ZERO.

Though quietly settled down for the night, our friends had yet, however,

to learn that they hod not altogether done with the Mormon-cum-Slaver

fraternity, who evidently could not rest satisfied, or allow the day to

close, without making a particularly abominable attempt to get even with

the fugitives and their new-found friends.

In the very dead of night, as Leigh and Amaxosa stood on guard at the

mouth of the cave, conversing in an undertone, they were treated to a

new and extremely objectionable sample of the qualities of their

detested foes. The fire behind them inside the cavern had completely

burnt itself out, and close to its ashes lay Grenville, sleeping

heavily, whilst the other members of the party were scattered about the

cave on beds of moss or dried grass. Not a sound of any kind betokening

the presence of a foe had the anxious watchers heard, when all of a

sudden both were startled into action by an angry hiss just behind them,

followed by the well-known and universally dreaded "skirr" of a

rattlesnake, and quickly lighting a torch of twisted grass, the pair saw

the horrid reptile gliding down the cave towards them, evidently making

for the entrance. Seizing a native sword, Amaxosa rushed at the snake

with a wild shout. Instantly the reptile stopped in its tortuous

course, and reared itself to strike, but the active Zulu was altogether

too quick for it, and, with one fell sweep of his keen weapon, drove its

head clean from its body, when something was heard to roll with a

hollow, bell-like sound upon the rocky floor.

As Amaxosa's voice went ringing up the arches of the cavern, each

occupant had sprung to his feet in an instant, with arms in his hands,

and Grenville was himself the first to step forward and pick up the

article, the fall of which had caused the ringing noise referred to. He

gave but a single glance at this hollow, silver ring, for such it was,

and then handed it to the Zulu chief, with the one word, "Apollyon!"

"Ay! Inkoos," was the answer, "I saw the shining circlet ere I struck,

and the sight lent strength to my arm, for well I knew that if the blow

did not go home I should not live to strike again. Glad am I, my

father, that yon evil beast is dead, for I ever feared it more than I

feared the evil ones themselves."

Grenville then explained to Kenyon and the wonder-stricken Leigh that

this horrible reptile was a pet snake, kept by the white woman they had

that day seen in the enclosure, and who, going by the name of Zero's

wife, was at this time the dominating female spirit of the Mormon

Community in Equatoria, as the adjacent slave-town was called. This

infernal nineteenth-century harpy had made the snake, "Apollyon," her

peculiar care, and _by continual practice upon ailing or dying slaves_

had trained it to follow a trail, and to fix itself upon any person of

whom she gave it the scent, quite as surely, and infinitely more quietly

and fatally, than even Zero's own particular bloodhounds. It was

self-evident that the reptile had been commissioned to destroy

Grenville, and would most certainly have succeeded in doing so had not

an all-merciful Providence willed otherwise. Unfortunately for the

snake, it had drawn its loathsome coils right across the spot where the

fire had recently been blazing, and, although the wood had quite burnt

itself out, the floor of the cave was still absolutely red-hot, and the

whole stomach of the snake was in consequence terribly scorched and

blistered, and the sudden agony had no doubt caused it to emit the

warning hiss which had put Amaxosa on his guard, whilst the severe

nature of its injuries had probably contributed, in no small degree, to

the success of his attack, by rendering the motions of the reptile

unusually slow and extremely painful. Anyhow, it was a miraculous and

providential escape, for which all felt uncommonly thankful, and Leigh

heard with unconcealed satisfaction that the snake in question was

positively the only one so trained which the vindictive Madame Zero had

in her possession.

This unpleasant adventure had fairly killed all chance of sleep for that

night, so after our trio of friends had lighted their pipes, Kenyon drew

Leigh and Grenville on one side out of earshot of the rest of the party.

"And now," said he, "let us seriously consider our position, for it is

one of very great danger; but first, give me your attention, Leigh,

whilst I fulfil my promise and relate to you the history of Zero so far

as it is known to me, after which your cousin will doubtless cap my

information with a few interesting and instructive details regarding the

life and opinions of the greatest scoundrel on the face of the earth.

