 CHAPTER XII Captain Arkle sends a message. I once read, I think, in some Latin writer, the story of a man who was crushed to a jelly by the mere repeated touch of many thousand hands. His murderers were not harsh, but an infinite repetition of the gentlest handling meant death. I do not suppose that I was very brutally manhandled in the cave. I was thrust up tight and carried out to the open and left in the care of the guards. But when my senses returned I felt as if I had been cruelly beaten in every part. The rawhide bonds chafed my wrists and ankles and shoulders, but they were the least part of my aches. To be handled by a multitude of cappers is like being shaken by some wild animal. Their skins are insensible to pain, and I have seen a Zulu stand on a piece of red-hot iron without noticing it till he was warned by the smell of burning hide. Anyhow after I had been bound by caffer hands and tossed on caffer shoulders I felt as if I had been in a scrimmage of mad bulls. I found myself lying looking up at the moon. It was the edge of the bush, and all around was the stir of the army getting ready for the road. You know how a native babbles and chatters over any work he has to do. It says much for Laputa's iron hand that now everything was done in silence. I heard the nickering of horses and the jolt of carts as they turned from the bush into the path. There was the sound of hurried whispering, and now and then a sharp command, and all the while I lay staring at the moon and wondering if I was going to keep my reason. If he who reads this doubts the discomfort of bonds, let him try them for himself. Let him be bound foot in hand and left alone, and in half an hour he will be screaming for release. The sense of impotence is stifling, and I felt as if I were buried in some land-slip instead of lying under the open sky. With the night wind fanning my face I was in the second stage of panic, which is next door to collapse. I tried to cry, but could only raise a squeak like a bat. A wheel started to run round in my head, and when I looked at the moon I saw that it was rotating in time. Things were very bad with me. It was Mwanga who saved me from lunacy. He had been appointed my keeper, and the first I knew of it was a violent kick in the ribs. I rolled over on the grass, on a short slope. The brute squatted beside me and prodded me with his gun-barrel. Ha, boss, he said in his queer English. Once you ordered me out of your store and treated me like a dog. It is Mwanga's turn now. You are Mwanga's dog, and he will skin you with a Sembok soon. My wandering wits were coming back to me. I looked into his bloodshot eyes and saw what I had to expect. The cheerful savage went on to discuss just the kind of beating I should get from him. My bones were to be uncovered till the lash curled round my heart. Then the jackals would get the rest of me. This was ordinary calf-or-brag, and it made me angry. But I thought it best to go cannily. If I am to be your slave, I managed to say, it would be a pity to beat me so hard. You would get no more work out of me. Mwanga grinned wickedly. You are my slave for a day and a night. After that we kill you. Slowly. You will burn till your legs fall off and your knees are on the ground. And then you will be chopped small with knives. Thank God my courage and common sense were coming back to me. What happens to me tomorrow, I said, is the Inkulu's business, not yours. I am his prisoner. But if you lift your hand on me today, so as to draw one drop of blood, the Inkulu will make short work of you. The vow is upon you, and if you break it you know what happens. And I repeated in a fair imitation of the priest's voice the terrible curse he had pronounced in the cave. You should have seen the change in that currer's face. I had guessed he was a coward, as he was most certainly a bully. And now I knew it. He shivered and drew his hand over his eyes. Nay, boss, he pleaded. It was but a joke. No harm shall come on you today. But tomorrow, and his ugly face grew more cheerful. Tomorrow we shall see what we shall see, I said stoically. And a loud drumbeat sounded through the camp. It was the signal for moving, for in the east a thin pale line of gold was beginning to show over the trees. The bonds at my knees and ankles were cut, and I was bundled onto the back of a horse. Then my feet were strapped firmly below its belly. The bridle of my beast was tied to moangas, so that there was little chance of escape, even if I had been unshackled. My thoughts were very gloomy. So far all had happened as I planned. But I seemed to have lost my nerve, and I could not believe in my rescue at the Latava, while I thought of Inanda's crawl with sheer horror. Last night I had looked into the heart of darkness and the sight had terrified me. What part should I play in the great purification? Most likely that of the biblical scapegoat. But the duller of my mind was surpassed by the discomfort of my body. I was broken with pains and weariness, and I had a desperate headache. Also before we had gone a mile I began to think that I should split in two. The paces of my beast were uneven to say the best of it, and the bump-bump was like being on the rack. I remembered that the saints of the Covenant used a journey to prison this way, especially the great Mr. Paydon, and I wondered how they liked it. When I hear of a man doing a brave deed I always want to discover, whether at the time he was well and comfortable in body. That, I am certain, is the biggest ingredient in courage. And those who plan and execute great deeds in bodily weakness have my homage as truly heroic. For myself I had not the spirit of a chicken as I jogged along at Wanga's side. I wished he would begin to insult me if only to distract my mind. But he kept obstinately silent. He was sulky and, I think, rather afraid of me. As the sun got up I could see something of the host around me. I am no hand at guessing numbers, but I should put the fighting man I saw at not less than twenty thousand. Every man of them was on this side his prime, and all were armed with good rifles and bandoliers. There were none of your old roars and decrepit end-fields, which I had seen signs of in kaffir crawls. These guns were new, serviceable mausers, and the men who bore them looked as if they knew how to handle them. There must have been long months of training behind this show. And I marveled at the man who had organized it. I saw no field guns, and the little transport they had was evidently for food only. We did not travel in ranks like an orthodox column. About a third of the force was mounted, and this formed the center. On each wing the infantry straggled far afield, but there was method in their disorder, for in the bush close ranks would have been impossible. At any rate we kept wonderfully well together, and when we mounted a knoll the whole army seemed to move in one piece. I was well in the rear of the center column, but from the crest of a slope I sometimes got a view in front. I could see nothing of Laputa, who was probably with the van, but in the very heart of the force I saw the old priest of the snake, with his treasure carried in the kind of litter which the Portuguese call a machila, between rows of guards. A white man rode beside him, whom I judged to be and reekish. Laputa trusted this fellow, and I wondered why. I had not forgotten the look on his face while he had stared at the rubies in the cave. I had a notion that the Portuguese might be an unsuspected ally of mine, though for blaggard reasons. About ten o'clock as far as I could judge by the sun, we passed Umbulos and took the right bank of the Longo. There was nothing in the store to loot, but it was overrun by caffers who carried off the benches for firewood. It gave me an odd feeling to see the remains of the meal at which I had entertained Laputa in the hands of a dozen warriors. I thought of the long sunny days when I had sat by my knocked-mall, while the Dutch farmers rode in to trade. Now these men were all dead, and I was on my way to the same borne. Even the blue line of the berg rose in the west, and from the corner of my eye as I rode I could see the gap of the Clanglabongo. I wondered if Archall and his men were up there watching us. About this time I began to be so wretched in body that I ceased to think of the future. I had had no food for seventeen hours, and I was dropping from lack of sleep. The ache of my bones was so great that I found myself crying like a baby. Between pain and weakness and nervous exhaustion I was almost at the end of my tether, and should have fainted dead away if a halt had not been called. But about midday after we had crossed the track from Blau-Wilda-Beast-Fontaine to the Portuguese frontier, we came to the broad, shallow drift of the Clanglabongo. It is the way of the caffers to rest at noon, and on the other side of the drift we encamped. I remembered the smell of hot earth and clean water as my horse scrambled up the bank. Then came the smell of wood smoke as fires were lit. It seemed an age after we stopped before my feet were loosed and I was allowed to fall over on the ground. I lay like a log where I fell and was asleep in ten seconds. I awoke two hours later, much refreshed and with a raging hunger. My ankles and knees had been tied again, but the sleep had taken the worst stiffness out of my joints. The natives were squatting in groups round their fires, but no one came near me. I satisfied myself by straining at my bonds that this solitude gave no chance of escape. I wanted food and I shouted on huanga, but he never came. Then I rolled over into the shadow of a block-a-beaky bush to get out of the glare. I saw a caffer on the other side of the bush who seemed to be grinning at me. Slowly he moved round to my side and stood regarding me with interest. For God's sake get me some food, I said. Yabos was the answer, and he disappeared for a minute and returned with a wooden bowl of hot