Such, then, was the appearance of the great market.  Toward the middle of the day the gaiety reached a climax; the noise became deafening.  The fury of the neglected venders, and the anger of the overcharged customers, were beyond description.  Thence frequent quarrels, and, as we know, few guardians of the peace to quell the fray in this howling crowd.

Toward the middle of the day, Alvez gave orders to bring the slaves, whom he wished to sell, to the square.  The crowd was thus increased by two thousand unfortunate beings of all ages, whom the trader had kept in pens for several months.  This “stock” was not in a bad condition.  Long rest and sufficient food had improved these slaves so as to look to advantage at the “lakoni.”  As for the last arrivals, they could not stand any comparison with them, and, after a month in the pens, Alvez could certainly have sold them with more profit.  The demands, however, from the eastern coast, were so great that he decided to expose and sell them as they were.

This was a misfortune for Tom and his three companions.  The drivers pushed them into the crowd that invaded the “tchitoka.”  They were strongly chained, and their glances told what horror, what fury and shame overwhelmed them.

“Mr. Dick is not there,” Bat said, after some time, during which he had searched the vast plain with his eyes.

“No,” replied Acteon, “they will not put him up for sale.”

“He will be killed, if he is not already,” added the old black.  “As for us, we have but one hope left, which is, that the same trader will buy us all.  It would be a great consolation not to be separated.”

“Ah! to know that you are far away from me, working like a slave, my poor, old father!” cried Bat, sobbing aloud.

“No,” said Tom.  “No; they will not separate us, and perhaps we might——­”

“If Hercules were here!” cried Austin.

But the giant had not reappeared.  Since the news sent to Dick Sand, they had heard no one mention either Hercules or Dingo.  Should they envy him his fate?  Why, yes; for if Hercules were dead, he was saved from the chains of slavery!

Meanwhile, the sale had commenced.  Alvez’s agents marched the various lots of men, women and children through the crowd, without caring if they separated mothers from their infants.  May we not call these beings “unfortunates,” who were treated only as domestic animals?

Tom and his companions were thus led from buyers to buyers.  An agent walked before them naming the price adjudged to their lot.  Arab or mongrel brokers, from the central provinces, came to examine them.  They did not discover in them the traits peculiar to the African race, these traits being modified in America after the second generation.  But these vigorous and intelligent negroes, so very different from the blacks brought from the banks of the Zambeze or the Loualaba, were all the more valuable.  They felt them, turned them, and looked at their teeth.  Horse-dealers thus examine the animals they wish to buy.  Then they threw a stick to a distance, made them run and pick it up, and thus observed their gait.