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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Rock, by Ernest Glanville
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Golden Rock
+
+Author: Ernest Glanville
+
+Illustrator: Stanley Wood
+
+Release Date: July 3, 2011 [EBook #36600]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN ROCK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+The Golden Rock
+By Ernest Glanville
+Illustrations by Stanley Wood
+Published by Chatto and Windus, London.
+This edition dated 1895.
+The Golden Rock, by Ernest Glanville.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+THE GOLDEN ROCK, BY ERNEST GLANVILLE.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+A QUEER LEGACY.
+
+Old Trader Hume was dead.
+
+Not that he was really old when he died, but he had lived a life that
+had robbed him of his youth at one end and cut off the slow decline on
+the other.  At fifteen he began the career of trader and hunter; before
+twenty he had been tossed by a buffalo, and broken his leg in a fall
+from his horse; at twenty-five he had been twice down with the fever; at
+thirty he was known as Old Hume; at fifty he had gone home to die--a man
+worn, sun-dried, and scarred with many wounds.  Home to the Old Country,
+the land of his parents, the land of rest and green fields that had
+figured in his waking dreams, and in his lonely watches beneath the
+African sky.
+
+His mother had talked to him of the quiet village, the ivied church, the
+bells, the song of the lark, and the pleasant customs of the country
+folk; and his father had told him of the great cities, the roar of life,
+and the silence of old ruins testifying to a mighty past; and the
+untrained, toughened Colonial boy had kept before him one goal--the
+hoary tower of Westminster, the green meadows, and the tuneful bells of
+old England.
+
+Well, at last he had gone home; but it was not the home of his dreams.
+There were the wonderful green fields, the eloquent ruins, and a
+multitude beyond expectation for number; but there was something
+wanting, and the lack of it preyed upon him, hastening his end.  These
+swarming men and women were not of his type.  The people in the streets
+hurried along hard-eyed and absorbed; his neighbours treated his
+overtures with suspicion, not understanding his familiar greeting and
+his manner of going about in his shirt-sleeves, smoking strange tobacco.
+He was alone in the midst of crowds, and he waited for death with the
+patience of a stricken animal, while the people who understood him not
+made much of an explorer recently returned, not knowing that this
+weather-worn stranger who pottered about aimlessly had braved more
+dangers in unexplored countries, and had, without thinking of it, opened
+up more routes for the advance of commerce.  One friendship he had
+formed with the son of his father's brother, his only living relative, a
+boy who had been with him on his last trading trip, and whom he had sent
+to Oxford to pick up the ways of men, and, perhaps, some of their
+learning.  But he only saw the lad in the long vacation, and then only
+for a few days, insisting that the young fellow should camp out in Wales
+with some of his companions.
+
+Now, Old Trader Hume was dead and buried, and his nephew, Francis Hume,
+was alone in the old man's room, the room of a hunter filled with
+trophies of the chase.
+
+The young man was bending forward, one hand supporting his head, while
+the other, dangling listlessly, held a sheet of paper.  Long he remained
+so, his eyes absently fixed on the point of a curved rhinoceros' horn,
+then leant back in the chair and read the contents, setting forth the
+last will of his uncle.
+
+A very short and simple document it was:
+
+  "I, Abel Hume, commonly known as Old Hume, the Trader, leave to my
+  nephew Frank all my possessions, including 275 pounds in the Standard
+  Bank.  There is a map in my pocket-book drawn by myself.  That I leave
+  him also, and it is my wish that he will follow the directions
+  therein.  I would like him to use my double Express, and to treat it
+  tenderly.  Good-bye, my lad; shoot straight, and deal straight.
+
+  "_Signed_ Abel Hume."
+
+"Dear old chap!" muttered Frank, with a sad smile, and again he sank
+into a long reverie.
+
+He had always thought that his uncle was a wealthy man, and, under that
+impression, he had lived rather extravagantly at Oxford.  His uncle had
+paid his bills, and he tried to recall if there had been, unnoticed at
+the time by him, any word or sign of disapproval, but he could remember
+only the dry chuckle of the hunter at some unusual entry.
+
+"Poor old boy," he said again; "I wish he had told me.  What a lonely
+time he had!"
+
+He thought then--how could he help it?--of his own prospects, which had
+lost so suddenly all the wide outlook of a happy career.
+
+"I must give up Oxford, of course, and my friends, too, before they give
+me up; but what am I to do?"  He looked around at the house, at the
+trophy of assegais on the wall, at the lion's skin on the hearth, the
+yellow eyes glaring, and the red mouth set in an everlasting snarl.
+
+"I am sorry the old man came home.  He was happy there in the bush, or
+on the trek.  What a life he must have led during those thirty-five
+years of hunting and trading, and what yarns he did spin in the
+evenings!  There was that story of the bull elephant."
+
+He lit his pipe by instinct, and was lost in veldt and kloof among the
+big game until the strange glamour of the chase, from which no man is
+free, was upon him, and he was soon sitting with his uncle's favourite
+rifle in his hands, examining its rich brown barrels, and the polished
+stock of almost black walnut, bound about the hand-grip with the skin of
+a puff-adder.  He brought the butt to his shoulders, his cheek against
+the stock, and began sighting at small objects on the wall.  The gun was
+heavy, but he had not been at Oxford for two years for nothing, and his
+muscles were those of an athlete.
+
+He rose up to replace the gun tenderly in its rack, and then, going to
+his uncle's desk, took out the pocket-book--a much-worn leather case,
+bound round with a length of braided buckskin.
+
+Folded up in an inner pocket was a frayed piece of paper.  This he
+carefully spread out on an open book, and, with a faint smile about his
+lips, carefully examined the roughly-drawn outlines of river and
+mountains.  This was not the first time he had seen the sketch.  His
+uncle had, on his last visit, with much gravity, taken the paper from
+its hiding-place, and had told the story connected with it--a story
+which had impressed the young undergraduate, chiefly on account of the
+moving adventures related, the real heart of the thing taking but an
+insignificant place in his thoughts.
+
+Yet he vividly remembered how the old hunter, usually so cool, had
+worked himself into a pitch of excitement, and how, placing his withered
+finger on one spot, he had, sinking his voice to a whisper, said
+impressively:
+
+"There, my lad, is your fortune.  Your fortune; the fortunes of a
+hundred men."
+
+What was the story?  Was there a fortune there, or had his uncle been,
+like many a lonely wanderer, the victim of a hallucination?  He pored
+over the map, and in imagination listened again to the slow, grave words
+of the old hunter, whose eyes had flashed under the glow recalled by the
+memory of that expedition.  His uncle had struck north through the
+Transvaal, and after crossing the Crocodile, had turned to the east for
+an unknown land, whence rumours had come of great herds of elephants.
+Entering a bush country too thick for the waggon to continue, he had
+gone on afoot with a score of boys for a big vlei, where there was,
+indeed, a happy hunting-ground.  There, after bagging some fine tusks,
+he had heard from an old black of a strange rock to the west, which
+shone bright in the sun, and had struggled to reach the spot.  A week he
+spent amid the tangle of reeds about the river, and in the gorges of a
+wild and lofty chain of mountains; and then, one day, in the early
+morning, he had, from the Place of the Eye in a singular rocky profile
+of a human face, seen shine out, from the great plain below, a blaze of
+light which glowed for the space of an hour while the rays were level,
+and then went out.  He had seen the Golden Rock, the shining stone of
+the natives, the eye of the morning, the place of bloodshed, as the old
+man related, and he marked the spot where he had stood, for he could go
+no further then.  Several days he had spent returning to the huts at the
+vlei, where he listened much to the old man, hearing more about the
+rock, and of the glistening ornaments that were made from it whenever a
+new chief arose.  He learnt about the tribe who lived at the feet of the
+mountains and in the great forests, and he planned how he would reach
+the rock, when news came that his waggon had been burnt by the natives,
+and the next day he himself was attacked.  Escaping to the river, where
+he lurked in the reeds, he at last fashioned a hollow tree to his
+purpose, and floated down the Limpopo, enduring twenty-five days of
+fearful suffering before he reached the month, where he was picked up by
+a Portuguese trader and landed at Delagoa Bay.  In that trip he had lost
+everything--waggon, oxen, ivory, skins and stores, and before he could
+plan another expedition to the mysterious rock he felt he had entered
+the shadows, and the craving for the home of his forefathers would not
+be denied.
+
+"My lad, that is your fortune.  I have seen it, and you must find it.
+Will you promise?"
+
+"Yes, uncle, I promise," Frank had said, laughing at what he thought was
+a joke.
