378 DICK SANDS, THE BOY CAPTAIN. supply of cinnamon and othcr spices, no ingrédient being omitted which was likely to give a pungency to suit the Savage palate. The whole royal retînue formed a cîrcle round the kîng. Fascinated by the sight of the spirit, Moené Loonga came reeling up to the edge of the punch-bowl, and seemed ready to plunge hîmself head foremost înto it. Alvez held him back, at the same time placing a lucifcr in his hand. "Set ît ah'ght!" cried the slave-dealer, grînnîng slily as he spoke. The kîng applied the match to the surface of the spirit The effcct was înstantaneous. Hîgh above the edge of the bowl the blue flame rose and curled. To give intensîty to the process Alvez had added a sprînkling of sait to the mixture, and this caused the fire to cast upon the faces of ail around that lurid glarc which is generally associated with apparitions of ghosts and phantoms. Half intoxicated alrcady, the nc^roes ycllcd and gesticulated ; and joining hands, they pcrformcd a ficndish dancc around their monarch. Alvez stood and stirrcd the spirit with an enor- mous métal ladle, attached to a pôle, and as the fiâmes rose yet higher and higher they seemed to throw a more and more unearthly glamour ovcrthe aj^e-likc forms that circled in their wild career. Moené Loonga, in his eagerness, soon seized the ladle from the slave-dealer's hands, plunged it deep into the bowl, and bringing it up again full of the blazing punch, raîscd it to his lips. A horrible shrîek brought the dancers to a sudden stand- still. By a kind of spontaneous combustion, the king had taken fire internally ; though it was a fire that cmittcd little beat, it was none the less intense and consuming. In an instant one of the ministers in attendance ran to the king s assistance, but he, almost as much alcoliolizcd as his master, caught fire as well, and soon both monarch and minister lay writhing on the ground in unutterable agony. Not a soûl was ablc to lend a helping hand. Alvez and Ncgoro were at a loss what to do ; the courtiers dared not expose thcmselves to so terrible a fate ; the women had ail
