[Pg 35] [Pg 35] “Where is it? Where is it? Give it to me, or I’ll tear your liver out!” squealed the other, dancing close up to him in an extraordinary passion, being one of those men who fly into a delirium when rage gets the better of them. “I have not got it,” said Prince John, if that was his name. He turned to the Guv’nor. “If you will take me back to the house, Mr. Grosvenor,” he continued, “and keep that dog off, I will explain everything, and trust to your sense of justice to clear me of any suspicion of wrong-doing. That man is the thief, not me,” and he actually spat at Schwartz. Jim said that it gave him a turn to hear a buck nigger talking like that, but it took him and the Guv’nor all their time to keep Schwartz from using his nails on the man’s eyes. Then the two began to shout at one another, and it appeared that all the trouble arose about a thing called a ju-ju, which the black man said Schwartz had stolen from his people, a tribe on the Upper Niger. Anyhow, the Guv’nor marched his captive back to the house, and Schwartz rushed upstairs. He [Pg 36]tore down again, more like a lunatic than ever, as the ju-ju had gone from the dressing-case in which he had left it. [Pg 36] He searched the negro, and was almost ready to cut him open in case he had swallowed it, but the ju-ju was not in the man’s possession. Then he went out with Jim and the lantern, and hunted every inch of the drive and shrubbery, but could find nothing, though it was easy enough to discover the place where Dan had brought down his highness. The odd thing was that he refused to send for the police, and the more certain it became that the ju-ju was missing, the more jubilant grew Prince John’s face as he sat in the hall. At last, there was nothing for it but the nigger must be set at liberty. Schwartz wanted the Guv’nor to lock him up all night. Of course, that could not be done, as Surrey isn’t West Africa, and the Old Man had come to the conclusion that there was not much in the dispute between them, anyhow. So Prince John’s bonds were untied, and the Guv’nor told him if he showed his black [Pg 37]muzzle inside our gateway again he would be locked up. He was very polite and apologetic, especially to the ladies, and the house party went in to dinner greatly mystified by the whole affair. Schwartz did not say much, and his appetite was spoiled. After dinner he had another hunt in his bedroom and among the shrubs, but finally he gave
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