+
+"That's all right," the old hunter had replied.  "When a Hume makes a
+promise he means to keep it--or die."
+
+Frank now remembered those words and all they implied, and they spoke to
+him now with greater force than when he had heard them.
+
+He had made a promise, carelessly, not knowing what he said, just to
+humour his uncle.  Nevertheless he had given his word.  Was he bound to
+keep it?  Well for that matter, he was a Hume.
+
+Taking an atlas from the shelf, he studied the East Coast of Africa, and
+the course of the Limpopo from its mouth.  As far as his uncle had
+drawn, his sketch tallied with the map, and so exactly indeed that he
+must have filled in the original rough draft from the printed map.
+
+Folding up the much-creased paper with a sigh, he paced up and down the
+room, tugging at his moustache, a blank look on his manly face.
+Suddenly stopping opposite a mirror, and seeing his reflection, he broke
+into a loud laugh.
+
+"Hang it! what a brute I am!  But it's too absurd, this legacy of a
+Golden Rock which does not exist.  Well, at any rate, I can use up the
+bank balance in making a hunting trip to the spot, and after that--"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders, and went out to see about executing the will.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+A MYSTERY.
+
+Frank Hume had some of that tenacity of purpose which had made his uncle
+a successful hunter and Kaffir trader.  He saw plainly enough the
+quixotic side of the quest to which he was committed, but he was not one
+of those who ask, "Is it worth while?" and "Where is the good?" if
+confronted with any undertaking not obviously practical.
+
+The Golden Rock had taken no hold on his imagination.  It was no bright
+spot glowing, like a beacon in a dark night, out of the dim future, but
+itself merely a dim and shadowy token representing and explaining the
+duty he owed to the dead man's whim.  He would go to the locality, and
+then let events shape his career to any rough-and-ready pattern, even to
+that of the hard life of a hunter.  Having made up his mind, he set
+about his preparations carefully, shaking off his extravagant university
+habits, and keeping an eye to economy in small things to make the most
+of his little store of money.
+
+In one important respect he was admirably fitted for a life of hardship.
+Though of average height, he was uncommonly deep in the chest and broad
+across the shoulders, and possessed a stock of bone and muscle upon
+which he could safely depend.  His head was well set on, with a marked
+tilt of the chin that gave him an air of watchfulness, and this aspect
+was heightened by a pair of steady blue eyes.
+
+Within a week he had settled his affairs and was ready to take the first
+outward-bound vessel, limiting his choice to a sailing-ship, for time
+was of no particular object, while money and the saving of it was of
+first importance.  He had even seen the skipper of a four-masted iron
+clipper with the view of working his passage out, but the skipper had
+received his overture with an explosion.  "No more swab-fisted gentlemen
+lubbers for me.  They're worse than an old maid with a family of cats,
+and not so useful.  Have a drink?"  They had a drink, and the rejected
+volunteer walked homewards in the evening, stopping on the Embankment to
+look on the dark river which was soon to carry him down to the salt
+waters.
+
+As he leant there with his elbows on the granite coping, he heard the
+sound of oars, and presently made out the blurred outline of a boat, and
+a streak of white about its bows where the strong tide opposed its rush
+to the exertions of the labouring oarsmen.  There were two of these, and
+Frank could see that they were not pulling together, while the bow oar
+was weaker than the stroke.  The boat scarcely gained a foot against the
+tide, but, instead, moved sideways at every savage pull by stroke.
+
+"Put your weight into it, man," growled stroke.
+
+"I can't.  I'm dead beat," gasped the other.
+
+"Look out!" shouted Frank, "you'll be into the steps."
+
+Stroke looked sharply to the right, threw out a hand to keep the boat
+off the granite, then, as she was swept back, caught fast hold of an
+iron ring, while the bow oarsman sighed audibly and set to rubbing his
+arms.
+
+"You're a pretty sort of fellow, you are--as soft as butter.  What the
+deuce did you say you could row for?"
+
+"Who can pull against this flood?  Look here!"  Bow leant over,
+thrusting his hand into the dark waters, which foamed against the
+obstruction.
+
+"What are we to do now?"
+
+"Wait till the ebb, I suppose; or get a ferryman to row us."
+
+"Ferryman be damned.  If we wait for the ebb we'll not get out before
+daylight."
+
+Frank went round to the opening in the Embankment, and walked down the
+steps.
+
+"Can I be of any use?" he said.
+
+"Yes, you can, by taking yourself off," was the surly rejoinder from
+stroke.
+
+"Nonsense!  Don't go, sir.  Can you row?"
+
+"I think so."
+
+"I don't want you to think.  I thought I could row until I met this
+infernal tide."
+
+"Well, I can row against tide, or with it."
+
+"Step right in, then."
+
+"Man, you're mad!" sharply interposed stroke.  The two whispered
+together for a few minutes, then bow suavely spoke:
+
+"My friend would be glad of your help, but he rather doubts your
+discretion.  We are engaged in no nefarious designs, but at the same
+time we don't want to be talked of."
+
+"I think," said Frank, with a laugh, "you may trust me, especially as
+you have already given yourself away.  There would be nothing to prevent
+my calling the attention of a policeman to your condition, you know."
+
+"Jump in," said stroke quickly.
+
+Bow crawled aft to take the tiller, and Frank stepped lightly into the
+boat.
+
+"Take her through the second arch, and then keep over to the Surrey
+side, when you will shoot us through the end arch of London Bridge, and
+by the fleet of barges.  She lies just beyond."
+
+"They are evidently making for a ship of some sort," was Frank's mental
+reflection on the reference to "she," but he was next moment bending to
+his oar, his eyes fixed on the broad back before him, and his soul bent
+upon holding his own.
+
+For a moment the boat had swept back with the tide, then as the oars
+dipped in she stood still to their tug, hung a moment, then crept on
+with slowly-increasing speed--under Waterloo Bridge, past the railway
+bridge, then across to the Surrey side, and, with a hard struggle, down
+under London Bridge and into the Pool, close in the shadow of a number
+of barges.
+
+"Do you see her?" asked stroke, with a gasp.
+
+"Pull on," said the cox.  "So--steady, stroke--pull, bow--easy."
+
+The boat scraped alongside a low craft, and cox held on to a rope
+ladder.
+
+"How do you feel?" asked stroke, turning his head.
+
+"Pretty well baked," said Frank; "and you?"
+
+"I'm worked to a cast-iron finish.  Give me the painter--thanks.  Now,
+up you go."
+
+Without more ado, Frank climbed up the ladder to a narrow deck, where he
+stood holding to a light rail.  The two men were quickly by his side,
+one of them securing the boat.
+
+"This way."
+
+They went forward to a deck-house, and descended a companion-way to a
+small saloon, where one of them struck a match, and lit a suspended
+lamp.
+
+"Let's have a look at you!" and the man who had pulled stroke, standing
+himself in the shade, threw the light full on Frank's face, while the
+second man closed the door and stood with his back to it.
+
+"That will do."
+
+"Pardon me," said Frank, stung by this ungracious treatment; "it is my
+turn now."
+
+Quickly steadying the lamp, he directed the light on the other's face,
+revealing a pair of fierce black eyes, and a face thickly bearded.
+
+"Stop that, or I'll--" He put his hand to his pocket with a threatening
+action.
+
+"Leave him alone, Captain.  Upon my word, he has served you well in your
+own coin;" and the other man stepped forward, placing a hand lightly on
+Frank's shoulder, whereat the latter, finding he was in queer company,
+stepped back.
+
+"Don't start, sir; there is nothing to fear."
+
+"I think there is," said Frank; "so please keep your distance, or,
+better still, stand aside, as I should like to get out of this."
+
+"Of course you would, but--and I hate to tell you after what you have
+done--we can't afford to let you go."
+
+"Afford, that's not the word.  We won't let you go, mate."
+
+"I'll see about that," shouted Frank, at the same time hurling one man
+aside, and, seizing the handle, which came off to his furious tug,
+leaving the door still fast closed.  Turning, he hurled the brass knob
+at the black-bearded man, but it missed the mark, and went with a crash
+through a glass door beyond.
+
+Next moment he was looking into the dark muzzle of a revolver, held very
+straight in the brawny hand of the Captain, whose black eyes wore a very
+ugly look.
+
+"Put that pistol down," rang out in tones of suppressed passion.
+
+The door stood open, and a tall girl in black swept in.
+
+Her dark eyes, flashing from a face of unusual pallor, dwelt a moment on
+the three figures, the one huddled on the floor, the others facing each
+other.
+
+"What does this mean, Captain Pardoe?" she asked haughtily, "and who is
+this stranger?"
