In the first moment he had felt amused.

He was so perfectly safe in the midst of his village.

But the next moment, and before he could cry out, a pair of handcuffs on the white man's knuckles had landed on his mouth, knocking the cry of alarm back down his throat.

Also, the white man's other fist had caught him under the ear and left him without further interest in what was happening.

When he came to, he found himself in the white man's whale-boat on the way to Berande.