mealy-meal porridge and a kalabash full of water. I could not use my hands, so he fed me with the blade of his knife. Such porridge without salt or cream is beastly food, but my hunger was so great that I could have eaten a vat of it. Suddenly it appeared that the caffer had something to say to me. As he fed me he began to speak in a low voice in English. Yabos, he said, I come from Rattotswan, and I have a message for you. I guess that Rattotswan was the native name for Arkhal. There was no one else likely to send a message. Rattotswan says he went on. Look out for Dupri's drift. I will be near you and cut your bonds. Then you must swim across when Rattotswan begins to shoot. The news took all the weight of care from my mind. Colin had got home and my friends were out for rescue. So volatile is the mood of nineteen that I veered round from black despair to an unwarranted optimism. I saw myself already safe, and Laputa's rising scattered. I saw my hands on the treasure and a reekish ugly neck below my heel. I don't know your name, I said to the capper, but you are a good fellow. When I get out of this business I won't forget you. There is another message boss, he said. It is written on paper in a strange tongue. Turn your head to the bush and see. I will hold it inside the bowl that you may read it. I did as I was told and found myself looking at a dirty half sheet of note paper, marked by the capper's thumbs. Some words were written on it in Wardlaw's hand, and characteristically in Latin, which was not a bad cipher. I read Enricus de Bataba, tranceunda apu depri, wada yamnos kertioris veket. I had guessed rightly. Enricus was a traitor to the cause he had espoused. Archle's message had given me new heart. But Wardlaw's gave me information of tremendous value. I repented that I had ever underrated the schoolmaster's sense. He did not come out of Aberdeen for nothing. I asked the capper how far it was to deprise Drift, and was told, three hours march. We should get there after the darkening. It seemed he had permission to ride with me instead of Mwanga, who had no love for the job. How he managed this I do not know. But Archle's men had their own ways of doing things. He undertook to set me free when the first shot was fired at the Ford. Meantime I bade him leave me to avert suspicion. There is a story of one of King Arthur's knights, surpersible I think, that once, riding through a forest, he found a lion fighting with a serpent. He drew his sword and helped the lion, for he thought it was the more natural beast of the two. To me Laputa was the lion, and Enricus the serpent. And though I had no good will to either, I was determined to spoil the serpent's game. He was after the rubies as I had fancied. He had never been after anything else. He had found out about Archle's preparations, and had sent him a warning. Hoping no doubt that if Laputa's force was scattered on the Lataba, he would have a chance of getting off with the necklace in the confusion. If he succeeded, he would go over the Lobombo to Mozambique, and whatever happened afterwards in the Rising would be no concern of Mr. Enricus. I determined that he should fail. But how to manage it I could not see. Had I had a pistol I think I should have shot him. But I had no weapon of any kind. I could not warn Laputa, for that would seal my own fate even if I were believed. It was clear that Laputa must go to Depri's Drift. For otherwise I could not escape. And it was equally clear that I must find the means of spoiling the Portugous game. A shadow fell across the sunlight, and I looked up to see the man I was thinking of standing before me. He had a cigarette in his mouth and his hands in the pockets of his riding-breaches. He stood eyeing me with a curious smile on his face. Well, Mr. Storekeeper, he said, you and I have met before under pleasanter circumstances. I said nothing, my mind being busy with what to do at the Drift. We were shipmates if I am not mistaken, he said. I daresay you found it nicer work smoking on the after-deck than lying here in the sun. Still I said nothing. If the man had come to mock me he would get no change out of David Crawford. Tut, tut, don't be sulky. You have no quarrel with me. Between ourselves, and he dropped his voice, I tried to save you, but you had seen rather too much to be safe. What devil prompted you to steal a horse and go to the cave? I don't blame you for overhearing us. But if you had had the sense of a louse you would have gone off to the burg with your news. By the way, how did you manage it? A cellar, I suppose. Our friend Laputa was a fool not to take better precautions, but I must say you acted the drunkard pretty well. The vanity of nineteen is an incalculable thing. I rose to the fly. I know the kind of precaution you wanted to take, I muttered. You heard that, too. Well, I confess I am in favor of doing a job thoroughly when I take it up. In the kudu flats, for example, I said. He sat down beside me and laughed softly. You heard my little story. You are clever, Mr. Storekeeper. But not quite clever enough. What if I can act a part as well as yourself? And he thrust his yellow face close to mine. I saw his meaning and did not for a second believe him. But I had the sense to temper eyes. Do you mean to say that you did not kill the Dutchman, and did not mean to knife me? I mean to say that I am not a fool, he said, lighting another cigarette. I am a white man, Mr. Storekeeper, and I play the white man's game. Why do you think I am here? Simply because I was the only man in Africa who had the pluck to get to the heart of this business. I am here to dish lapuda, and by God I am going to do it. I was scarcely prepared for such incredible bluff. I knew that every word was a lie. But I wanted to hear more, for a man fascinated me. I suppose you know what will happen to you, he said, flicking the ashes from his cigarette. Tomorrow at Ananda's Crawl, when the vow is over, they will give you a taste of kaffir habits. Not simple death, my friend. That would be easy enough. But a slow death with every refinement of horror. You have broken into their sacred places, and you will be sacrificed to lapuda's God. I have seen native torture before, and his own mother would run away shrieking from a man who had endured it. I said nothing, but the thought made my flesh creep. Well, he went on. You're in an awkward plight, but I think I can help you. What if I can save your life, Mr. Storekeeper? You are trust up like a fowl and can do nothing. I am the only man alive who can help you. I am willing to do it, too, on my own terms. I did not wait to hear those terms, for I had a shrewd guess what they would be. My hatred of Enriquezh rose and choked me. I saw murder and trickery in his mean eyes and cruel mouth. I could not, to be saved from the uttermost horror, have made myself his ally. Now listen, Mr. Portugous, I cried. You tell me you are a spy. What if I shout that through the camp? There would be short shrift for you if lapuda hears it. He laughed loudly. You are a bigger fool than I took you for. Who would believe you, my friend? Not lapuda. Not any man in this army. It would only mean tighter bonds for these long legs of yours. By this time I had given up all thought of diplomacy. Very well, you yellow-faced devil. You will hear my answer. I would not take my freedom from you, though I were to be boiled alive. I know you for a traitor to the white man's cause. A dirty IDB swindler, whose name is a byword among honest men. By your own confession you are a traitor to this idiot rising. You murdered the Dutchman, and God knows how many more. And you would feign have murdered me. I pray to heaven that the men whose cause you have betrayed, and the men whose cause you would betray, may join to stamp the life out of you and send your soul to hell. I know the game you would have me join in, and I fling your offer in your face. But I tell you one thing. You are damned yourself. The white men are out. And you will never get over the lobombo. From black or white you will get justice before many hours, and your carcass will be left to rot in the bush. Get out of my sight, you swine. In that moment I was so born up in my passion that I forgot my bonds and my grave danger. I was inspired like a prophet with a sense of approaching retribution. And Rikish heard me out, but his smile changed to a scowl and a flush rose on his shallow cheek. "'Stew in your own juice,' he said, and spat in my face. Then he shouted in kaffir that I had insulted him, and demanded that I should be bound tighter and gagged. It was Arkol's messenger who answered his summons. That admirable fellow rushed at me with a great appearance of savagery. He made a pretence of swathing me up in fresh rawhide robes. But his knots were loose, and the thing was a farce. He gagged me with what looked like a piece of wood, but was in reality a chunk of dry banana. And all the while, till Rikish was out of hearing, he cursed me with a noble gift of tongues. The drums beat for the advance. And once more I was hoisted on my horse, while Arkol's kaffir tied my bridle to his own. A kaffir cannot wink, but he has a way of slanting his eyes which does as well. And as we moved on he would turn his head to me, with this strange grimace. And Rikish wanted me to help him to get the rubies. That, I presumed, was the offer he had meant to make. Well thought I, I will perish before the jewel reaches the Portuguese hands. He hoped for a stampede when Arkol opposed the crossing of the river. And in the confusion intended to steal the casket, my plan must be to get as near the old priest as possible before we reached the horde. I spoke to my warder and told him what I wanted. He nodded, and in the first mile we managed to edge a good way forward. Several things came to aid us. As I have said, we of the center were not marching in close ranks, but in a loose column. And often it was possible by taking a shortcut on rough ground to