+
+Frank raised his hat.  "For my part in this disturbance I heartily
+apologise, but I must say, and these gentlemen will bear me out, that my
+intrusion was not of my seeking."
+
+She inclined her head slightly, then turned to the second man, who had
+risen, looking uncomfortable at having been found in a humiliating
+position.
+
+"Since Captain Pardoe cannot speak, perhaps you will have the goodness
+to explain, Mr Commins."
+
+"It is this way, Miss Laura!" blurted the Captain; "this young fellow
+knows too much."
+
+"Excuse me," said Frank, "I know nothing except that I helped to row you
+here, and you wished to detain me."
+
+"Allow me to explain," said Mr Commins, interposing with a wave of his
+hand.  "The tide was against us, and I was unequal to the work.  This
+young man kindly offered his help, and we accepted, but thinking it
+would be inadvisable to let him return, we felt it best to detain him,
+and if he had not been in such a hurry to put us down as thieves or
+cut-throats, and to act with unnecessary violence on that supposition,
+matters could have been amicably settled."
+
+"At the muzzle of a pistol," said Frank dryly.
+
+"I think you might have managed without help," said the young lady
+coldly.  "It is most vexing, and such a beginning bodes ill for the
+undertaking."
+
+"You need be under no uneasiness.  We can easily detain him."
+
+"I object," said Frank hotly.
+
+Captain Pardoe lifted his weapon.
+
+"Give me that pistol, sir," said the young lady imperiously, and the
+Captain reluctantly handed it over.  "I regret very much that we should
+place you under restraint, sir; but there are interests at stake more
+important than considerations of mere personal convenience.  I'm afraid
+you must be our guest for a few days."
+
+"We can put him ashore at Madeira, Miss Laura," said the Captain.
+
+"At Madeira," said Frank, earnestly gazing at the splendid eyes and
+superb figure of this masterful young lady.
+
+"We will do our best to entertain you in the meanwhile," she said, with
+a sudden dazzling smile, "and, perhaps, you will even forgive us for
+this unmannerly and ungrateful return for your kindness."
+
+As he caught the dazzle of her smile he determined upon his course,
+especially as the trip to Madeira would advance him on his voyage.
+
+"I am willing," he replied, "to take an enforced passage, provided you
+allow me to get my baggage."
+
+"That means going ashore?"
+
+"Not necessarily; for upon a note from me to the landlady of my rooms
+the things would be given up."
+
+"We have no time to spare, Miss Laura," said Captain Pardoe.
+
+"It is necessary for me to go ashore," she answered, "for a few minutes.
+Where are your rooms?"
+
+"Off the Temple--in York street."
+
+"I think I will trust you," she said, giving her hand, which Frank
+warmly clasped, the spell of her beauty being full upon him.
+
+Within an hour they were all back on the ship, and as Big Ben struck out
+the hours of midnight the vessel slowly crept down the river.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+A WILD RUSH.
+
+Hume was immediately shown into a tiny box of a cabin and the door
+locked upon him, an indignity that roused him to wrath, so that he
+banged against the frail panels with his fist.
+
+"Look here," said a deep voice from the alley, "if you don't stow that
+sharp I'll clap you in irons."
+
+"Leave him to me, Captain, and go on the bridge.  Now, sir, will you
+oblige me by keeping silence for a few hours?"
+
+Frank recognised the speaker by the rich tones, and immediately was
+pacified.
+
+"If you wish it, I will; but please unlock the door."
+
+"Give me your promise that you won't make any disturbance."
+
+"I promise."
+
+"Thank you."  She turned the key, and then he heard the rustle of her
+dress as she quickly moved away.
+
+He stood looking at the handle for some moments, then sat on the bunk,
+with the feeling strongly rooted that he was in for some dark
+enterprise; but his mind dwelt less on this than on the stately figure
+and beautiful face of this strange girl, whose strong character had been
+so forcibly shown.
+
+Who could she be, and what was she doing there--one woman with several
+men, and men evidently lawless?  Already he longed for the hour when he
+could see her again, and once more hear her voice, and the remarkable
+and sudden change in the steady current of his life troubled him not at
+all.
+
+But presently his natural caution overmastered the swift-born
+infatuation which had threatened to make a slave of him, and he roused
+himself to take a survey of the little cabin.  This, though small,
+contained two bunks, was plainly fitted and strongly built.  The
+port-hole, he noticed by the dim light, was protected by an inner sheet
+of steel.  This he unscrewed, and opening, too, the round glass, he
+framed his face in the brass-rimmed circle.  The boat was slipping along
+down the dark river at medium speed, the regular beat of her engines
+sounding very distinctly in the still night, and her track stretching in
+a ghostly gleam, unbroken by any other craft.  By craning his neck, he
+noticed that she seemed very low in the water, and of unusual length,
+and he was puzzled to place her in any category of cargo or passenger
+steamers, finally coming to the conclusion that she was one of those
+long, swift tugs he had sometimes seen ploughing up the river with a
+string of coal barges in tow; a boat probably built for narrow channels,
+and to pass under low bridges.
+
+"She's not built for the ocean," he mused, "and when we get into the Bay
+she'll play pitch-and-toss, I'll be bound."
+
+Suddenly, quite near, Captain Pardoe spoke:
+
+"Forrard, there!"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"Do you see the Hospital ship?"
+
+"We'll pass her at the next bend, sir."
+
+"Put the lights out as soon as you see her.  Who have you got in the
+bows?"
+
+"Dick, the Owl," said the officer, with a slight laugh.
+
+"That will do.  Aft there, stand by the wheel."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," came in muffled reply.
+
+"We won't steer her from the bridge, madam," said the Captain, "all the
+lights must be out, and the orders passed by mouth."
+
+"Do you think they'll challenge us?" spoke the young lady, her voice
+sounding so near that Frank involuntarily drew back his head.
+
+"They'll speak us, but we'll get through right enough.  If there's any
+trouble it'll be off Sheerness."
+
+"Why there?"
+
+"They'll wire to the coastguard, and they'll signal the guardship."
+
+"That's a man-of-war, isn't it?"
+
+"She is that, miss, but she'll not fire, I hope; and we'll slip by
+before she's rubbed her eyes.  There are the lights of Gravesend, and
+isn't that something black ahead under the bank?  You won't go below, I
+s'pose, Miss Laura?"
+
+"No, Captain Pardoe; I will stop here."
+
+Suddenly the glare over the bows from the forward lamps died out, there
+was a sharp ring of the engineer's bell, a sound of men in hot haste
+thrusting at the fires, and the vessel began to quiver and vibrate to
+the beat of vast engines working faster and faster.
+
+There was a rush of wind on Frank's face, the dark objects on the shore
+swiftly receded into the general blur, and the water foamed up at the
+bows and fell away in curling waves.
+
+"Are all the lights out, Mr Webster?"
+
+"Yes, sir; all but a light from a starboard port."
+
+"It's that swab of a passenger," growled the Captain; "I'll have him
+tied to his bunk."
+
+Frank, warned that he was guilty of some unpardonable indiscretion,
+crawled down from the top bunk, and had just reached the floor, when the
+handle turned, there was a quick step, a rustle, and the light was
+switched off, not before he had seen the dark eyes flashing in
+resentment.
+
+"If you behave in this way, sir, I'll not stand between you and
+discipline."
+
+"Really, I did not know I was doing anything wrong."
+
+"Shut the port-hole," she said sharply.
+
+He turned to obey with a frown of protest, when, seemingly not a yard
+off, there flamed the lights of a ship's cabin.
+
+"Where are you coming to, you lubber?" shouted out a voice furiously.
+
+There was a jar, an ugly tearing noise, and Frank and the young lady
+were thrown at each other.
+
+"I beg your pardon, really," said Frank, as he loosened his hold of her
+waist; "but I could not help myself."
+
+She stood back with a gasp.  "Did you see that?  Has she sunk?"
+
+The reply came from the angry officer of the other vessel in a torrent
+of language reassuring as to her safety, but venomously strong.
+
+The lights of another ship flashed by; then the steamer darted into the
+narrow fairway between a fleet of vessels, big and little, the waves
+washing against them, and bringing up an angry swarm of men, whose
+shouts could be heard in a confused babble in the rear.
+
+"What ship's that?" hailed a man in powerful tones.
+
+There was no answer, and Frank felt a hand on his arm.
+
+"We are the Customs--where are your lights?" followed in a faint hail
+astern.
+
+"Thank Heaven, we are past Gravesend.  Now, sir, you may have your light
+again."
+
+She pressed the button, and the electric light shone over her lustrous
+hair, revealing a sparkle in her glorious eyes and a flush on her
+cheeks.
