When Oroonoko arrived at our plantation, all our negroes left off work and came to see him.  When they saw that he was really the great prince of Coromantien, who had conquered them in battle and sold them into slavery, they cast themselves at his feet, crying out in their own language:  “Live, O king!  Long live, O king!” They kissed his feet and paid him divine homage—­for such is the nature of this people, that instead of bearing him any grudge for selling them into captivity, they were filled with awe and veneration for him.

Mr. Trefry was glad to find Oroonoko’s statement of his royal rank confirmed by the adoration of all the slaves.

“There’s one girl,” he said, “who did not come to greet you.  I am sure you will be delighted to find you have so beautiful a subject.  If it is possible for anyone to console you for the loss of Imoinda, she will do so.  To tell the truth, I’ve been in love with her myself, but I found that I could not win her.”

“I do not want to see her,” said Oroonoko.  “If I go back to Coromantien, I will not take any woman with me.  I vowed to Imoinda that I would never have any wife but her, and, though she is dead, I shall keep my vow.”

The next morning Trefry took Oroonoko for a walk, and by design brought him to the house of the beautiful slave.

“Clemene,” he said, “did you not hear that one of the princes of your people arrived in Surinam yesterday?  However you may fly from all white men, you surely ought to pay some respect to him.”

Oroonoko started when a girl came out, with her head bowed down as if she had resolved never to raise her eyes again to the face of a man.

“Imoinda!  Imoinda!” Oroonoko cried after a moment’s silence.  “Imoinda!”

It was she.  She looked up at the sound of his voice, and then tottered and fell down in a swoon, and Oroonoko caught her in his arms.  By degrees she came to herself; and it is needless to tell with what transport, what ecstasies of joy, the lovers beheld each other.  Mr. Trefry was infinitely pleased by this happy conclusion of the prince’s misadventures; and, leaving the lovers to themselves, he came to Parham House, and gave me an account of all that had happened.  In the afternoon, to the great joy of all the negroes, Oroonoko and Imoinda were married.  I was invited to the wedding, and I assured Oroonoko that he and his wife would be set free as soon as the lord-governor of the colony returned to Surinam.

III.—­The Taint of Slavery

Unhappily, the lord-governor was delayed for some months in the islands, and Oroonoko became impatient.  After the trick played upon him by the captain of the slave-ship, he had become exceedingly suspicious of the honesty and good faith of white men.  He was afraid that the overseer would keep him and his wife until their child was born, and make a slave of it.  At last, he grew so moody and sullen that many persons feared that he would incite the negroes to a mutiny.  In order to soothe the prince, I invited him and Imoinda to stay at my house, where I entertained them to the best of my ability.