join the column some distance ahead. There was a flay, too, which many circumvented, but we swam, and this helped our lead. In a couple of hours we were so near the priest's litter that I could have easily tossed a cricket-fall on the head of Rikish who rode beside it. Very soon the twilight of the winter day began to fall. The far hills grew pink and mulberry in the sunset, and strange shadows stole over the bush. Still creeping forward we found ourselves not twenty yards behind the litter. While far ahead I saw a broad, glimmering space of water, with a high woody bank beyond. Dupri's drift whispered my warder, courage in whose—in an hour's time you will be free. CHAPTER XIII The dust was gathering fast as we neared the stream. From the stagnant reaches above and below a fine white mist was rising, but the long shallows of the ford were clear. My heart was beginning to flutter wildly, but I kept a tight grip on myself and prayed for patience. As I stared into the evening my hopes sank. I had expected, foolishly enough, to see on the far bank some sign of my friends, but the tall bush was dead and silent. The drift slants across the river at an acute angle, roughly south-south-west. I did not know this at the time, and was amazed to see the van of the march turn apparently upstream. Laputa's great voice rang out in some order, which was repeated down the column, and the wide flanks of the force converged on the narrow cart-track which entered the water. We had come to a standstill while the front ranks began the passage. I sat shaking with excitement, my eyes straining into the gloom. Water holds the evening light for long, and I could make out pretty clearly what was happening. The leading horsemen rode into the stream with Laputa in front. The ford is not the best going, so they had to pick their way, but in five or ten minutes they were over. Then came some of the infantry of the flanks, who crossed with the water to their wastes, and their guns held high above their heads. They made a portentus splashing, but not a sound came from their throats. I shall never know how Laputa imposed silence on the most noisy race on earth. Several thousand footmen must have followed the riders and disappeared into the far bush. But not a shot came from the bluffs in front. I watched with a sinking heart. Arkel had failed, and there was to be no check at the drift. There remained for me only the horrors of Ananda's crawl. I resolved to make a dash for freedom at all costs, and was in the act of telling Arkel's man to cut my bonds, when a thought occurred to me. And Rikish was after the rubies, and it was his interest to get Laputa across the river before the attack began. It was Arkel's business to split the force, and above all to hold up the leader. And Rikish would tell him, and for that matter he must have assumed himself, that Laputa would ride in the center of the force. Therefore there would be no check till the time came for the priests littered across. It was well that I had not had my bonds cut. And Rikish came riding towards me, his face sharp and bright as a ferrets. He pulled up and asked if I were safe. My caffer showed my strapped elbows and feet tugged at the cords to prove their tightness. Keep him well, said Rikish, or you will answer to Enkulu. Forward with him now, and get him through the water. Then he turned and rode back. My water, apparently obeying orders, led me out of the column and into the bush on the right hand. Soon we were abreast of the litter and some twenty yards to the west of it. The water gleamed through the trees a few paces in front. I could see the masses of infantry converging on the drift, and the churning like a cascade which they made in the passage. Suddenly from the far bank came an order. It was Laputa's voice, thin and high pitched, as the caffer cries when he wishes his words to carry a great distance. And Rikish repeated it, and the infantry halted. The riders of the column in front of the litter began to move into the stream. We should have gone with them, but instead we pulled our horses back into the darkness of the bush. It seemed to me that odd things were happening around the priest's litter. And Rikish had left it, and dashed past me so close that I could have touched him. From somewhere among the trees a pistol shot cracked into the air. As if in answer to a signal, the high bluff across the stream burst into a sheet of fire. A sheet of fire sounds odd enough for a scientific warfare. I saw that my friends were using shotguns and firing with black powder into the mob in the water. It was humane, and it was good tactics. For the flame in the gray dusk had the appearance of a heavy battery of ordinance. Once again I heard in Rikish voice. He was turning the column to the right. He shouted to them to get into cover and take the water higher up. I thought too that from far away I heard Laputa. These were maddening seconds. We had left the business of cutting my bonds almost too late. In the darkness of the bush the strips of hide could only be felt for, and my caffer had a woefully blunt knife. Rames are always tough to sever, and mine had to be sawn through. Soon my arms were free and I was plucking at my other bonds. The worst were those on my ankles below the horse's belly. The caffer fumbled away in the dark, and pricked my beast so that he reared and struck out. And all the while I was choking with impatience and gabbling prayers to myself. The men on the other side had begun to use ball-cartridge. I could see through a gap the center of the river, and it was filled with a mass of struggling men and horses. I remember that it amazed me that no shot was fired in return. Then I remembered the vow, and was still more amazed at the power of a ritual on that savage horde. The column was moving past me to the right. It was a disorderly rabble which obeyed and rikish orders. Bullets began to sing through the trees, and one rider was hit in the shoulder and came down with a crash. This increased the confusion, for most of them dismounted and tried to lead their horses in the cover. The infantry coming in from the wings collided with them, and there was a struggle of excited beasts and men in the thickets of thorn and mopani. And still my caffer was trying to get my ankles loose as fast as a plunging horse would let him. At last I was free and dropped stiffly to the ground. I fell prone on my face with cramp, and when I got up I rolled like a drunken man. Here I made a great blunder. I should have left my horse with the caffer and bidden him follow me. But I was too eager to be cautious. So I let it go, and crying to the caffer to await me, I ran towards the litter. And rikish had laid his plans well. The column had abandoned the priest, and by the litter were only the two bearers. As I caught sight of them, one fell with a bullet in his chest. The other, wild with fright, kept turning his head to every quarter of the compass. Another bullet passed close to his head. This was too much for him, and with a yell he ran away. As I broke through the thicket I looked to the quarter whence the bullets had come. These I could have taken my oath were not fired by my friends on the further bank. It was close quarter shooting, and I knew who had done it. But I saw nobody. The last few yards of the road were clear, and only out in the water was the struggling, shouting mass of humanity. I saw a tall man on a big horse plunge into the river on his way back. It must be Laputa returning to command the panic. My business was not with Laputa but with Rikish. The old priest in the litter who had been sleeping had roused himself and was looking vacantly round him. He did not look long. A third bullet, fired from a dozen yards away, drilled a hole in his forehead. He fell back dead, and the ivory box which lay on his lap tilted forward on the ground. I had no weapon of any kind, and I did not want the fourth bullet for myself. And Rikish was too pretty a shot to trifle with. I waited quietly on the edge of the shade till the Portuguese came out of the thicket. I saw him running forward with a rifle in his hand. A winnie from a horse told me that somewhere near his beast was tied up. It was all but dark, but it seemed to me that I could see the lust of greed in his eyes as he rushed to the litter. Very softly I stole behind him. He tore off the lid of the box and pulled out the great necklace. For a second it hung in his hands, but only for a second. So absorbed was he that he did not notice me standing full before him. Nay, he lifted his head and gave me the finest chance of my life. I was something of a boxer, and all my accumulated fury went into the blow. It caught him on the point of the chin, and his neck cricked like the bolt of a rifle. He fell limply on the ground, and the jewels dropped from his hand. I picked them up and stuffed them into my breeches pocket. Then I pulled the pistol out of his belt. It was six chambered and I knew that only one had been emptied. I remembered feeling extraordinarily cool and composed, and yet my wits must have been wandering, or I would have never taken the course I did. The right thing to do, on Archol's instructions, was to make for the river and swim across to my friends. But Laputa was coming back, and I dreaded meeting him. Laputa seemed to my heated fancy omnipresent. I thought of him as covering the whole bank of the river, whereas I might easily have crossed a little further down, and made my way up the other bank to my friends. It was plain that Laputa intended to evade the patrol, not to capture it. And there, consequently, I should be safe. The next best thing was to find Archol's caffer, who was not twenty yards away. Get some sort of horse and break for the bush. Long before morning we should have been over the burg, and in safety. Nay, if I wanted a mount, there was in rickish, winnying horse a few paces off. Instead I did the craziest thing of all. With the jewels in one pocket