+
+Frank looked at her, and forgot everything in amazement at her beauty.
+
+"I dare say," she said, with a faint smile, "you are wondering who we
+are?"
+
+"I don't know," said he, "and I don't care, so long as I"--he meant to
+add--"am with you," but he paused in time at the hint of a haughty
+surprise in her eyes.
+
+She looked at him steadily a moment with a glance that implied some new
+interest, then, once more switching off the light, went out without a
+word, closing the door behind her.
+
+He listened and heard her voice on deck, when he again framed his face
+in the port-hole.
+
+The bow lights had been relit, and the ship had slackened something of
+her tremendous speed.
+
+"I wish to Heaven," said the Captain, "those funnels would not draw so
+well.  Just look at that shower of sparks; they'll give notice of our
+coming."
+
+"Why not slacken speed until you are close on the guardship?"
+
+"That'll give 'em more time to prepare for us, but it's the best thing
+to do."
+
+Then followed a sharp signal to the engineer, and the speed was still
+further decreased.
+
+"Mr Webster, was she damaged at all by that brush?"
+
+"Just a dent, sir; but she's all sound below."
+
+"Douse the lights again.  We'll keep close in on the port tack.  Keep
+your eye on the Kent shore, and tell the watch to be on the lookout for
+the guardship."
+
+For some time the ship slipped along through the dark waters without
+another word being spoken.
+
+"There's the signal, sir," sang out a voice, breaking in on the silence.
+A rocket mounted afar off.
+
+"Ay, I see it.  It's as I feared.  They've alarmed the guardship, and'll
+be sending a boat to her.  Suppose they catch us, madam, what yarn will
+you spin?"
+
+"They must not catch us."
+
+"They may open fire."
+
+"Whether they fire or not, we must get through.  Couldn't we open fire,
+too?"
+
+Captain Pardoe laughed.
+
+"We must depend on our heels, Miss Laura.  If it came to knocks, the
+guardship would blow us out of the water."
+
+"How annoying!" was the truly feminine reply--a reply so inappropriate
+that even Frank smiled, while Captain Pardoe chuckled audibly.
+
+"Understand, Captain," she continued imperiously, "I will not be
+captured, nor the ship, not if they have to blow it up."
+
+"Ah, see that?"
+
+A shaft of light shot into the sky, then dropped to the water and swept
+swiftly from right to left.
+
+"It's the search-light.  The guardship is looking for us.  Mr Webster,
+step down to the engineer and tell him we'll want every pound of steam
+he can give us when I signal him.  We must get twenty-seven knots out of
+her."
+
+"Twenty-seven knots," thought Frank.  "What ship can this be?"  The
+cabin seemed to grow unbearable as his excitement increased, and if
+danger was to be encountered his place was by the side of this girl whom
+Fate had thrown in his path.
+
+Again the shaft of light, broadening from its base, shot out into the
+darkness, and swept the water to its outermost fringe, where the gleam
+mingled with the black night, reaching a few lengths ahead, where it
+outlined a bare pole on the bank.
+
+"Port your helm; put her over to the Kent shore," the Captain ordered
+with lowered voice.
+
+The vessel came round, and made across to the other bank.
+
+The search-light swept round again, just as the vessel was near the
+right bank, and the light shone over the deck, lighting up every detail,
+before it passed on.
+
+"Astern--full speed astern," roared the Captain down the speaking-tube;
+"starboard your helm; bring her up on the old course."
+
+The vessel backed out as the search-light flew back to the place she had
+occupied, and then swiftly made over to the Essex shore, and at another
+signal from the bridge darted into the shelter of the night.
+
+Frank could hold himself no longer, but flung open the door, and after
+groping about in the saloon, found the companion-way to the deck.  There
+was a broad white belt of light on his right, but all around and ahead
+was darkness, intensified by the brightness so near.
+
+"They'll find us in a minute," spoke the Captain, and Frank, turning,
+saw dimly two figures on a bridge just ahead of two singularly low
+funnels, from which poured dense volumes of smoke.
+
+The shaft of light played about the further shore, swept out slowly to
+mid-stream, then swept back again.
+
+"Stand by, Mr Dixon," said the Captain, down the tube.
+
+The guardship could now be dimly seen behind that glittering eye--a
+blurr of spars and funnels about a mile up stream.
+
+The light crept over the dark river in a broad track of gleaming silver,
+came slowly nearer, then, in a blinding flash, shone over the vessel,
+lighting up every man as he stood at his post, and bringing out the
+girl's face in a startling pallor.
+
+The bell sounded its sharp order, the engines answered quicker and
+quicker, and the long, narrow ship seemed to leap forward, sending up a
+shower of water, which sparkled in the light, and came aft like rain.
+On she rushed--the flames springing from her funnels--the whole frame
+and body of her vibrating, and the water hissing and splashing before
+her bows and in her wake.
+
+A ball of white smoke, which for a moment dimmed the flaming light,
+belched from the warship, followed at fully half a minute by the sullen
+boom.
+
+"That's by way of formal notice," said the Captain; "by-and-by she'll
+send a sharper summons; better go below, Miss Laura."
+
+"I will stay here," she answered quietly.
+
+The small ship was now abreast of the man-of-war, which had changed its
+course and was steaming slowly ahead.  On the left were the lights of
+Southend, far ahead the revolving lights of the Nore lightship, and on
+the port bows was the black hull and green and red lights of a huge
+steamer.
+
+"That's a stroke of luck," said the Captain.  "We'll get on the blind
+side of that ship, and that bulldog daren't show his teeth until we're
+well clear both of Southend and the steamer."
+
+The man-of-war fired another blank charge, but the long, low vessel
+darted along, shifting her course until she came under the bows of the
+big ocean steamer.
+
+The search-light, however, soon picked her up beyond, and a minute after
+there was another report, followed this time by the shrill scream of a
+shell, than which there are few sounds more threatening.  The shot flew
+high, plunging with a splash far on the port side.
+
+"They cannot hit us, Captain Pardoe, and we are rapidly leaving them."
+
+"They are not trying, Miss Laura.  That was just by way of being more
+peremptory.  In ten minutes we'll be beyond reach of their light, and
+then there'll be another spell of safety, unless we are sunk.  Hullo,
+here comes another."
+
+There was another sullen roar, and the gunner had determined on a closer
+call, for the ball touched the water not a hundred yards off, then
+ricocheted to the Essex coast.
+
+"The next one will have us," growled the Captain.
+
+"Steamer's lights ahead!  Starboard bow!" hailed the lookout.
+
+Eyes were taken off the following man-of-war, and strained into--the
+darkness ahead, out of which presently there stood two lights.
+
+"She's near us, Mr Webster, and thank your stars for a sound berth
+to-night for that.  We'll slip by on the port, and then get away under
+her bulk.  Do you think they see her?"
+
+"No, sir; but the steamer 'll make the cruiser see her.  She must be in
+a rare state.  Ah! there goes a rocket."
+
+High into the black heavens ahead went a ball of fire, which presently
+curved over and burst in a shower of blue.
+
+"Looks like a navy signal, sir?"
+
+"Very like.  If she is, we're caught hard and fast."
+
+"There's an answer from the warship, sir," said Frank, who had turned
+his eyes aft.
+
+"I wish I understood the game," growled the Captain, banging his fist on
+the bridge rail.  "Oh, she means it this time!"
+
+A red tongue of flame leapt out, a great volume of white smoke; the
+shot, keeping low, struck the water up, and then there was a loud crash,
+followed by the whir of splinters.
+
+Frank saw the dark figure at the wheel suddenly sink to the deck, and
+without losing a moment he bounded down the narrow deck, seized the
+handle as the wheel was beginning to revolve, and brought it round.
+
+"She's paying off.  What in thunder's up with the wheel?" roared the
+Captain.  "Mr Webster, take two men aft.  Starboard your helm."
+
+Frank put his weight in, and with every sinew straining, brought the
+vessel round, just as, like a runaway horse that takes the bit in its
+iron jaws, she had threatened to come broadside on.
+
+"What's wrong here?" panted Mr Webster anxiously, as he reached the
+wheel.
+
+"Steersman hit," said Frank shortly; "carry him off.  I'll manage this."
+
+Mr Webster groped for the wounded man, drew him away, and then paused
+to look up, for they were passing the vessel whose lights they had seen.
+She was scarcely making any way, and the bulwarks were lined with pale
+faces, among them those of many women.
+
+"Thank Heaven, she's no cruiser; hurrah, boys, hurrah!"
