But others saw him running to the shore, and he paid
to be taken out to the steamer. They wouldn't take him on at first,
because he hadn't secured a passage, but he laid down and wouldn't
move. So, as he had the money, they took him, and when I heard I
cabled to you. But what harm can he do, for you are his master?
He is a thief and you know it. Surely you can do with him what you
will.
"Trent was here yesterday and heard for the first time of his flight.
How he took it I cannot tell you, for I was not the one to tell him,
but this I know for a fact. He cabled to Capetown offering 100 pounds
if the Star Line steamer leaving to-morrow would call for him here.
Hiram, he is a great man, this Trent. I hate him, for he has spoilt
much trade for me, and he treats me as though I were the dirt under
his feet, but never a man before who has set foot upon the Coast
could have done what he has done. Without soldiers he has beaten
the Bekwando natives, and made them even work for him. He has
stirred the whole place here into a state of fever! A thousand men
are working upon his road and sinking shafts upon the Bekwando hills.
Gold is already coming down, nuggets of it, and he is opening a
depot to buy all the mahogany and ivory in the country.
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