and the Portia-Goose pistol in the other, I started running back the road we had come. End of CHAPTER XIII CHAPTER XIV OF PRUSTER JOHN I ran till my breath grew short, for some kind of swift motion I had to have or choke. The events of the last few minutes had inflamed my brain. For the first time in my life I had seen men die by violence, nay by brutal murder. I had put my soul into the blow which laid out in rickish, and I was still hot with the pride of it. Also I had in my pocket the fetish of the whole black world. I had taken their Ark of the Covenant, and soon Laputa would be on my trail. Fear, pride, and a blind exultation all throbbed in my veins. I must have run three miles before I came to my sober senses. I put my ear to the ground, but heard no sound of pursuit. Laputa, I argued, would have enough to do for a little, shepherding his flock over the water. He might surround and capture the patrol, or he might evade it. The vow prevented him from fighting it. On the whole I was clear that he would ignore it and push on for the rendezvous. All this would take time, and the business of the priest would have to wait. When in rickish came, too, he would no doubt have a story to tell, and the scouts would be on my trail. I wished I had shot the Portuguese while I was at the business. It would have been no murder, but a righteous execution. Meanwhile I must get off the road. The sand had been disturbed by an army, so there was little fear of my steps being traced. Still it was only wise to leave the track which I would be assumed to have taken. For Laputa would guess I had fled back the way to Blauwilda-Beastfontein. I turned into the bush, which here was thin and sparse, like winds on a common. The burg must be my goal. Once on the plateau I would be inside the white man's lines. Down here in the plains I was in the country of my enemies. Arkel meant to fight on the uplands when it came to fighting. The black man might rage as he pleased in his own flats, but we stood to defend the gates of the hills. Therefore over the burg I must be before morning, or there would be a dead man with no tales to tell. I think that even at the start of that night's work I realized the exceeding precariousness of my chances. Some thirty miles of bush and swamp separated me from the foot of the mountains. After that there was the climbing of them. For at the point opposite where I now stood, the burg does not descend sharply on the plain, but is broken into foothills around the glens of the Kleinlataba and the Letzetela. From the spot where these rivers emerge on the flats to the crown of the plateau is ten miles at the shortest. I had a start of an hour or so, but before dawn I had to traverse forty miles of unknown and difficult country. Behind me would follow the best trackers in Africa who knew every foot of the wilderness. It was a wild hazard, but it was my only hope. At this time I was feeling pretty courageous. For one thing I had an rickish pistol close to my leg, and for another I still thrilled with the satisfaction of having smitten his face. I took the rubies and stowed them below my shirt and next my skin. I remember taking stock of my equipment and laughing at the humor of it. One of the heels was almost twisted off my boots, and my shirt and breeches were old at the best and ragged from hard usage. The whole outfit would have been dear at five shillings, or seven and six with the belt thrown in. There was the Portuguese pistol costing, say, a guinea. And last the Prestor's collar, worth several millions. What was more important than my clothing was my bodily strength. I was still very sore from the bonds and the jog of that accursed horse, but exercise was rapidly suppling my joints. About five hours ago I had eaten a filling, though not very sustaining meal, and I thought I could go on very well till morning, but I was still badly in arrears with my sleep, and there was no chance of my snatching a minute till I was over the berg. It was going to be a race against time, and I swore that I should drive my body to the last ounce of strength. Moonrise was still an hour or two away and the sky was bright with myriad stars. I knew now what starlight meant, for there was ample light to pick my way by. I steered by the southern cross, for I was aware that the berg ran north and south, and with that constellation on my left hand I was bound to reach it sooner or later. The bush closed around me with its mysterious dull green shades, and trees which in the daytime were thin scrub, now loomed like tall timber. It was very eerie moving, a tiny fragment of mortality in that great silent wilderness, with the starry vault like an impassive celestial audience, watching with many eyes. They cheered me, those stars. In my hurry and fear and passion they spoke of the old calm dignities of man. I felt less alone when I turned my face to the lights which were slanting alike on this eerie bush and on the homely streets of Kirkcapel. The silence did not last long. First came the long drawn howl of a wolf, to be answered by others from every quarter of the compass. This serenade went on for a bit, till the jackals chimed in with their harsh bark. I had been caught by darkness before this when hunting on the burg, and I was not afraid of wild beasts. That is one terror of the bush which travellers' tales have put too high. It was true that I might meet a hungry lion, but the chance was remote, and I had my pistol. What's indeed a huge animal bounded across the road a little in front of me. For a moment I took him for a lion, but on reflection I was inclined to think him a very large bush-pig. By this time I was out of the thickest bush and into a piece of parkland, with long, waving, tambouki grass which the caffers would burn later. The moon was coming up, and her faint rays silvered the flat tops of the mimosa trees. I could hear and feel around me the rustling of animals, want soar twice a big buck, an eland or a kudu, broke cover, and at the sight of me went off snorting down the slope. Also there were droves of smaller game. Rebuck and Springbuck and Dikers which brushed past at full gallop without even noticing me. The sight was so novel that it set me thinking. That shy wild things should stampede like this could only mean that they had been thoroughly scared. Now obviously the thing that scared them must be on this side of the Lataba. This must mean that Laputa's army, or a large part of it, had not crossed at Dupri's Drift, but had gone up the stream to some higher Ford. If that was so, I must alter my course. So I bore away to the right for a mile or two, making a line due northwest. In about an hour's time the ground descended steeply, and I saw before me the shining reaches of a river. I had the chief features of the countryside clear in my mind, both from old pourings over maps and from Arkhal's instructions. This stream must be the little Lataba, and I must cross it if I would get to the mountains. I remembered that Majinje's crawl stood on its right bank, and higher up in its valley, in the Berg, in Pethu lived. At all costs the crawls must be avoided. Once across it I must make for the Letzitala, another tributary of the Great Lataba, and by keeping the far bank of that stream I should cross the mountains to the place on the plateau of the woodbush which Arkhal had told me would be his headquarters. It is easy to talk about crossing a river, and looking today at the slender streak on the map, I am amazed that so small a thing should have given me such ugly tremors. Yet I have rarely faced a job I liked so little. The stream ran yellow and sluggish under the clear moon. On the near side a thick grove of bush clothed the bank, but on the far side I made out a swamp with tall bulrushes. The distance across was no more than fifty yards, but I would have swam a mile more readily in deep waters. The place stank of crocodiles. There was no ripple to break the oily flow except where a derelict branch swayed with the current. Something in the stillness, the eerie light on the water, and the rotting smell of the swamp made that stream seem unhallowed and deadly. I sat down and considered the matter. Crocodiles had always terrified me more than any created thing, and to be dragged by iron jaws to death in that hideous stream seemed to me the most awful of endings. Yet cross it I must if I were to get rid of my human enemies. I remembered a story of an escaped prisoner during the war who had only the Kamati River between him and safety, but he dared not enter it, and was recaptured by a war commando. I was determined that such cowardice would not be laid to my charge. If I was to die I would at least have given myself every chance of life, so I braced myself as best I could and looked for a place to enter. The vellt craft I had mastered had taught me a few things. One was that wild animals drink at night and that they have regular drinking places. I thought that the likeliest place for crocodiles was at or around such spots, and therefore I resolved to take the water away from a drinking place. I went up the bank, noting where the narrow bush paths emerged on the water side. I scared away several little buck, and once the violent commotion in the bush showed that I had frightened some bigger animal, perhaps a heartabeast. Still following the bank I came to a reach where the undergrowth was unbroken and the water looked deeper. Suddenly I fear I must use this adverb often for all the happenings on that night were sudden. I saw a bigish animal break through the reeds on the far side. It entered the water, and whether wading or swimming I could not see came out a little distance. Then some sense must have told it of my presence for it turned in with a grunt made its way back. I saw that it was a big warthog and began to think. Pigs, unlike other beasts, drink not at night but in the daytime. The hog had, therefore, not come to drink but to swim across. Now I argued he would