+
+The few hands took up the cheer, and the people on the deck above,
+relieved from some nameless fear at seeing the dark ship slipping away,
+responded with a feeble shout; the captain, from his lofty bridge,
+sending a call through his hollow hands: "What's the meaning of this
+foolery?"
+
+"Ask the guardship," bellowed Captain Pardoe; "a little target practice.
+Good-bye."
+
+The little ship plunged into the welcome darkness, still maintaining her
+terrific speed, and the search-light could not reach her.
+
+Then the lights were lit, the wounded man carried below, and an
+inspection made of the ship, when it was found that the iron bulwarks
+had been pierced a little forward of the wheel.
+
+"Send the steersman forward!" shouted the Captain.
+
+Frank was relieved, and walked to the bridge.
+
+"What's your name, my man?"
+
+"Hume."
+
+"What--the passenger?  I gave orders to have you locked in.  Never mind
+that, sir; you did well, and I'm much obliged to you.  You're welcome to
+the run of the ship.  That was a close shave, eh?  If it hadn't been for
+the mercy of that steamer we'd have been five fathoms under.  You'd
+better turn in now."
+
+Frank lingered awhile to see whether the lady would appear, and then
+went down below, where he saw her leaning, as it were, for support
+against a saloon pillar, a handkerchief pressed to her forehead.
+
+"It has been a trying night," he said gently.
+
+"You had no right to leave your cabin," she replied--then swiftly
+disappeared.
+
+Frank looked down the narrow gangway, heard the bang of her door, and,
+with his head up, and feeling mightily offended, entered his own tiny
+cabin.
+
+"She might have been civil, at least," he muttered.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+A STRANGE CRAFT.
+
+Hume had been to the Cape and back; he had also tossed about off the
+Bristol Channel in a small yacht; but before morning he learnt that the
+ocean could play more tricks with a ship than he had ever dreamt of in
+the wildest tossing.  He was sleeping on the top bunk, for the sake of
+the breeze from the open port, and was early awakened by a dream, in
+which, with the thunder of waters in his ears, he had gone head foremost
+down a cascade.
+
+Had it been a dream?  He sat up, knocking his head against the roof, and
+in his ears there was the same terrific roar, with a splashing sound,
+and an unmistakable feeling of dampness.  A desperate lurch made him
+cling to the brass rail; then, as the port dipped, he saw the sky-line
+obscured by a moving wall, and was almost washed away by a belching
+funnel of cold water that boomed on to the floor, and rushed over his
+cabin, taking with it every movable object.  As the ship heeled over he
+struggled, soaked and shivering, with the brass hinge of the
+port-window, which he thrust in and held there until the ship rolled
+under again.  With the backward swing he worked the screw in, then
+lurched out from his sodden bed to the floor, inches deep in water, when
+he groped for the switch and turned on the electric light.  His
+portmanteau coming swiftly out from under the lower bunk, carried him
+off his feet, and then bounded over his body, while his gun-case rammed
+him viciously in the ribs.
+
+Staggering up, he clambered into the lower bunk, and spent an awful hour
+of misery with a babel of sounds racking his brain, and every possible
+motion threatening dislocation to his body.  The small bunk was too
+large for him.  He could not brace himself tight; but, like a pea in a
+drum, was rattled from side to side and top to bottom, his head at one
+time threatening to fly off as the bows dipped; his body sinking with
+the most sickening desire to part with his head as the stern went under,
+and his arms, legs, and head flopping about hopelessly to each dizzy
+roll.
+
+Then between, and coming through every motion, was the jarring of the
+screw as the stern was lifted up--a most soul-disturbing sensation,
+enough in itself to unsettle the innermost lashings, the smallest nerves
+and sinews of the body.
+
+"What the devil possesses the ship?" thought Frank, in a state of feeble
+protest against this indignity of sea-sickness that held him in its
+clammy grasp.  "Hulloa!" he groaned, as he heard someone staggering
+along the alley-way.
+
+The door was opened, and the new-comer dived in to the roll of the ship
+as though he were violently impelled from the rear, ending up by
+stumbling over the gun-case.
+
+"That's the fifty-seventh time I've been knocked off my pins within an
+hour by this infernal buck-jumper.  What have you been doing, messmate;
+taking a shower-bath?"  And Mr Webster, the speaker, with a humorous
+twinkle in his eyes, sat down on the edge of the bunk and laughed till
+the tears ran down his cheeks.
+
+Frank turned his head with a look of disgust, but the ship, pitching and
+rolling at the same moment, sent him and his bedclothes in a heap to one
+end of the bunk.
+
+"God forgive me," said the officer, making futile attempts to keep his
+feet out of the water; "but you're a most dismal object."
+
+"What's the matter with the ship?" growled Frank.
+
+Webster opened his mouth to laugh, but a vicious lurch banged his head
+against the iron side of the cabin.
+
+"Ship, do you call it?" he cried.  "Why, 'tis nothing but a steel tube
+with an engine in it, and there's not a ship afloat that would not ride
+over this sea without a heave."
+
+"Isn't it rough, then?"
+
+"Man, we're just in the Channel, with a cross current and the apology
+for a ripple, but this devil of a sawn-off scaffold-pole just wallows in
+it like a porpoise.  Come up on deck, and you'll blush with shame to
+think you should have gone under to such little waves, scarce big enough
+to wet the frills of a Brighton beach-wader."
+
+As if to belie this imputation of mildness, a sea came on board with a
+crash and rushed along the deck with an angry swirl, making noise enough
+to spur Frank on to make an effort.
+
+"That's right," said Webster, taking him by the arm.  "Now come and have
+a nip and a bite."  Together they rolled out of the cabin and down the
+alley to the officers' box, where Hume duly swallowed a stiff glass of
+grog, and was suited with a shiny covering of oilskin overalls.  Then,
+holding on to anything that came handy, they clambered on deck, where
+the keen morning air very soon dispelled the nausea contracted in the
+stuffy cabin.
+
+It was a brilliant morning, with wisps of wind-lashed clouds scurrying
+across the clear blue sky, and a buoyant property in the salt-laden air
+that brightened the eyes.  It had brought a flush to the cheeks of the
+lady, whose figure, clad in oils, had been the first thing to catch and
+hold Frank's gaze.  She stood on the low bridge, holding with both hands
+to the rail, her feet braced and her body bending to the dips and roll
+of the steamer with a grace that even the heavy tarpaulin could not
+hide.  The spray which came aft in a white and gleaming drizzle
+glistened on her covering, and ever and again with a low laugh she would
+bend her head to an unusually heavy gust of wet tossed up by the
+plunging bows of the steamer.
+
+"Isn't she a beauty!" growled Webster, brushing his hand across his eyes
+to wipe away the drops.
+
+"She is, indeed!" murmured Frank.  "May I ask who she is?"
+
+Webster followed his companion's gaze, and led him forward.  "I'm not
+talking of her," he said, dropping his voice; "and you'd best leave her
+out of your thoughts, young fellow.  It's this craft I mean; this
+narrow-gutted rib of a steel monument, that's fit for nothing but to be
+stuck on end with a lamp in its stern, when it would make a good
+lighthouse.  Ugh! the brute.  See her bury her nose in that sea like a
+pig in a mash-tub."
+
+This wave was a gentle swell of dull green, covered with a lace-like
+tracing of air bubbles in round patches of white, and the top of it
+fringed with a line of hissing foam.  A lumbering coal-ship would have
+ridden over it without wetting her eye-holes, but this strange craft,
+with a snort, leapt into the very heart of it, tossing up a column of
+spray, while the divided sea swelled up to the gunwales and foamed along
+the side with ripping noise, and went aft in a swirl of eddying
+whirlpools.
+
+"Tell me," said Webster, flicking the wet from his sou'wester, "what
+sort of a ship she is."
+
+Frank, standing wide on the slippery deck, cast his eyes fore and aft
+with growing wonder at the long, narrow shape of her, at the inward
+slope of her heavy bulwarks, at the wide, short funnels and sharp bows.
+
+"I can't liken her to anything but a wasp or a shark," said he, "there's
+such a vicious air about her."
+
+"Ay, she carries a sting in her tail and a devilish set of teeth.  She's
+ugly as a shark, and as narrow and vicious as a wasp.  Well, what is
+she?"
+
+"She's a deuced bad sea boat, anyhow," said Frank, as the deck suddenly
+sloped away at a fearful angle.  "Is she a yacht?"
+
+"You've hit it first shot.  She's a yacht--that's what she is--a nice
+pleasure-boat for ladies and children, with engines strong enough to get
+twenty-seven knots out of her, and steel frame like a man-o'-war.
+What's that you're leaning against?"
+
+"A ship's boat, I suppose, covered with tarpaulin."
