"I'm shore plumb glad I kotched him," he said eagerly, "if thar's a right smart o' money in hit. If he's as right-down bad as ye says he is, I'm powerfully sorry I didn't wing 'im 'fore he got yer dawg."
Brant shook his head regretfully.
"It's my fault," he confessed. "I oughtn't to have taken the chance with Bruno alone. I should have had Jack along, too. With more than one dog, a man won't stand against 'em. He'll take to a tree." He shook off the depression that descended as he glanced down at the stiffening body of the beast. There was a forced cheerfulness in his tones when he continued: "But how did you get into the swamp? I take you to be from the mountains."
Zeke's manner suddenly indicated no small pride.
"I'm a sailor, suh," he explained, with great dignity. "I'm the cookin' chief on the fishin' steamer, Bonita."
Brant surveyed the mountaineer with quizzically appraising eyes.
"Been a sailor long?" he questioned, innocently.
"Wall, no, I hain't," Zeke conceded. His voice was reluctant. "I was only tuk on las' night. I hain't rightly begun sailorin' yit. Thet's how I c'd come arter thet gobbler." He pointed to the bird lying at the foot of the cypress. Abruptly, his thoughts veered again to the reward. "Oh, cracky! Jest think of all thet money earned in two minutes! Hit's what I come down out o' the mountains fer, an' hit 'pears like I done right. I'd shore be tickled to see all thet-thar money in dimes an' nickels, n' mebby a few quarters thrown in!"
"You're tied up near here?" Brant inquired.
"'Bout a mile over," was the answer. "Will ye take yer nigger thar first?"
"Yes, I know Captain Lee. He'll give me a chance at your gobbler, and then passage to Elizabeth City."
That same afternoon, The Bonita continued her voyage. The captain obligingly made a landing at Elizabeth City, where Brant lodged his prisoner, and where the gratified Zeke stowed in his wallet ten times as much money as he had ever before possessed at one time. Naturally, he was in a mood of much self-complacency, for, in addition to the money gain, his adventure had notably increased his prestige aboard ship, where Brant's praise for his prompt and efficient action was respectfully accepted. Yet, despite his contentment, the mountaineer found himself strangely troubled as he lay in his bunk, after the ship had got under way. It may be that his perturbation had a physical cause, at least in part, for there was more movement now as the vessel slid through the waves of Pamlico Sound. It was while he tossed restlessly, troubled over this unaccustomed inability to sleep, that there came a memory of the black bag: "I plumb fergot the dum hoodoo!" Zeke muttered, in huge disgust. "An' the chief said I must git another the first chance." Then he grinned vaingloriously into the darkness of the fore-peak. "But I reckon hit hain't put no cuss on me yit--seein' as how I got a job an' a peck o' money right smack off." Presently, however, his nervous mood suggested a sinister possibility. "P'rhaps, it don't work on land--only jest on the sea, or mebby jest whar it happens to be at. Hit wa'n't 'long with me when I ketched the nigger. I 'low I ought to 'a' got rid o' the pesky thing like the chief said."