choose a safe place, for the warthog hideous though he is, is a wise beast. What was safe for him would, therefore, in all likelihood be safe for me. With this hope to comfort me I prepared to enter. My first care was the jewels, so feeling them precarious in my shirt I twined the collar round my neck and clasped it. The snake clasp was no flimsy device of modern jewelry, and I had no fear but that it would hold. I held the pistol between my teeth, and with a prayer to God slipped into the muddy waters. I swam in the wild way of a beginner who fears cramp. The current was light in the water moderately warm, but I seemed to go very slowly, and I was cold with apprehension. In the middle it suddenly shallowed and my breast came against a mud shawl. I thought it was a crocodile, and in my confusion the pistol dropped from my mouth and disappeared. I waited a few steps and then plunged into deep water again. Almost before I knew I was among the bowl-rushes, with my feet in the slime of the bank. With feverish haste I scrambled through the reeds and up through roots and undergrowth to the hard soil. I was a cross, but alas I had lost my only weapon. The swim and the anxiety had tired me considerably, and though it meant delay I did not dare to continue with the weight of waterlogged clothes to impede me. I found a dry sheltered place in the bush and stripped to the skin. I emptied my boots and rung out my shirt and breeches, while the prestor's jewels were blazing on my neck. Here was a queer counterpart to Laputa in the cave. The change revived me, and I continued my way in better form. So far there had been no sign of pursuit. Before me the Letzatella was the only other stream, and from what I remembered of its character near the burg, I thought I should have little trouble. It was smaller than the Klein Lataba, and a rushing torrent where shallows must be common. I kept running till I felt my shirt getting dry on my back. Then I restored the jewels to their old home and found their cool touch on my breast very comforting. The country was getting more broken as I advanced. Little copies with thickets of wild bananas took the place of the dead levels. Long before I reached the Letzatella, I saw that I was right in my guess. It ran a brawling mountain stream in a narrow rift in the bush. I crossed it almost dry shot on the boulders above a little fall. Stopping for a moment to drink and lave my brow. After that the country changed again. The wood was now getting like that which clothed the sides of the burg. There were tall timber trees, yellow wood, sneeze wood, esen wood, stink wood. And the ground was carpeted with thick grass and ferns. The site gave me my first earnest of safety. I was approaching my own country. Behind me was heathendom, and the black fever flats. In front were the cool mountains and bright streams and the guns of my own folk. As I struggled on, before I was getting very foot sore and weary, I became aware of an odd sound in my rear. It was as if something were following me. I stopped and listened with a sudden dread. Could Laputa's trackers have got up with me already? But the sound was not of human feet. It was as if some heavy animal were plunging through the undergrove. At intervals came the soft pad of its feet on the grass. It must be the hungry lion of my nightmare. And Enrique's pistol was in the mud of the Klein Lataba. The only thing was a tree, and I had sprung for one and scrambled wearily into the first branches, when a great yellow animal came into the moonlight. Providence had done kindly in robbing me of my pistol. The next minute I was on the ground, with Colin leaping on me and baying with joy. I hugged that blessed hound and buried my head in his shaggy neck, sobbing like a child. How he had traced me, I can never tell. The secret belongs only to the maker of good and faithful dogs. With him by my side I was a new man. The awesome loneliness had gone. I felt as if he were a message from my own people to take me safely home. He clearly knew the business afoot. For he padded beside me with never a glance to right or left. Another time he would have been snalking in every thicket. But now he was on duty. A serious conscientious dog, with no eye but for business. The moon went down and the starry sky was now our only light. The thick gloom which brooded over the landscape indicated that the night was far gone. I thought I saw a deeper blackness ahead, which might be the line of the burg. Then came that period of utter stillness when every bush sound is hushed and the world seems to swoon. I felt almost impious hurrying through that profound silence when not even the leaves stirred or a frog croaked. Suddenly as we came over a rise a little wind blew on the back of my head and a bitter chill came into the air. I knew from nights spent in the open that it was the precursor of dawn. Sure enough as I glanced back far over the plain a pale glow was stealing upwards into the sky. In a few minutes the paw melted into an airy haze and above me I saw the heavens shot with tremors of blue light. Then the foreground began to clear, and there before me, with their heads still muffled in vapor, were the mountains. Cenophon's ten thousand did not hail the sea more gladly than I welcomed host-browning ramparts of the burg. Once again my weariness was eased. I cried to Colin and together we ran down into the wide shallow trough which lies at the foot of the hills. As the sun rose above the horizon the black masses changed to emerald and rich umber, and the fleecy mists of the summits opened and revealed beyond, shining spaces of green. Some lines of Shakespeare ran in my head, which I have always thought the most beautiful of all poetry. Night's candles are burned out, and Jocun Day walks tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. Up there among the clouds was my salvation. Like the psalmist I lifted my eyes to the hills from whence came my aid. Hope is a wonderful restorative. To be near the hills, to smell their odours, to see at the head of the glens the lines of the plateau where were white men in civilization. All gave me new life and courage. Jocun saw my mood and spared a moment now and then to inspect a hole or a covert. Down in the shallow trough I saw the links of a burn. The makudi, which flows down the glen it was my purpose to ascend. Away to the north, in the direction of Majinje's, were patches of kaffir tillage, and I thought I discerned the smoke-fires. Majinje's womankind would be cooking their morning meal. To the south ran a thick patch of forest. But I saw beyond it the spur of the mountain, over which runs the high road to Wesselsburg. The clear air of dawn was like wine in my blood. I was not free, but I was on the threshold of freedom. If I could only reach my friends with the prestor's collar in my shirt, I would have performed a feat which would never be forgotten. I would have made history by my glorious folly. Breakfastless and foot sore, I was yet a proud man as I crossed the hollow to the mouth of Makudi's glen. My chickens had been counted too soon, and there was to be no hatching. Colin grew uneasy and began to sniff up wind. I was maybe a quarter of a mile from the glen foot, plodding through the long grass of the hollow, when the behavior of the dog made me stop and listen. In that still air sounds carry far, and I seemed to hear the noise of feet brushing through cover. The noise came both from north and south, from the forest and from the lower course of the Makudi. I dropped into shelter, and running with bent back, got to the summit of a little bush-clad knoll. It was Colin who first caught sight of my pursuers. He was staring at a rift in the trees and suddenly gave a short bark. I looked and saw two men running hard, cross the grass and dip into the bed of the stream. A moment later I had a glimpse of figures on the edge of the forest, moving fast to the mouth of the glen. The pursuit had not followed me. It had waited to cut me off. Fool that I was, I had forgotten the wonders of kaffir telegraphy. It had been easy for Laputa to send word forty miles ahead to stop any white man who tried to cross the burg. And then I knew that I was very weary. CHAPTER XIV I was perhaps half a mile the nearer to the glen and was likely to get there first. And after that I could see the track winding by the water-side and then crossing a hill-shoulder which diverted the stream. It was a road a man could scarcely ride, and a tired man would have a hard job to climb. I do not think that I had any hope. My exhilaration had died as suddenly as it had been born. I saw myself caught and carried off to Laputa, who must now be close on the rendezvous at Inanda's Crawl. I had no weapon to make a fight for it. My foemen were many and untired. It must be only a matter of minutes till I was in their hands. More in a dogged fury of disappointment than with any hope of escape I forced my sore legs up the glen. Ten minutes ago I had been exalting in the glories of the morning, and now the sun was not less bright nor the colors less fair. But the heart had gone out of the spectator. At first I managed to get some pace out of myself, partly from fear and partly from anger. But I soon found that my body had been tried too far. I could plod along. But to save my life I could not have hurried. Any healthy savage could have caught me in a hundred yards. The track I remember was overhung with creepers, and often I had to squeeze through thickets of tree ferns. Countless little brooks ran down from the hillside, threads of silver among the green pastures. Soon I left the stream and climbed up on the shoulder, where the road was not much better than a precipice. Every step was a weariness. I could hardly drag one foot after the other, and my heart was beating like the fanners of a mill. I had spasms of acute sickness, and it took all my resolution to keep me from lying down by the roadside. At last I was at the top of the