+
+"Right again, sir; that's the yacht's dinghy, fitted with velvet
+cushions.  Take a peep."
+
+Frank looked under the tarpaulin, and saw the vast butt and machinery of
+a gun.
+
+"That's the yacht's popgun, a four-inch quick-firing toy," and Webster's
+jolly face broke into a grin.
+
+"She's not a yacht, then?"
+
+"Lord, how fresh you are!  She's no more a yacht than a bull-terrier is
+a pet pug--she's a torpedo-catcher.  Do you mean to say you had no
+suspicion when that ironclad opened fire on us last night?"
+
+"I knew there was something dark afoot.  A torpedo-catcher!  Is this the
+_Swift_, the boat that was seized by the Customs authorities last week,
+on the suspicion that she had been bought for the rebel fleet at Rio de
+Janeiro?"
+
+"The same, my boy; and seeing that you took an active part in her
+escape, it wouldn't be safe for you to talk about this adventure.
+You've committed high treason, or some offence as bad, and would to a
+dead certainty be drawn and quartered."  Here Webster broke into another
+fit of laughter, ending up by smacking Frank on the back.  "You're in
+the same boat as we are, and if she doesn't drown you, or roll you
+overboard, or knock your brains out, you may live to be shot."
+
+"Many thanks," said Frank, with an answering smile.  "And what fate is
+reserved for you?"
+
+"Oh, as for me, I'll die of a falling chimney.  You feel better now,
+don't you?"
+
+"Thanks to your cheerful predictions."
+
+"Then come and report yourself to our chief, and harkee, you'll be
+offered a billet as captain of the cook's galley.  Take my advice, and
+accept it; it's comforting, sustaining, and by far the safest place in
+the ship."
+
+They went aft, now breasting the slanting deck as the bows dipped, now
+bending back to the answering lift, and came up to the bridge, where the
+Captain gave them a surly nod, and the lady flashed a smile on them.
+
+"The new hand, mam, come to report himself.  I found him afloat in his
+cabin with a feeling that he was an empty nothing, but he is better
+now," and Webster turned a perfectly grave face upon Hume, his voice
+expressing the deepest sympathy.
+
+"I am indebted to Mr Webster for his kindness, but he is premature in
+classing me as a new hand."
+
+"If you will come up here, Mr --"
+
+"Hume," said Frank briefly, filling up the pause.
+
+"Mr Hume, you may talk with less discomfort."
+
+Webster, with a whispered word to Frank to "come off his stilts,"
+lurched to the chart-room, and Frank, with a feeling of resentment at
+the girl's cold speech, mounted the steps to the bridge, where he waited
+with what patience he could muster until she chose to take her gaze off
+the sea, which she did presently, turning her magnificent eyes, and
+letting them dwell on his face in a calm scrutiny.
+
+"Did Mr Webster tell you," she asked in slow, formal speech, "that I
+had an offer to make?"
+
+"He did suggest that I might hope for a berth in the cook's galley."
+
+She did not smile at this as a man would have done, but frowned
+slightly.  "I am--rather, the ship is--short-handed, and I wish you to
+take your turn in the officers' watch."
+
+"But, Miss--" Here he paused with an inquiring look at her.
+
+"You can call me madam," she said.
+
+He bowed, with a smile at her composure.  "I am obliged for your
+confidence in me; but I am not competent to fill a responsible place."
+
+"You showed yourself last night equal to an emergency," was the quick
+reply.
+
+"Anyone could have done as well.  But, madam, even if I were competent,
+I am not sure I could give my services unless I were satisfied as to the
+nature of the enterprise upon which this warship is embarked."
+
+She threw her head back with a haughty toss, and with a ring in her
+voice, replied: "I am not at liberty to satisfy your curiosity."
+
+"Pardon me," he continued quietly, though his cheeks flushed, "I do not
+wish to pry into your secrets, but it is impossible for me to act in
+this matter blindfold, especially as I am not here of my own free will."
+
+"Then you refuse to help me?"
+
+"I would help you willingly," he replied eagerly, "if you tell me I can
+do so without hurt to my conscience or my country."
+
+"I will give you no assurance whatever.  Do you, or do you not, accept
+my offer?" she said imperiously.
+
+"No, madam, I cannot."
+
+"Then go back to your cabin; I will take the watch myself."  She turned
+away with an angry glow in her dark eyes, and he, after pausing awhile,
+slowly descended to the deck.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+DOWN THE CHANNEL.
+
+"Well, shipmate," said Webster, coming out of the chart house, "have you
+been promoted from the saloon to the bridge, passing over the cook on
+the way, just after the old style when a lord-in-waiting, who did not
+know a brig from a bumboat, was appointed admiral?  No apprenticeship,
+no navigation, no examination, but an order from the Commodore: `Mr
+Hume, sir, please take the third watch.'"
+
+"No," was the gloomy response; "I could not accept."
+
+"You swab!  You mean to tell me you've declined to help the Commodore?"
+
+"I presume you refer to the young lady?"
+
+"Presume be damned.  Have you no eyes, man, no gallantry; can you stand
+by and see a girl like that eat her heart out with sorrow and anxiety?
+Not that I care a brass button whether you help or not, for double work
+doesn't hurt me; but just think what she'll be like after a fortnight in
+this crazy roundabout."
+
+"You forget I know nothing about the lady, nor this ship, nor its
+mission."
+
+"And what's that got to do with your keeping an eye on the binnacle, or
+a cheerful face that will do something to keep her spirits up?  As for
+the matter of that, I know precious little about the object of this
+voyage, but it's enough for me to know that she wants my help, and that
+Captain Pardoe is in command."
+
+"It is not enough for me.  My knowledge of Captain Pardoe does not
+inspire me with much confidence in his designs, and you forget the
+circumstances under which I was trapped."
+
+"Well, well, you're just like the rest.  You landsmen don't mind what
+you do ashore, but no sooner do you come aboard than you're as nice with
+your conscience as a lady's-maid with her mistress's borrowed gown.  I
+warrant you'd not trouble your head about the policy of a merchant's
+business if you entered his service, not though he was selling bad pork
+to sailors or robbing the widows."
+
+"You're going rather wide of the mark, Mr Webster," said Frank sternly.
+
+"There, now, you've taken offence, and that's what makes me sad to think
+of you tossing like a log in your cabin--like that cold-blooded creature
+of a Commins who's drinking champagne in his bunk, the swab."
+
+"Mr Webster!" hailed the Captain.
+
+"Yes, sir!"
+
+"Take the remainder of my watch, please, and keep a sharp look-out on
+the starboard quarter."
+
+Webster swung quickly to the bridge, where he touched his hat to the
+lady, and then braced himself fast to sweep the channel with the glass.
+
+Captain Pardee came down slowly, and reeled a little on the deck, as
+though he had taken too much grog, thought Frank, as he caught him by
+the arm.
+
+"Thank 'ee," said he.  "I've not quitted the bridge before since we left
+the Pool, and my legs are rather stiff."
+
+He staggered on to the small gangway and descended, leaving Frank to his
+own reflections, which were not very pleasant.  If a man so tough and
+strong, and inured to hardship, as Captain Pardoe evidently was, felt
+the strain of the long watch on board, it was clearly beyond the power
+of a girl to undertake any part of work so trying.
+
+She was still standing on the bridge, her face wet with the driving
+spray, and a tense look about the mouth which told of nerves
+high-strung.  She was looking fixedly before her, and did not, as she
+had on her first coming on deck, bend her head to the flying spume in
+playful defiance.  As he watched her, hesitating between his wish to
+help and his stubborn regard for his own rights, he saw her lips
+tremble, and that settled the matter.
+
+"Madam," he said, reaching her side in a moment, "I am ready to help."
+
+She withdrew her face from the sea, and he saw that her thoughts had
+been far from him or the ship, and in some confusion he repeated his
+words.  A faint flush came to her cheek, and a brighter look in her eye.
+
+"I'm so glad," she whispered, and Frank, feeling something coquettish in
+this, flushed himself.  With the faintest smile, she continued: "I come
+of a superstitious race, and your refusal, so brusquely given, too, had
+shaken my faith in my own power, and what is of more importance, in the
+success of my undertaking.  I was reading `failure' out there in the
+tumbling waters--But now you have reassured me.  That is why I am glad."
+
+He flushed more deeply yet to think how easily she read his thoughts.
+
+"You must forgive me," he said, with a frank smile, "but I only wanted
+an excuse to satisfy my reasonable suspicions."
+
+"And you have found it?" she said, with an answering smile.
+
+"Yes; I think I have."
