Here he struck the suitor under the chin.
"Hol' you head up, Choo-ka!" he cried. "De white man no eat de likes ob you!"
Choo-ka would have blushed if he hadn't been black.
So Conal lost his nurse, and Choo-ka gained a bride. As, however, the girl had taken a great fancy for Jeannie, Frank gave the gorilla to her as a wedding gift, and Duncan presented her with a string of beautiful beads.
And so they were married, and no doubt lived, or will live, for my story does not date back any very extraordinary number of years, happy ever after.
The journey was now resumed, and with the exception of some adventures with pythons and alligators, they reached the river without much further trouble, and in a few days after this struck the outlying huts of the large Arab city of Lamoo, and were received in the most hospitable way, not only by the Portuguese, but by the Arabs, and even by the sultan himself.
A question now arose as to what they should do with the elephants. It would be impossible to take these to sea with them.
But a very wealthy Arab merchant offered to buy them, and after a considerable deal of haggling he became the purchaser, and the boys were paid in gold.
They had half expected to find a gun-boat here, but were disappointed.
So after waiting for a whole week, they paid poor Carrambo off, after telling him that they meant to revisit his country another day and open the "debbil pits" in spite of old Goo-goo, then took passage in a large Arab dhow for Zanzibar, with all their goods and chattels, their gold and diamonds.
Two weeks after this there landed on the white sandy beach of that place, three as jolly and as happy boys as anyone ever shook hands with.
Zanzibar! The spotless sand, on which the blue waves broke lazily into foam, sparkled like silver in the rays of the noonday sun. Higher up were the walls of many a palatial-looking building, consulates, most of them, and each one flying the flag of its country, and with, here and there, gigantic cocoa-palms waving their dark-green foliage between.
Conspicuous above all, the palace of the Sultan, with above it the blood-red Arab flag.
There were many ships in the roadstead; some men-o'-war too, but none belonging to Her Majesty the Queen.