? ? ? ? Abdul Mourak eyed him, frowningly. "What do you want now?" he asked.
? ? ? ? "My liberty," replied Werper.
? ? ? ? The Abyssinian sneered. "And you disturbed me thus to tell me what any fool might know," he said.
? ? ? ? "I can pay for it," said Werper.
? ? ? ? Abdul Mourak laughed loudly. "Pay for it?" he cried. "What with--the rags that you have upon your back? Or, perhaps you are concealing beneath your coat a thousand pounds of ivory. Get out! You are a fool. Do not bother me again or I shall have you whipped."
? ? ? ? But Werper persisted. His liberty and perhaps his life depended upon his success.
? ? ? ? "Listen to me," he pleaded. "If I can give you as much gold as ten men may carry will you promise that I shall be conducted in safety to the nearest English commissioner?"
? ? ? ? "As much gold as ten men may carry!" repeated Abdul Mourak. "You are crazy. Where have you so much gold as that?"
? ? ? ? "I know where it is hid," said Werper.
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