+
+"Then you do not think that I am likely to menace the security of
+England with this craft?"
+
+"I am in ignorance of your intentions still, but I am willing to believe
+that you are bent upon no desperate or unjust enterprise."
+
+"Desperate it may prove," she said proudly, "but unjust it is not.  No,
+no, believe me, sir, if there is any cause which would claim the
+sympathy of a brave man it is this upon which I am set."
+
+She rested her fingers on his arm, and looked at him earnestly with eyes
+dewed with unshed tears.
+
+What emotion could it be, he thought, so powerful as to move one by
+nature so proud and self-reliant?  He felt that further suspicion on his
+part would be contemptible.
+
+"I am no seaman, madam," he said, "but I may be of some service."
+
+"Mr Webster, will you tell Mr Hume in what way he may best assist us?"
+
+"Ay, ay, madam."
+
+"Then I leave the ship in your hands, gentlemen, until Captain Pardoe
+has rested."  She bowed her head and left the bridge.
+
+"So, after all, you've taken up arms against your lawful sovereign, and
+all for the smile of a woman, with not so much to show as the Queen's
+shilling.  Shake, my son!"
+
+"Don't talk rot, and tell me what I'm to do."
+
+"Is that the way to address your superior officer?  Harkee, sir, for
+less than that I've clapped a man in irons.  But I forgive you.  Put
+your eye to the business end of this glass and tell me what craft is
+steaming up on the weather bows.  My eyes are dim for the want of
+sleep."
+
+What with the swing and plunging of the "catcher," it was some time
+before Frank could get the object within view, and when he did it was
+but a fleeting glimpse he had.
+
+"It's a Cape mail-boat," he said; "I can make that out from her red
+funnels and grey hull."
+
+"Good.  Now, would you know a warship if she showed at that distance?"
+
+"Possibly, from her unusual breadth of beam--not to speak of her guns."
+
+"Well, my lad, keep a keen lookout, for there'll be a lookout kept for
+us off the Isle of Wight, and be most particular in noting small craft.
+Set a thief to catch a thief, and as likely as not they'll send a
+`catcher' out from Portsmouth, and a cruiser from Plymouth.  If you see
+anything strange in the movements of a steamer, blow down this pipe, and
+I'll be up in a brace of shakes.  I must have a wink before to-night;"
+and Webster, fetching a terrific yawn, went off down below.
+
+Hume was left alone on the bridge, and, as far as he could see, there
+were only two other men on deck--the steersman inside the wheelhouse,
+and a seaman in a look-out shelter forward.  It was a strange turn of
+the wheel which had placed him there in temporary charge of a
+torpedo-catcher, bound on he knew not what mad mission, and he shook his
+head once or twice in grave doubts of his own action, and of the conduct
+of those who so lightly trusted him--conduct which seemed to him to
+smack of the reckless.  However, he entered upon his task without
+further thought of the consequences, letting his eyes sweep from right
+to left over the grey waters, and lingering here and there on a sail or
+a streamer of smoke.  At first he eyed every ship with suspicion and
+fidgeted when a fishing lugger drove by before the wind, the crew
+peering under the boom at the long, low, swift craft; but after a time
+he reasoned he need fear no Craft which sailed on a parallel course up
+or down channel, and looked out only for sign of a ship making across.
+The sun mounted higher in the heavens, the wind fell away, and the
+_Swift_ grew gradually steadier, and he could walk up and down the
+bridge without having to hold on at each step.
+
+Close on noon Captain Pardoe came up to take a "sight," retiring to the
+chart house to work out his bearings.  The man at the wheel was
+relieved, and Mr Webster reappeared, looking as jolly as before, with a
+merry twinkle in his eye.
+
+"Anything in view, Mr Hume?"
+
+"Nothing but a couple of sailers and an ocean tramp, as I judge that
+steamer to be."
+
+Webster took a look round to satisfy himself.
+
+"Now," he said, "you go below for a snack and a snooze.  You'll find
+some tack on the table.  Tumble into my cabin, as yours is too wet."
+
+Frank, nothing loath, went down, and was soon in a sound sleep, out of
+which he was aroused well on in the afternoon by a rough shaking, to
+find Webster bending over him with a sparkle in his eyes.
+
+"There's some fun afoot, my lad, with the prospect of sudden death and
+damp burial, so hurry up," and the breezy first officer went like a
+tornado down the narrow alley.
+
+Frank was quickly on deck, and found Webster talking to the look-out
+man, while Captain Pardoe and Miss Laura were on the bridge anxiously
+watching some object on the starboard bows.  Looking in that direction,
+he could see nothing but a heavy streamer of smoke tailing away to the
+north, plainly showing that the steamer was on a course that would
+intercept the "destroyer."  Mounting to the bridge, he sighted the
+double funnels and heavy top hamper of a large vessel with the
+unmistakable cut of an ironclad.
+
+"What do you make her?" said the Captain gloomily, more to break the
+silence than to ask for information.
+
+Frank took the proffered glass, and bringing it to bear, it revealed two
+barbette towers, with long guns projecting, sharp bows heavily scrolled
+with gilt, and a mass of tumbled waters pouring before her rush.
+
+"She is coming along at a tremendous pace, Captain."
+
+"Ay, eighteen knots, and she'll be across our bows in a quarter of an
+hour, if she doesn't ram us to gain a little experience."
+
+"I am sure she cannot be in pursuit of us," said Miss Laura, stamping
+her foot.  "How could she hit off our position so exactly, when we have
+made little smoke and stood well away from the English coast?  She may
+be a French cruiser."
+
+The Captain shook his head.
+
+"They'd log our course as soon as they received all particulars by wire,
+and from the crow's-nest on the masts they'd see us sooner than we could
+find them."
+
+"Well, then, we must run away; and if she is only doing eighteen knots
+we should have no difficulty in escaping."
+
+"True, ma'am, if it was a stern chase; but she'll have us right under
+her bows."
+
+"And what will you do if she orders us to stop?" and the young lady
+fixed a burning glance upon the dark and troubled face of the Captain.
+
+"I'll take my orders from you, Miss Laura," he said gravely; "even
+though she turns her big guns on us."
+
+"Well, then, signal to the engineer to cram on all steam.  We won't get
+under her guns, at any rate."
+
+The Captain smiled, then touched the bell, and the sharp summons below
+was answered by prompt stoking.
+
+Frank stood back, an amazed and silent witness of this scene on the
+little bridge.  It seemed a thing incredible and unreal that a girl
+should have control in a matter fraught with such a responsibility and
+such peril.  He glanced keenly at the Captain to see whether or no he
+were humouring the young lady; but there was no sign in that dark and
+gloomy face except an air of grim resignation, while, though Miss Laura
+showed, in the imperious lift of her head and in her flashing eyes,
+visible tokens of intense feeling, she gave no trace of a mind unhinged.
+
+"Heave the log, Mr Webster."
+
+Webster's voice rang out cheerily; and soon the long line was paying out
+in the foaming track.  A bare-legged and brawny-armed tar, taking the
+line over his shoulder, staggered forward with it when its swift race
+had been checked by the minute hand, and Webster himself put his weight
+into the work, seeing which, Frank went down to help, for it's no
+child's play towing in the line from the grasp of the rushing waters.
+
+"Twenty-three, sir," sang out Webster; "and no bad speed, too, in the
+open," he added to Frank.
+
+In a few minutes the space between the two ships had greatly lessened,
+and the name of the cruiser could be picked out on her bows.
+
+"Do you see that, Miss Laura? there's no doubt she's after us."
+
+"I see no change in her, Captain."
+
+"She has shifted her course in answer to our increased speed, and
+instead of being stem on, you can now see almost the length of her
+broadside."
+
+"She's got her bow chaser cleared, sir," said Webster, in a tone of
+pleasurable excitement.
+
+A grand and formidable object the warship appeared now, sending before
+her terrible bows a white avalanche of water, her white decks lined with
+men, and the dark muzzles of her guns threatening destruction.  And no
+less deadly in aspect, though on a lesser scale, was the low and swifter
+craft sullenly plunging on like some stealthy panther retreating,
+snarling and half reluctant, before the advance of a royal tiger.
+
+"It is strange she does not signal," muttered the Captain, "unless she
+means to speak us."
+
+The cruiser was so near now that every man on board the port side could
+be distinctly seen, and it was clear that where the two lines met the
+ships would be within less than a cable's length.
+
+"She made another point to starboard," said Webster.  "If she doesn't
+give way she'll be on top of us."
+
+"She won't give way an inch," said the Captain bitterly; "and she's in
+her rights as a Queen's ship.  Stand by, below!" he shouted.