shoulder, and could look back. There was no sign of anybody on the road so far as I could see. Could I have escaped them? I had been in the shadow of the trees for the first part, and they may have lost sight of me and concluded that I had avoided the glen, or tried one of the faces. Before me I remember. There stretched the upper glen, a green cup-shaped hollow with the sides scarred by ravines. There was a high waterfall in one of them, which was white as snow against the red rocks. My wits must have been shaky, for I took the fall for a snowdrift and wondered foolishly why the berg had grown so alpine. A faint spasm of hope took me into that green cup. The bracken was as thick as on the pentlands, and there was a multitude of small lovely flowers in the grass. It was like a water-meadow at home. Such a place as I had often in boyhood searched for moss-cheapers and corn-crakes eggs. Birds were crying round me as I broke this solitude. And one small buck, a clip-springer, rose from my feet and dashed up one of the gullies. Before me was a steep green wall with the blue sky above it. Beyond it was safety. But as my sweat-dimmed eyes looked at it I knew that I could never reach it. Then I saw my pursuers. High up on the left side and rounding the rim of the cup were little black figures. They had not followed my trail, but certain of my purpose had gone forward to intercept me. I remember feeling a puny weakling compared with those lusty natives who could make such good going on steep mountains. They were certainly no men of the plains, but hillmen. Probably some remnants of old Makuti's tribe who still squatted in the glen. Makuti was a blaggard chief whom the boars long ago smashed in one of their native wars. He was a fierce old warrior and had put up a good fight to the last. Till a hired impie of Swazis had surrounded his hiding-place in the forest and destroyed him. A boar farmer on the plateau had his skull and used to drink whiskey out of it when he was merry. The sight of the pursuit was the last straw. I gave up hope and my intentions were narrowed to one frantic desire. To hide the jewels. Patriotism, which I had almost forgotten, flickered up in the crisis. At any rate Laputa should not have the snake. If he drove out the white man, he should not clasp the prestor's rubies on his great neck. There was no cover in that green cup. So I turned up the ravine on the right side. The enemies so far as I could judge were on the left and in front. And in the gully I might find a pothole to bury the necklace in. Only a desperate resolution took me through the tangle of juniper bushes into the red screes of the gully. At first I could not find what I sought. The stream in the ravine slid down a long slope like a mill-race, and the sides were bare and stony. Still I plotted on, helping myself with a hand on Colin's back, for my legs were numb with fatigue. By and by the gully narrowed, and I came to a flat place with a long pool. Beyond was a little fall, and up this I climbed into a network of tiny cascades. Over one pool hung a dead tree fern, and a bay from it ran into a hole of the rock. I slipped the jewels far into the hole, where they lay on the firm sand showing odd lights through the dim blue water. Then I scrambled down again to the flat space and the pool, and looked round to see if anyone had reached the edge of the ravine. There was no sign as yet of the pursuit. So I dropped limply on the shingle and waited, for I had suddenly conceived a plan. As my breath came back to me, my wits came back from their wandering. These men were not there to kill me, but to capture me. They could know nothing of the jewels, for Laputa would never have dared to make the loss of the sacred snake public. Therefore they would not suspect what I had done, and would simply lead me to Laputa at Inanda's crawl. I began to see the glimmerings of a plan for saving my life, and by God's grace for saving my country from the horrors of rebellion, the more I thought, the better I liked it. It demanded a bold front, and it might well miscarry. But I had taken such desperate hazards during the past days that I was less afraid of fortune. Anyhow, the choice lay between certain death and a slender chance of life, and it was easy to decide. Playing football I used to notice how towards the end of a game I might be sore and weary without a kick in my body. But when I had a straight job of tackling a man, my strength miraculously returned. It was even so now. I lay on my side luxuriating and being still, and slowly a sort of vigor crept back into my limbs. Perhaps a half hour of rest was given me before. On the lip of the gully I saw figures appear. Looking down I saw several men who had come across from the opposite side of the valley, scrambling up the stream. I got to my feet with Colin bristling beside me, and awaited them with the stiffest face I could muster. As I expected, they were Makuti's men. I recognized them by the red ochre in their hair, and their copper wire-necklets. Big fellows they were, long-legged and deep in the chest, the true breed of mountaineers. I admired their light tread on the slippery rock. It was hopeless to think of evading such men in their own hills. The men from the side joined the men in front, and they stood looking at me from about twelve yards off. They were armed only with knob-carries, and very clearly were no part of Laputa's army. This made their errand plain to me. Halt, I said in kaffir, as one of them made a hesitating step to advance. Who are you and what do you seek? There was no answer, but they looked at me curiously. Then one made a motion with his stick. Colin gave a growl and would have been on him if I had not kept a hand on his collar. The rash man drew back and all stood stiff and perplexed. Keep your hands by your side, I said. Or the dog, who has a devil, will devour you. One of you speak for the rest and tell me your purpose. For a moment I had a wild notion that they might be friends, some of Arkol's scouts, and out to help me. But the first words shattered the fancy. We are sent by Inculu the biggest of them, said. He bade us bring you to him. And what have I refused to go? Then, boss, we must take you to him. We are under the vow of the snake. Vow of fiddle-stick, I cried. Who do you think is the bigger chief, the Inculu or Ratatsvahn? I tell you Ratatsvahn is now driving Inculu before him, as a wind drives rotten leaves. It will be well for you, men of Makuti, to make peace with Ratatsvahn and take me to him on the berg. If you bring me to him, I and he will reward you. But if you do Inculu's bidding, you will soon be hunted like buck out of your hills. They grinned at one another, but I could see that my words had no effect. Laputa had done his business too well. The spokesman shrugged his shoulders in the way the calfers have. We wish you no ill, boss, but we have been bidden to take you to Inculu. We cannot disobey the commands of the snake. My weakness was coming on me again, and I could talk no more. I sat down plump on the ground, almost falling into the pool. Take me to Inculu, I stammered with a dry throat. I do not fear him, and I rolled half-fainting on my back. These clansmen of Makuti were decent fellows. One of them had some caffer beer and a calabash, which he gave me to drink. The stuff was thin and sickly, but the fermentation in it did me good. I had the sense to remember my need of sleep. The day is young, I said, and I have come far. I asked to be allowed to sleep for an hour. The men made no difficulty, and with my head between Collins' paws I slipped into dreamless slumber. When they wakened me the sun was beginning to climb the sky. I judged it to be about eight o'clock. They had made a little fire and roasted mealies. Some of the food they gave me, and I ate it thankfully. I was feeling better, and I think a pipe would have almost completed my cure. But when I stood up I found that I was worse than I had thought. The truth is I was leg-weary, a condition which is often met with in horses but rarely in men. What the proper explanation is, I do not know. But the muscles simply refused to answer the direction of the will. I found my legs sprawling like those of a child who was learning to walk. If you want me to go to the Inculu you must carry me, I said, as I dropped once more on the ground. The men nodded and set to work to make a kind of litter out of their knob-carries and some old ropes they carried. As they worked and chattered I looked idly at the left bank of the ravine, that is, the left as you ascended. Some of Makudi's men had come down there, and though the place looked sheer and perilous I saw how they had managed it. I followed out bit by bit the track upwards, not with any thought of escape, but merely to keep my mind under control. The right road was from the foot of the pool, up a long shelf to a clump of juniper. Then there was an easy chimney, then a piece of good hand and foot climbing, and last another ledge which led by an easy gradient to the top. I figured all this out as I have heard a condemned man will count the windows of the houses on his way to the scaffold. Presently the litter was ready, and the men made signs to me to get into it. They carried me down the ravine and up the Makudi burn to the green walls at its head. I admired their bodily fitness, for they bore me up those steep slopes with never a halt, zigzagging in the proper style of mountain transport. In less than an hour we had topped the ridge, and the plateau was before me. It looked very home-like and gracious, rolling in gentle undulations to the western horizon, with clumps of wood in its hollows. Far away I saw smoke rising from what should be the village of the iron cramps. It was the country of my own people, and it behooved my captors to go cautiously. They were old hands at belt-craft, and it was wonderful the way in which they kept out of sight even on the bare ridges. Arkel could have taught them