his journey he had scarce
passed from sight before there came the report of a rifle and he
rolled lifeless into the underbrush with a bullet in his back.
A few moments later Malbihn strolled back into the encampment, where
he went to some pains to let it be known that he had had a shot
at a fine buck and missed.
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