"Zero, whose real name by the way is Monckton Bassett, is, I am ashamed

to admit, an American by birth, and hails from New York, where his

father originally figured as a respectable and a fairly successful

foreign merchant. Master Bassett was an only and a precocious child,

and having at the early age of twenty-three succeeded in breaking his

poor mother's heart by the wild wickedness of his ways, and ruining his

foolishly indulgent father by wheedling him into bearing from time to

time the expense of a systematic and unsuccessful gambling career, next

threw in his lot with a villainous card-sharper named Weston Harper,

through whose instrumentality he first came under the notice of the

police, being, as I proved at the time, very nearly concerned in a

burglary committed upon the house of a wealthy New Yorker, to whose

daughter he had formerly been engaged. This gentleman, however, Mr

Harmsworth by name, had abruptly put a stop to the embryo love affair

when he accidentally learned the life that his would-be son-in-law was

leading. The burglary was not the worst of it; for Mr Harmsworth was

deliberately and unnecessarily shot dead in his bed, and there was every

reason to believe that young Bassett's hand had fired the fatal shot,

though I could never absolutely bring the murder home to him. However,

we fixed the burglary on this precious pair, and both got a ten-years'

sentence, but escaped by bribing the gaolers, and successfully made

their way to Salt Lake City, after which, like a fool, I ceased to

bother my head about them. This was six years ago you see," added

Kenyon, "and I wasn't quite so well posted in the ways of criminals as I

am now supposed to be. Well, gentlemen, about a couple of years after

this I myself became affianced to a sweet young girl named Roxana

Kenyon, my own cousin on the father's side; and, as I was rapidly rising

in my new profession, we had every prospect of being united at no

distant date; but, to save time, I had better carry my story forward

another two years--that is, bringing it to the year 1879, when our

wedding-day was fixed for the 15th of April. Our house was taken and

furnished throughout, and everything was duly arranged; but, on the

night before the wedding, my bride disappeared as completely as if the

very earth had opened and swallowed her." For a moment the stern

detective faltered, and, overcome by his conflicting emotions, buried

his face in his bands, quickly, however, recovering himself and

continuing his story. "There," he said impatiently, "it was all over,

and the rest is soon told. On Roxana's bed, which had not been slept

in, I discovered a scrap of white paper with a dead black circle

skilfully drawn upon it--exactly similar, let me remark, to that

hieroglyphic found upon the body of the late Lady Drelincourt, only that

in my case, upon the reverse side of the paper, there appeared the

words: `_Zero gets even with Stanforth Kenyon over the Harmsworth

burglary_.' I knew the writing well, and the hand that wrote it was the

hand of Monckton Bassett. Without loss of time, I beat up his career

subsequent to the burglary and prior to the abduction, and discovered

through trusted agents that he had been absent from the New World for

nearly three years, and after having returned to Utah, possessed of

considerable property and accompanied by the woman he calls his wife,

had again gone abroad, and was then believed to be somewhere in South

Africa engaged upon business connected with the community of the Latter

Day Saints.

"I at once sent in my resignation to the Chief of Police, who, however,

refused to accept it, giving me instead a three years' holiday to

prosecute my search, as well as many kindly offers of assistance both

monetary and official. Declining the former, I sailed for Cape Town as

soon as ever I could possibly get away, and finally worked round to

Durban, where, in a lucky moment for all of us, I tumbled up against

Leigh's advertisement, and, recognising in Driffield an old friend of

mine, professional instinct prompted me to call and pump him with regard

to Grenville the missing; but it was only after the lawyer had made me a

most generous offer with the object of inducing me to lead a search

party into the Interior, and had given me the history of the adventures

of you two in East Utah, that a sudden inspiration gave me the clue to

Monckton Bassett's whereabouts.

"Zero, I said to myself, means just nothing at all: why then has this

man--who, by the way, thinks no small beer of himself--adopted such an

extraordinary name?

"Next, is there any place or district in Africa bearing the name of

Zero. No! Stop! then like a living ray of light upon my mental

darkness was flashed the answer--the Line--the Equatorial Line--Number

Nought--_that is Zero_. I wired New York at once, obtained the latest

particulars of his known movements, and then, with complete faith in my

good angel, I shut up my notebook, went right off to Driffield and

engaged myself in the search both body and soul. And now, my friends, I

am here, and you, Grenville, are free, and all I ask is that you will

both wait long enough for me to settle my little account with this

infernal scoundrel, and then Westward Ho! for all of us."

"One moment, Kenyon," interjected Leigh; "I claim this fiend from hell

as my personal property. Think, man, you have but lost one who, it is

true, was almost your wife; but I, ah! God, he owes me everything--

wife, child, my love, my life--my very trust in Heaven, and for this I

hold my right to prove upon his vile body to be before the right of any

living man;" and, strung to the highest pitch, by the very worst and

strongest passions of human nature, these two firm friends fairly glared

at one another in the thoughtless anger of this intense moment.