nothing in the art of scouting. At an incredible pace they hurried me along, now in a meadow by a stream-side, now through a patch of forest, and now skirting a green shoulder of hill. Once they clapped down suddenly and crawled into the lee of some thick bracken. Then very quietly they tied my hands and feet, and not un-gently, wound a dirty length of cotton over my mouth. Colin was meantime held tight and muzzled with a kind of bag strapped over his head. To get this over his snapping jaws took the whole strength of the party. I guessed that we were nearing the high road which runs from the plateau down the great Latava Valley to the mining-township of Wesselsburg, a way out on the plain. The police patrols must be out on this road, and there was risk in crossing. Sure enough I seemed to catch a jingle of bridles as if from some company of men riding in haste. We lay still for a little till the scouts came back and reported the coast clear. Then we made a dart for the road, crossed it and got into cover on the other side, where the ground sloped down to the Latava Glen. I noticed in crossing that the dust of the highway was thick with the marks of shod horses. I was very near and yet very far from my own people. Once in the rocky gorge of the Latava we advanced with less care. We scrambled up a steep side gorge and came on to the small plateau from which the cloud mountains rise. After that I was so tired that I drowsed away, heedless of the bumping of the litter. We went up and up, and when I next opened my eyes we had gone through a pass into a hollow of the hills. There was a flat space a mile or two square, and all round it stern black ramparts of rock. This must be Ananda's Crawl, a strong place if ever one existed, for a few men could defend all the approaches. Considering that I had warned Arkol of this rendezvous, I marveled that no attempt had been made to hold the entrance. The place was impregnable unless guns were brought up to the heights. I remember thinking of a story I had heard, how in the war Baers took his guns into the Volkburg and thereby saved them from our troops. Could Arkol be meditating the same exploit? Suddenly I heard the sound of loud voices and my litter was dropped roughly on the ground. I woke to clear consciousness in the midst of pandemonium. CHAPTER XVI Ananda's Crawl. The vow was at an end. In place of the silent army of yesterday. A mob of maddened savages surged around me. They were chanting a wild song and brandishing spears and rifles to its accompaniment. From their bloodshot eyes stared the lust of blood, the fury of conquest, and all the aboriginal passions on which Laputa had laid his spell. In my mind ran a fragment from Laputa's prayer in the cave about the terrible ones. Makuti's men, stout fellows, they held their ground as long as they could, were swept out of the way, and the wave of black savagery seemed to close over my head. I thought my last moment had come. Certainly it had, but for Colin, the bag had been taken from his head, and the fellow of Makuti's had dropped the rope round his collar. In a red fury of wrath the dog leaped at my enemies. Though every man of them was fully armed they fell back, for I have noticed always that kafers are mortally afraid of a white man's dog. Colin had the sense to keep beside me. Growling like a thunderstorm he held the ring around my litter. The breathing space would not have lasted long, but it gave me time to get to my feet. My wrists and feet had been unbound long before, and the rest had cured my leg weariness. I stood up in that fierce circle with the clear knowledge that my life hung by a hair. Take me to the Inculu, I cried. Dogs and fools, would you despise his orders? If one hair of my head is hurt he will flay you alive. Show me the way to him and clear out of it. I dare say there was a break in my voice, for I was dismally frightened. But there must have been sufficient authority to get me a hearing. Makuti's men closed up behind me and repeated my words with flourishes and gestures. But still the circle held. No man came nearer me, but none moved so as to give me passage. Then I screwed up my courage and did the only thing possible. I walked straight into the circle, knowing well that I was running no light risk. My courage as I have already explained is of little use unless I am doing something. I could not endure another minute of sitting still with those fierce eyes on me. The circle gave way. Suddenly they made a road for me, closing up behind on my guards so that Makuti's men were swallowed in the mob. Alone I stalked forward with all that huge yelling crowd behind me. I had not far to go. Inanda's crawl was a cluster of Kias and Rondovels, shaped in a half moon, with a flat space between the houses, where grew a big marula tree. All around was a medley of little fires, with men squatted beside them. Here and there a party had finished their meal and were swaggering about with a great shouting. The mob into which I had fallen was of this sort, and I saw others within the confines of the camp. But around the marula tree there was a gathering of chiefs, if I could judge by the comparative quiet and dignity of the men, who sat and rose on the ground. A few were standing, and among them I caught sight of Laputa's tall figure. I strode towards it, wondering if the chiefs would let me pass. The hubbub of my volunteer attendance brought the eyes of the company round to me. In a second it seemed every man was on his feet. I could only pray that Laputa would get to me before his friends had time to spear me. I remember I fixed my eyes on a spur of hill beyond the crawl, and walked on for the best resolution I could find. Already I felt in my breast some of the long thin asagais of Umbunis men. But Laputa did not intend that I should be butchered. A word from him brought his company into order, and the next thing I knew I was facing him, where he stood in front of the biggest kia within Rikish beside him, and some of the northern Indunas. And Rikish looked ghastly in the clear morning light, and he had a linen rag bound round his head in jaw as if he suffered from tooth ache. His face was more livid, his eyes more bloodshot, and at the sight of me his hand went to his belt and his teeth snapped. But he held his peace and it was Laputa who spoke. He looked straight through me and addressed Makuti's men. You have brought back the prisoner. That is well, and your service will be remembered. Go to Impefu's camp on the hill there, and you will be given food. The men departed and with them fell away the crowd which had followed me. I was left very giddy and dazed to confront Laputa and his chiefs. The whole scene was swimming before my eyes. I remember there was a clucking of hens from somewhere behind the crawl, which called up ridiculous memories. I was trying to remember the plan I had made in Makuti's glen. I kept saying to myself like a parrot. The army cannot know about the jewels. Laputa must keep his lost secret. I can get my life from him if I offer to give them back. It had sounded a good scheme three hours before. But with the man's hard face before me it seemed a frail pig to hang my fate on. Laputa's eye fell on me. A clear searching eye with a question in it. There was something he was trying to say to me which he dared not put into words. I guessed what the something was, for I saw his glance run over my shirt and my empty pockets. You have made little of your treachery, he said. Fool, did you think to escape me? I could bring you back from the ends of the earth. There was no treachery, I replied. Do you blame a prisoner for trying to escape? When shooting began I found myself free and I took the road for home. Ask Makuti's men and they will tell you that I came quietly with them. When I saw that the game was up he shrugged his shoulders. It matters very little what you did. You are here now. Tie him up and put him in my Kia, he said to the bodyguard. I have something to say to him before he dies. As the men laid hands on me I saw the exultant grin on Enrique's face. It was more than I could endure. Stop, I said. You talk of traitors, Mr. Laputa. There is the biggest and blackest at your elbow. That man sent word to Archall about your crossing at Dupri's Drift. At our outspan at noon yesterday he came to me and offered me my liberty if I would help him. He told me he was a spy and I flung his offer in his face. It was he who shot the keeper by the riverside and would have stolen the snake if I had not broken his head. You call me a traitor and you let that thing live, though he has killed your priest and betrayed your plans. Kill me if you like, but by God let him die first. I do not know how the others took the revelation, for my eyes were only for the Portuguese. He made a step towards me, his hands twitching by his sides. You lie he screamed in that queer broken voice which much fever gives. It was this English hound that killed the keeper and felled me when I tried to save him. A man who insults my honour is dead, and he plucked from his belt a pistol. A good shot does not miss at two yards. I was never nearer my end than in that fraction of time while the weapon came up to the aim. It was scarcely a second, but it was enough for one. The dog had kept my side and had stood docilely by me while a pudah spoke. The truth is he must have been as tired as I was. As the cappers approached to lay hands on me he had growled menacingly, but when I spoke again he had stopped. And rickish boys had convinced him of a more urgent danger. And so soon as the trigger hand of the Portuguese rose the dog sprang. The bullet went wide and the next moment dog and man were struggling on the ground. A dozen hands held me from going to Colin's aid, but oddly enough no one stepped forward to help and rickish. The ruffian kept his head and though the dog's teeth were in his shoulder he managed to get his right hand free. I saw what would happen and yelled madly in my