THE ROVER BOYS Boxed Set: 26 Illustrated Adventure Novels. Stratemeyer Edward

got away."

      Nothing would do for Alexander Pop after this but that the boys give him the full particulars of the affair, to which he listened with the closest attention. But at the conclusion his face fell.

      "Ise mighty glad I am cleared," he said. "But I'd give a good deal to face de cap'n — jest to see wot he would say, eh?"

      "He said he was sorry he had suspected you," said Dick.

      "What a big fool dis darkey was to run away!" murmured Aleck meditatively. "I wasn't cut out fo' no sailer man. Ise been sick most ebery day since I left shoah. By de way, whar is dis ship bound?" he went on.

      "To Africa."

      "Africa! Shuah yo' is foolin', Massah Dick?"

      "No, I am not. We and our uncle are bound for the Congo River."

      "De Congo! Dat's whar my great gran' fadder dun come from — so I heard my mammy tell, years ago. I don't want to go dar, not me!"

      "I don't see how you are going to help yourself, Aleck. The first stop this steamer will make will be at Boma on the Congo River."

      "'Wot am I to do when I gits dar? answer me dat, chile."

      "I'm sure I don't know. Perhaps the captain will let you remain on the Republique."

      "What wid dern Frenchmen? I don't t'ink I could stand dat. An' what am yo' going to do in Africa?"

      "We are going on a hunt for my father, who has been missing for years."

      Again Aleck had to be told the particulars and again he was tremendously interested. When the boys had finished he sat in silence for several minutes.

      "I've got it-jest de t'ing!" he cried suddenly.

      "Got what?" asked Tom.

      "De right idea, Massah Tom. Foah gen'men like yo' don't want to go to Africa widout a valet nohow. Let me be de workin' man fe de crowd. I'll take de job, cheap, — an' glad ob de chance."

      "Hullo, that's an idea!" mused Dick.

      "Will yo' do it, Massah Dick?"

      "We'll have to speak to my uncle about it first."

      "Well, yo' put in a good word fo' me. Yo know I always stood by yo' in de school," pleaded the colored man. "I don't want to be driftin' around jess nowhar, wid nuffin to do, an' no money comin' in — not but what I'll work cheap, as I dun said I would," he added hastily.

      A little later Randolph Rover joined the group and Aleck's proposition was laid before him. Strange to say he accepted the colored man's offer immediately, greatly to the wonder of the boys, and from that minute on Pop be came a member of the searching party.

      "I will tell you why I did it," explained Randolph Rover to the boys in private. "When we get into the jungle we will need a man we can trust and one who is used to American ways. Moreover, if there is any spying to be done among the natives the chances are that a black man can do it better than a white man."

      "Uncle Randolph, you've got a long head," remarked Tom. "No doubt Aleck will prove just the fellow desired." And Tom was right, as later events proved.

      CHAPTER XIV

       A STRANGE MEETING IN BOMA

       Table of Contents

      The storm delayed the passage of the Republique nearly a week, in a manner that was totally unexpected by the captain. The fierce waves, running mountain high, wrenched the screw and it was found next to impossible to repair the accident. Consequently the steamer had to proceed under a decreased rate of speed.

      This was tantalizing to the boys, and also to Randolph Rover, for everyone wished to get ashore, to start up the Congo as early as possible. But all the chafing in the world could not help matters, and they were forced to take things as they came.

      A place was found among the sailors for Aleck, and soon he began to feel like himself once more. But the sea did not suit the colored man, and he was as anxious as his masters to reach shore once more.

      "It's a pity da can't build a mighty bridge over de ocean, an' run kyars," he said. "Den nobody would git seasick."

      "Perhaps they'll have a bridge some day resting on boats, Aleck," answered Tom.

      "But I don't expect to live to see it."

      "Yo' don't know about dat, chile. Look at uddert'ings. Did yo'gran'fadder expect to ride at de rate ob sixty miles an hour? Did he expect to send a telegram to San Francisco in a couple ob minutes? Did he eber dream ob talkin' to sumboddy in Chicago froo a telephone? Did he knew anyt'ing about electric lights, or movin' pictures, or carriages wot aint got no bosses, but run wid gasoline or sumfing like dat? I tell yo, Massah Tom, we don't know wot we is comin' to!"

      "You are quite right, Alexander," said Mr. Rover, who had overheard the talk. "Science is making wonderful strides. Some day I expect to grow com and wheat, yes, potatoes and other vegetables, by electricity," and then Randolph Rover branched off into a long discourse on scientific farming that almost took away poor Aleck's breath.

      "He's a most wonderful man, yo' uncle!" whispered the colored man to Sam afterward. "Fust t'ing yo' know he'll be growin' corn in de com crib already shucked!" and he laughed softly to himself.

      On and on over the mighty Atlantic bounded the steamer. One day was very much like another, excepting that on Sundays there was a religious service, which nearly everybody attended. The boys had become quite attached to Mortimer Blaze and listened eagerly to the many hunting tales he had to tell.

      "I wish you were going with us," said Tom to him. "I like your style, as you Englishman put it."

      "Thanks, Rover, and I must say I cotton to you, as the Americans put it," laughed the hunter. "Well, perhaps we'll meet in the interior, who knows?"

      "Are you going up the Congo?"

      "I haven't decided yet. I am hoping to meet some friends at Boma. Otherwise I may go further down the coast."

      The steamer bad now struck the equator, and as it was midsummer the weather was extremely warm, and the smell of the oozing tar, pouring from every joint, was sickening. But the weather suited Alexander Pop perfectly.

      "Dis am jest right," he said. "I could sleep eall de time, 'ceptin' when de meal gong rings."

      "Blood will tell," laughed Randolph Rover. "When you land, Alexander, you ought to feel perfectly at home."

      "Perhaps, sah; but I dun reckon de United States am good enough for any man, sah, white or colored."

      "Right you are," put in Dick. "It's the greatest country on the globe."

      It was a clear day a week later when the lookout announced land dead ahead. It proved to be a point fifteen miles above the mouth of the Congo, and at once the course was altered to the southward, and they made the immense mouth of the river before nightfall.

      It was a beautiful scene. Far away dashed the waves against an immense golden strand, backed up by gigantic forests of tropical growth and distant mountains veiled in a bluish mist: The river was so broad that they were scarcely aware that they were entering its mouth until the captain told them.

      When night came the lights of Boma could be distinctly seen, twinkling silently over the bay of the town. They dropped anchor among a score of other vessels; and the long ocean trip became a thing of the past.

      "I'm all ready to go ashore," said Tom.

      "My, but won't it feel good to put foot on land again!"

      "Indeed it will!" cried Dick. "The ocean is all well enough, but a fellow doesn't want too much of it."

      "And yet I heard one of the French sailors say that he hated the land," put in Sam. "He hadn't set foot on shore for three years. When they reach port he always remains on deck duty until they leave again."