Page:Rowland--In the shadow.djvu/303

 "There is no doubt but that Dessalines killed the man, and very probably—" he checked himself abruptly.

"Very probably what?"

"Oh! hid the body. So much the better."

"But do you really think that you can find Dessalines, Dr. Leyden?"

"Oh, yes, if he is in there. There would be no great difficulty about that. I may find him to-day if I can start by noon, in which case I will bring him out after dark."

"But how can you find him in a place like that?" asked Giles in an awed voice.

"My dear boy, for a man who has lived the most of his useful life on the trail, in the forest, it is as easy to find a man in a place like that as it would be for you to track a horse in a fresh fall of snow. Where he has rubbed the bark, where he has shoved aside the scum and moss which grows on the surface of such swamps, the way he would naturally go … it is all most elementary. It is after we get him out that our real trouble begins; to get him away, out of the country. If I had time—but never mind; at present, haste is everything."

Leyden was silent for over a mile; Giles respectfully held his peace.

"This negro Dessalines," said Leyden suddenly, "has no doubt gone straight back to savagery."

"Don't you think that he has had enough to make him do so?" asked Giles, ever loyal.

"More than enough for a negro; for any negro, no matter how civilized or well educated. You see, Giles, they have not so far to go; less far in fact than a dog, who for centuries has been the companion of civilized man, whereas negroes have been such for but very few 293