"Peace! gentlemen," said the attentive Grenville, "peace! Remember I

too have a right to act in this matter, if aught of wrong received upon

this earth can give the right of revenge upon a fellow-man. Nay, Alf, I

am not seeking to enforce my claim. God's hand rests upon this curse of

Central Africa, as I told him to his face, and when his time comes he

must go even as we; yet do I fervently pray that one of ourselves may be

the fleshly instrument selected to cause his going.

"And now, Kenyon, how called you your affianced wife?--Roxana, was it

not?--Roxana--ay, an Asiatic name signifying, if I mistake not, the

`Goddess of the Morning.' It must be the same--hear me out, old

fellow," as Kenyon rose, fairly trembling with excitement. "A young

white woman, known amongst the natives by a name signifying `The Star of

the Morning,' and reputed to be very fair to look upon, was brought over

from Madagascar to Zanzibar by Zero and his so-called wife, and was a

prisoner in their hands until just before the time that I and my men

were taken captives by his band. He was then working his way up here

from the coast--but during his absence from camp one day, his zareeba

was stormed by a horde of Arabs, who swept out the best half of his

property, including the white girl and upwards of one hundred

repeating-rifles, the latter having been purchased and carefully

smuggled in for the use of his men.

"When Zero returned, he behaved, I heard, like a creature bereft of his

senses; he had, of course, expected to make `big money' out of the sale

of the girl, and to reduce the Arabs themselves with the Winchesters,

whereas the boot was now very much on the other leg. I also heard that

he cautiously followed the tracks of the spoilers, but found that the

girl had persuaded them to take her to Zanzibar, where she was quickly

liberated through the kind agency of the British Consul, and was

supposed to have left for America. Zero then made tracks for home, and

came upon our hunting party in an evil hour, and the rest you know."

Kenyon gripped Grenville's hand in silence, and the tears chased one

another rapidly down his cheeks. "God bless you, old fellow," he

blurted out at last: "it was well worth saving your life, if only for

this--I was fast becoming a brute, and you've given me back love and

hope, and with them my faith in Heaven." Grenville and his cousin rose

quietly and left him alone with the cruel memories of the darksome past

and the bright hopes of the near future, and nothing in all their lives

became them better; but as they walked away Leigh put his hand on his

cousin's shoulder: "Good old Dick," he said, in a tone of anguish, "you

have no hope nor help for _me_." Then his voice changing to a positive

hiss--"You may talk till you're black in the face, my boy, but I'll

never leave this spot until I've sent back yonder cursed scoundrel to

the hell from whence he came."

Before Grenville could answer, however, Kenyon called to the twain to

return, and, sitting down again, Grenville gave his companions a pretty

full account of the abominable cruelties of Zero and his "wife," and of

the way they were devastating the country in almost every direction; and

Kenyon now learnt, to his surprise, that an enormous slave-trade was

done in the very heart of Africa, and that so far from trafficking in

"Black Ivory" direct with the Coast, either east or west, the slavers'

market for human flesh and blood was found principally amongst tribes

which lay to the west of Equatoria, and as the purchase money--when not

provided in ivory--usually consisted of pure rock-gold or gold-dust

packed in quills, the slaves were in all probability passed on to

Dahomey or Asyanti, whence they no doubt gravitated northwards and

ultimately found their way to Morocco, travelling incredible distances

and constantly changing hands.

Towards the rising sun Master Zero's operations were of a restricted,

and, to him, an extremely unsatisfactory nature, as his position was

everywhere hemmed in by hostile Arabs, who kept with a strong hand the

country they had originally secured by artifice, and to whom, as

followers of "the one True Prophet," Zero was doubly hateful, on account

of his Mormon connections.

The man was himself absent at the present time, personally conducting an

important "slave-drive," but might be expected back in the course of two

or three days, when the whole of his captives would be passed on to the

native King, whom the slavers were now busily entertaining, and who was,

in fact, simply waiting for Zero's return to "make his trade" and march

westward with his purchases; and until this matter was satisfactorily

disposed of, Grenville was inclined to believe that no serious attempt

would be made to interfere with themselves, but once let this fiend in

human form get clear of the pressing business in hand, and he would

promptly turn his attention to their own little account and would give

them no rest until the affair was settled, one way or the other.