"I must see Marcus myself. Though I do not know him personally, what
you have just told me, and what Dick wrote about this man, interests me
much, and if he is in trouble again, which I fear he must be, from the
stealthy way in which he dodged you, let us try to get him out of it.
Black skin or white skin, what does it matter? At bottom he is a noble
fellow, and if you see nothing to object to the plan, he shall return
with us to Old England; and when there, between us, we can manage to do
something for him."
Of course, I could have no objection, so Trevor set off in search of the
fugitive. San Francisco is not the pleasantest place in the world for
such a search. There are a good many persons there who have been driven
by their crimes out of society at home, and whose reckless way of living
at the diggings casts a suspicion upon them, so that folks generally
avoid that quarter of the city where they usually congregate, and where
I had met Marcus but a few hours before.
I had been left to myself for more than three hours, and it was already
getting dark, yet Trevor did not return. I therefore determined to go
in search of him. I had just turned the corner of the street in which
was the dark arch from which Marcus had emerged, when I saw Trevor and
the black approaching. Jack had succeeded in drawing Marcus away from a
lawless set of rascals, who were pirates of the worst class, by whom the
latter had recently been captured, and had had his life spared upon
taking the usual oath to join the crew of his captors. He was closely
watched by them, so that Trevor could not get near him till the shades
of evening had fairly set in.
Jack and Marcus were not long in bringing me to their way of thinking,
that overland would be our safer way of reaching England; so we
determined to lose our passage money, and on Marcus's account more
particularly, to take the easiest and quickest route to New York. Peter
would not leave me, and is still a member of my household, dealing often
in the marvellous, and frightening the maids in the kitchen with his
narratives of shipwreck and crocodiles, of pirates and savages, and of
blood and murder.
With our quitting San Francisco our perils and adventures came to an
end, and we reached Liverpool in time to see Marcus on his way to
Liberia, with letters of recommendation, before accepting dear Aunt
Becky's invitation to spend Christmas at Merton Lodge, and to spread out
before her the trophies I had promised at starting, among which her
drawing-room exhibits, by way of hearth-rugs, two panther skins, and, in
large glazed cases, a lot of stuffed birds and reptiles, including a
rattlesnake and a boa-constrictor.
I need not say that Ready is a great favourite with all the household,
and that with true canine sagacity he knows how to make the most of his
popularity. He seems to imply by his manner that the stuffed trophies
would scarcely have been where they are but for him, and his bright eyes
express as plainly as tongue can do _Quorum pars magna fui_, whenever
Trevor and I have to narrate, for dear aunt's repeated gratification,
how the living creatures themselves were captured and where they ran
wild.