270 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



days the white man was kept moving at the 

 rate of about fifteen or twenty miles a day. 

 The apparent object of all this travel was to ex- 

 hibit him to the people; at every village there 

 was a crowd collected that followed for several 

 miles, jeering and taunting the prisoner. 



On the evening of the third day Barrett was 

 placed in a hut that was evidently a storehouse, 

 for piled against the sides were heaps of sweet 

 potatoes and husked corn that had lately been 

 harvested; here and there were grass baskets 

 and huge earthen pots filled with meal and 

 tempting sweet potatoes. Large pieces had been 

 chipped from the rims of several jars, and the 

 edges were rough and jagged. It occurred to 

 Barrett that he could saw the rope from his 

 bound hands on the edges of the broken crockery. 



After a supper of boiled seeds that reminded 

 him of a flaxseed poultice the guards, as usual, 

 tied his feet together and bound his hands in 

 front of him. 



It was after midnight before the villagers 

 stopped their singing and dancing, a nightly 

 performance. Barrett could hear the guards 

 moving about outside, but they had ceased 

 talking and evidently were becoming sleepy. 