apprehension. The yellow wrist curved in the pistol barrel was pressed below the dog's shoulder. The thrice he fired, the grip relaxed, and Colin rolled over limply, fragments of shirts still hanging from his jaw. The Portuguese rose slowly with his hand to his head and a thin stream of blood dripping from his shoulder. As I saw the faithful eyes glazing in death and knew that I had lost the best of all comrades I went clean berserk mad. The cluster of men round me who had been staring open-eyed at the fight were swept aside like reeds. I went straight for the Portuguese determined that pistol or no pistol I would serve him as he had served my dog. For my years I was a well-set-up lad, long in the arms and deep in the chest, but I had not yet come to my full strength and in any case I could not hope to fight the whole of Laputa's army. I was flung back and forwards like a shuttle cock. They played some kind of game with me and I could hear the idiotic caffer laughter. It was blind man's buff, so far as I was concerned, for I was blind with fury. I struck out wildly left and right, beating the air often but sometimes getting a solid blow on hard black flesh. I was soundly beaten myself, pricked with spears and made to caper for savage sport. Suddenly I saw Laputa before me and hurled myself madly at his chest. Someone gave me a cloud on the head and my senses fled. When I came to myself I was lying on a heap of mealy stalks in a dark room. I had a desperate headache and a horrid nausea which made me fall back as soon as I tried to raise myself. A voice came out of the darkness as I stirred. A voice speaking English. Are you awake, Mr. Doorkeeper? The voice was Laputa's but I could not see him. The room was pitch dark except for a long ray of sunlight on the floor. I'm awake, I said. What do you want with me? Someone stepped out of the gloom and sat down near me. A naked black foot broke the belt of light on the floor. For God's sake, get me a drink, I murmured. The figure rose and fetched a panic in a water from a pail. I could hear the cool trickle of the drops on the floor. A hand put the dish to my mouth and I drank water with a strong dash of spirits. This brought back my nausea. And I collapsed on the mealy stalks till the fit passed. Again the voice spoke, this time from close at hand. You are paying the penalty of being a fool, Mr. Storekeeper. You are young to die, but folly is common in youth. In an hour you will regret that you did not listen to my advice at Umbulos. I clawed at my wits and strove to realize what he was saying. He spoke of death within an hour. If it only came sharp and sudden, I did not mind greatly. The plan I had made had slipped utterly out of my mind. My body was so wretched that I asked only for rest. I was very light-headed and foolish at that moment. Kill me if you like, I whispered. Some day you will pay dearly for it all. But for God's sake go away and leave me alone. Laputa laughed. It was a horrid sound in the darkness. You are brave, Mr. Storekeeper. But I have seen a brave man's courage ebb very fast when he saw the death which I have arranged for you. Would you like to hear something of it by way of preparation? In a low, gentle voice he began to tell me mysteries of awful cruelty. At first I scarcely heard him, but as he went on my brain seemed to wake from its lethargy. I listened with freezing blood. Not in my wildest nightmares had I imagined such a fate. Then in spite of myself a cry broke from me. It interests you? Laputa asked. I could tell you more, but something must be left to the fancy. Yours should be an active one. And his hand gripped my shaking wrist and felt my pulse. Enricish will see that the truth does not fall short of my forecast, he went on. For I have appointed Enricish your executioner. The name brought my senses back to me. Kill me, I said, but for God's sake kill Enricish too. If you did justice you would let me go and roast the Portuguese alive. But for me the snake would be over the Lobombo by this time, in Enricish pocket. But it is not, my friend. It was stolen by a storekeeper who will shortly be wishing he had died in his mother's womb. My plan was slowly coming back to me. If you value Prestor John's collar you will save my life. What will your rising be without the snake? Would they follow you a yard if they suspected you had lost it? So you would threaten me, Laputa said very gently. Then, in a burst of wrath, he shouted, they will follow me to hell for my own sake. Imba Seal, do you think my power is built on a trinket? When you are in your grave I will be ruling a hundred millions from the proudest throne on earth. He sprang to his feet and pulled back a shutter of the window letting a flood of light into the hut. In that light I saw that he had in his hands the ivory box which had contained the collar. I will carry the casket through the wars, he cried. And if I choose never to open it, who will gain say me? You besided fool to think that any theft of yours could hinder my destiny. He was the blustering savage again, and I preferred him in the part. All that he said might be true, but I thought I could detect in his voice a keen regret, and in his air a touch of disquiet. The man was a fanatic, and like all fanatics had his superstitions. Yes, I said, but when you mount the throne you speak of, it would be a pity not to have the rubies on your neck after all your talk in the cave. I thought he would have throttled me. He glowered down at me with murder in his eyes. Then he dashed the casket on the floor with such violence that it broke into fragments. Give me back the englondlo, he cried like a petted child. Give me back the collar of John. This was the moment I had been waiting for. Now see here, Mr. Laputa, I said. I am going to talk business. Before you started this rising you were a civilized man with a good education. Well, just remember that education for a minute, and look at the matter in a sensible light. I'm not like the Portuguese. I don't want to steal your rubies. I swear to God that what I have told you is true. Enrique killed the priest and would have bagged the jewels if I had not laid him out. I ran away because I was going to be killed today. And I took the collar to keep it out of Enrique's hands. I tell you I would never have shot the old man myself. Very well, what happened? Your men overtook me and I had no choice but to surrender. Before they reached me I hid the collar in a place I know of. Now I am going to make you a fair and square business proposition. You may be able to get on without the snake, but I can see you want it back. I am in a tight place and want nothing so much as my life. I offer to trade with you. Give me my life and I will take you to the place and put the jewels in your hand. Otherwise you may kill me, but you will never see the collar of John again. I still think that was a pretty bold speech for a man to make in a predicament like mine. But it had its effect. Laputa ceased to be the barbarian king and talked like a civilized man. That is, as you call it, a business proposition. But supposing I refuse it. Supposing I take measures here, in this crawl, to make you speak and then send for the jewels. There are several objections, I said, quite cheerfully, for I felt that I was gaining ground. One is that I could not explain to any mortal soul how to find the collar. I know where it is, but I could not impart the knowledge. Another is that the country between here and Makudis is not very healthy for your people. Arkhol's men are all over it, and you cannot have a collection of search parties rummaging about in the glen for long. Last and most important. If you send anyone for the jewels, you confess their loss. No, Mr. Laputa, if you want them back, you must go yourself and take me with you. He stood silent for a little, with his brows knit in thought. Then he opened the door and went out. I guessed that he had gone to discover from his scouts the state of the country between Ananda's crawl and Makudis glen. Hope had come back to me, and I sat among the mealy stocks trying to plan the future. If he made a bargain, I believed he would keep it. Once set free at the head of Makudis, I should be within an hour or two of Arkhol's posts. So far I had done nothing for the cause. My message had been made useless by Enrique's treachery, and I had stolen the snake only to restore it. But if I got off with my life, there would be work for me to do in the Armageddon which I saw approaching. Should I escape, I wondered? What would hinder Laputa from setting his men to follow me and seize me before I could get into safety. My only chance was that Arkhol might have been busy this day and the countryside too full of his men to let Laputa's caffers through. But if this was so, Laputa and I should be stopped. And then Laputa would certainly kill me. I wished, and yet I did not wish, that Arkhol should hold all approaches. As I reflected, my first exhilaration died away. The scales were still heavily weighted against me. Laputa returned, closing the door behind him. I will bargain with you on my own terms. You shall have your life, and in return you will take me to the place where you hid the collar and put it into my hands. I will ride there, and you will run beside me, tied to my saddle. If we are in danger from the white men, I will shoot you dead. Do you accept? Yes, I said, scrambling to my feet and ruefully testing my shaky legs. But if you want me to get to Makudis you must go slowly, for I am nearly foundered. Then he brought out a Bible and made me swear on it that I would do as I promised. Swear to me in turn, I said, that you will give me my life if I restore the jewels. He swore, kissing the book like a witness in a police court. I had forgotten that the man called himself a Christian. One thing more, I asked, I said. I want my dog decently buried. That has been already done, was the reply. He was a brave animal, and my people honor bravery.