Furious, they would have massacred him, if one of the chiefs of the caravan, an Arab of great height and ferocious physiognomy, had not intervened.

This Arab was the chief Ibn Hamis, of whom Harris had spoken.

He pronounced a few words which Dick Sand could not understand, and the soldiers, obliged to release their prey, went away.
It was, then, very evident, for one thing, that there had been a formal order not to allow the young novice to communicate with his companions; and for another, that his life should not be taken.
Who could have given such orders, if not Harris or Negoro?
At that moment--it was nine o'clock in the morning, April 19th--the harsh sounds from a "condou's" horn (a kind of ruminating animal among the African deer) burst forth, and the drum was heard.

The halt was going to end.
All, chiefs, porters, soldiers, slaves, were immediately on foot.
Laden with their packs, several groups of captives were formed under the leadership of an overseer, who unfurled a banner of bright colors.
The signal for departure was given.

Songs then rose on the air; but they were the vanquished, not the vanquishers, who sang thus.
This is what they said in these songs--a threatening expression of a simple faith from the slaves against their oppressors--against their executioners: "You have sent me to the coast, but I shall be dead; I shall have a yoke no longer, and I shall return to kill you.".