See him, then, running across the thick forest, no longer conscious even of what he was doing, always imagining he saw the precious insect, beating the air with his long arms like a gigantic field-spider.  Where he was going, how he would return, and if he should return, he did not even ask himself, and for a good mile he made his way thus, at the risk of being met by some native, or attacked by some beast.

Suddenly, as he passed near a thicket, a gigantic being sprang out and threw himself on him.  Then, as Cousin Benedict would have done with the manticore, that being seized him with one hand by the nape of the neck, with the other by the lower part of the back, and before he had time to know what was happening, he was carried across the forest.

Truly, Cousin Benedict had that day lost a fine occasion of being able to proclaim himself the happiest entomologist of the five parts of the world.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XVI.

A MAGICIAN.

When Mrs. Weldon, on the 17th of the month, did not see Cousin Benedict reappear at the accustomed hour, she was seized with the greatest uneasiness.  She could not imagine what had become of her big baby.  That he had succeeded in escaping from the factory, the enclosure of which was absolutely impassable, was not admissible.  Besides, Mrs. Weldon knew her cousin.  Had one proposed to this original to flee, abandoning his tin box and his collection of African insects, he would have refused without the shadow of hesitation.  Now, the box was there in the hut, intact, containing all that the savant had been able to collect since his arrival on the continent.  To suppose that he was voluntarily separated from his entomological treasures, was inadmissible.

Nevertheless, Cousin Benedict was no longer in Jose-Antonio Alvez’s establishment.

During all that day Mrs. Weldon looked for him persistently.  Little Jack and the slave Halima joined her.  It was useless.

Mrs. Weldon was then forced to adopt this sad hypothesis:  the prisoner had been carried away by the trader’s orders, for motives that she could not fathom.  But then, what had Alvez done with him?  Had he incarcerated him in one of the barracks of the large square?  Why this carrying away, coming after the agreement made between Mrs. Weldon and Negoro, an agreement which included Cousin Benedict in the number of the prisoners whom the trader would conduct to Mossamedes, to be placed in James W. Weldon’s hands for a ransom?

If Mrs. Weldon had been a witness of Alvez’s anger, when the latter learned of the prisoner’s disappearance, she would have understood that this disappearance was indeed made against his will.  But then, if Cousin Benedict had escaped voluntarily, why had he not let her into the secret of his escape?

However, the search of Alvez and his servants, which was made with the greatest care, led to the discovery of that mole-hill, which put the factory in direct communication with the neighboring forest.  The trader no longer doubted that the “fly-hunter” had fled by that narrow opening.  One may then judge of his fury, when he said to himself that this flight would doubtless be put to account, and would diminish the prize that the affair would bring him.