Emerging from this, they ran a few yards till they were opposite the gate, then walked leisurely across the open space, a distance of fifty paces or more, to the thatched hut where the sale of slaves was carried on.
There was nobody in this hut, but looking between the posts upon which it was supported, they could see by the light of the moon, now growing momentarily clearer, that a great and uproarious concourse of people was gathered beyond in front of the verandah of the Nest itself.
"Come on, Otter," whispered Leonard, "we must go among these gentry.
Watch me closely, do what I do, keep your weapons ready, and if it comes to blows, get behind my back and fight like a fiend.

Above all, don't be taken prisoner." Leonard spoke calmly, but his heart was in his mouth, and his sensations were such as must have been known to Daniel when he went into the lions' den, for, as in the case of the prophet, he felt that nothing short of a special Providence could save them.

They were round the shed now, and immediately in front of them was a mixed gathering of desperadoes--Portuguese, Arabs, Bastards, and black men of various tribes--such as Leonard had never seen in all his experience.
Villainy and greed were written on every countenance; it was a crew of human demons, and an extensive one.

These wretches, most of whom had already drunk too freely and were drinking more, stood with their backs to them, looking towards the verandah of the Nest.

On the steps of this verandah, surrounded by a choice group of companions, all of them gaudily dressed, a man was standing whom Leonard would have had no difficulty in identifying as the Dom Pereira, even without Otter's warning whisper of "See! The Yellow Devil!" This remarkable person demands some description as he stood in glory that night, at the apex and, though he knew it not, the conclusion of his long career of infamy.