With a kick which made Crookleg howl with pain, he forced him aside, and secured the weapon himself. Seeing that his only chance was submission, the negro got upon his feet with some difficulty, and stood awaiting further orders. Nelatu now unfastened the thongs that bound him. "Go before me," he said. Crookleg hobbled forward with a demoniac look upon his face. They reached the water's edge. "Is that your canoe?" "Yes, massa; dat dug-out b'long to me." "Get in." The black scrambled into the stern. "Not there--the other end." Crookleg obeyed. Nelatu took the vacated seat. "Now, lay hold of these oars, bend your back, and row me to the place where you landed Warren Rody and my sister. Remember, that if you make the slightest attempt to deceive me, I will bury my tomahawk deep in your brain." Thus admonished, the negro plied the oars, and the canoe darted rapidly through the water. CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. THE LOST SISTER. For more than an hour Crookleg was compelled to use the oars, until they had reached the other side of the lagoon. Nelatu, silent and wrapped in his own gloomy thoughts, watched his every motion. It was twilight when they made a landing within a sheltered bay upon that side of the swamp nearest the settlement. Beyond this lay the woods of which the negro had spoken. Compelling the black to precede him, Nelatu urged him forward until they had reached a mound covered with bushes. "Hush! Massa Injun, we are near de place." "I see no signs of habitation!" "We is near it, for all dat. It ain't a easy ting to find a place like dis 'ere whare dere are nuffin to show but de ground and dese ere bushes!" "Quick! lead me to the place!" "By-am-by, massa; for a mercy's sake hab jist a little patience. 'Twont do no good to be in a hurry, 'twont, indeed." Suspecting treachery, Nelatu would hear of no delay. "Remember, slave! what I threatened you with. Conduct me at once to their hiding-place!" "Well, den, Massa Injun, if you must go, step light, or we'll gib Massa Warren de alarm. He's as quick eared as a rabbit; dat he am. And he may shoot us both afore we know; dat is, if he 'spects you am coming after de gal." With this caution, to which his companion silently agreed, they skirted the mound to its extreme end, where it seemed to terminate abruptly in a deep chasm. Once there, Crookleg threw himself upon the ground, motioning the Indian to do the same. Nelatu complied, still watching for any movement of betrayal on the part of his guide. With a stealthy hand the negro parted the bushes, and signed to the young man to look through the opening. He did so. Before his eyes was the entrance of a cave or grotto. Inside the entrance a pine-torch, stuck in the ground, illumined a portion of the interior. The light was obscured by the bushes, and it was only when these were parted that it became visible. Inside the grotto was Sansuta. She was reposing upon a bed of moss.