+
+The two ships tore along, the cruiser terrible and silent, except for
+the foaming of the waves, and every soul on the smaller vessel held his
+breath.
+
+"Reverse the starboard screw!" shouted Captain Pardoe; "bring her round
+two points on the starboard!"
+
+The long craft trembled as the one screw revolved in opposition to the
+other, then she bore away and darted under the stern of the great ship,
+heeling over from the waves that swelled up in the wake.
+
+The cruiser came round with a stately sweep, bringing up on the port
+side on a parallel course; and they all waited for the summons from the
+commander.  It came, ringing, sharp and peremptory:
+
+"Lay-to, there!"
+
+Miss Laura looked at Captain Pardoe, with her hand to her heart, and he
+signalled to the engineer for more speed.  The little vessel darted
+forward, her stem settling down like the tail of a duck taking to
+flight, a huge wave rising up right above the rails.
+
+The cruiser sank astern; but from her bows there leapt a great ball of
+smoke, followed by a deafening report.
+
+"We know what that means," said Webster, with a smile, "and she'll play
+skittles with us presently."
+
+But the cruiser held on without further notice, sinking further astern
+with each minute.
+
+The distance between widened to a mile, and still she gave no other
+sign, and those on the bridge looked at each other in wonder.
+
+"You see, Captain," said Miss Laura, betwixt a sob and a laugh, "I was
+right.  She did not know us, and we are safe."
+
+"Steamers ahead!" came the hoarse cry from the look-out, like a croak of
+ill-omen.
+
+Glasses were quickly raised for a long scrutiny of two small steamers
+low down in the water.
+
+"Well?" said the Captain, with a look at Webster.
+
+"Pilot boats mayhap," said that officer, with a queer grimace and a
+swift glance at the young lady, whose face had paled again to the lips
+at this new anxiety.
+
+"Oh, are they?" she asked, with a troubled look at the Captain.
+
+"No, Miss Laura," he said sadly; "they're torpedo boats.  That's why the
+cruiser let us slip.  They mean to take this boat without injury to her
+or us, and they've got us in a trap."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+A NARROW ESCAPE.
+
+Torpedo boats!  Two insignificant smudges of black, lifting and bowing
+like a couple of dingy sea-birds in a waste of waters, wretched little
+things that could be stowed away on the promenade deck of a mail
+steamer, and yet the appearance of one of them among a fleet of heavy
+ironclads would create as much consternation as a gadfly among a mob of
+cattle.
+
+On came these mosquitoes of the navy, with nothing to distinguish one
+from the other but a white number on the black funnel, and the honest
+merchant seamen on the bridge of the _Swift_ almost shuddered at the
+sight, recognising in them the incarnation of stealth and mischief.  The
+torpedo-catcher, however, abated nothing of her speed.  Was she not,
+after all, built to destroy these venomous midgets of the ocean?  They
+were her game, and a brawny-armed seaman growled out his opinion of the
+relative fighting values of the crafts.
+
+"Sink the little brutes," he said, shooting a squirt of tobacco juice;
+"run over 'em, blow 'em up, send them to--"
+
+His deep voice swelled from a murmur to a shout, and a melancholy seaman
+at the wheel nodded his head vigorously in hearty approval.
+
+The first officer winked at Frank and pushed his big oilskin cap over
+his head.
+
+"What an almighty smash there would be if the Captain gave the word.
+We'd sink the torpedo boats and the cruiser would sink us."
+
+Frank began tugging at his small moustache as the unreasoning fighting
+impulse seized hold of him.  He forgot that his own countrymen were the
+objects of his increasing animosity.  Underneath his feet he felt the
+quiver of the deck as the long vessel darted along, and the speed
+affected him with the same exaltation that boils through the blood of a
+cavalry-man when his horse has got into the desperate swing of the
+charge.
+
+"Clear the gun for action," shouted the Captain; and Webster, at the
+order, sprang over the bridge to the deck.  Four men were at his side,
+the tarpaulin flew off, and the long black gun emerged.
+
+Frank drew closer to the young lady.  "Won't you come below?" he said.
+
+She did not hear, and he touched her with his hand.
+
+She turned her eyes on him, magnificent and wild.
+
+"Had you not better come below?"
+
+She shook off his hand with an impatient gesture.
+
+The long gun was already charged, and Webster stood by whistling, his
+hand ready to touch her off.
+
+"Send the shot over that boat on the port side.  Make it a close call,
+and she'll shear off."
+
+Webster climbed up on the butt of his gun, took a long glance over the
+grey waters at the black funnel that alone showed, and without troubling
+himself about the reckonings for range finding, ventured an opinion:
+
+"Is she a mile?"
+
+"About that, sir," growled the big Quartermaster, Black Henderson.
+
+Webster jumped down, and, with a smile on his face, fired the gun.
+
+There was a deafening report, which shivered the glass in the
+chart-room, and when they drove through the smoke, and steadied
+themselves after the shock, they caught faintly the scream of the shell,
+and saw it stream high above the black boat.
+
+"That'll scare the life out of them," growled a sailor, with a chuckle.
+
+He forgot that there were men after his own metal on board, and the
+little boat paid not the least attention to the warning.
+
+A little patch of red instead streamed out from her bare pole of a mast,
+the meteor flag of Old England, which no British seaman can see without
+a glow of pride, and a look of consternation came into their faces.
+
+They had forgotten about the cruiser steaming in their wake, showing
+nothing now but its white fighting deck, surmounted by two huge funnels;
+but she kept a watchful eye on the swift catcher, and at the audacious
+act of hostility had bristled with anger.  Two small bow chasers
+projecting from the bulge in her bows spoke together, and a sharp
+reminder in the shape of a nine-pounder went screaming over the low
+craft, to plunge in the sea a cable's length ahead, while the second, in
+a sort of devil's "duck-and-drake" hops, sped away.
+
+Captain Pardoe turned swiftly, and shook his fist at the cruiser.
+
+Miss Laura had ducked her head at the vicious scream of one shot, and
+started aside at the angry splash and wild screech of the other, then
+stood trembling from head to foot while she bit her lip in vexation at
+her weakness.
+
+Captain Pardoe noted her emotion, and swallowing his own rage, said
+gruffly:
+
+"Shall we give in, mam?"
+
+"No," she said; "take no notice of me, please.  Keep right on, Captain.
+Even if we are hit, our machinery may escape injury.  You know what
+there is at stake, and if--if I am--if anything happens to me, promise
+me you will do your best."
+
+For answer Captain Pardoe took her hand, and raised it to his lips.
+
+"Now," said he gruffly, "you must go below."
+
+"I cannot; you must not ask me; you are endangering your lives for me,
+and I must be with you."
+
+"Mr Hume, please take this lady to the saloon; and hark you, sir," he
+added in a whisper, "lock her in."
+
+Frank looked at the young lady in dismay, and she, betwixt surprise at
+the order and indignation at the intended affront, stood silent.
+
+"Do you hear me, sir?"
+
+There was a dull report from the stern, and again there came that
+nerve-shaking scream.
+
+Frank seized the lady in his arms, lifted her up, and staggered towards
+the steps.
+
+"Put me down," she gasped.
+
+At the steps he put her down, and, with tears of mortification in her
+eyes, she soundly boxed his ears, then went down the steps to the deck,
+and into the saloon, while he stood with a curious feeling that what he
+had done bound her to him.
+
+"What's the matter with your cheek?" said Webster, coming up; "seems to
+be redder on one side than the other.  There, now, don't get angry.
+Lord love you, I'd sooner face that cruiser than attempt to carry the
+Commodore; but I thank you for it, my son.  The sight of her up here put
+my heart in my mouth.  Are you going to run 'em down, sir, or blow 'em
+up?"
+
+The Captain had his glass to his eye again, and held it there for some
+time, slowly sweeping the sea.
+
+"Neither, Mr Webster," he said finally, with a sigh of satisfaction, "I
+am going to steam at half-speed."
+
+He signalled to the engine-room.
+
+"Hoist the distress signal, Mr Webster, that'll serve the purpose."
+
+"Do I understand, Captain Pardee, that you intend to give this vessel
+up?"
+
+"Understand what you like, my lad, but do what I order."
+
+The ship had got a tremendous way on, but she perceptibly slackened
+speed, and the sailors, noticing this, got together in a group,
+directing surly glances at the bridge.
+
+Webster folded his arms, and faced the Captain.
+
+"Do you mean to surrender this ship, Captain Pardoe?"
+
+"And if I do so intend, what then?"
+
+"Why, then, I'll take command."
+
+"The devil!" said the Captain, making a step forward, grasping his long
+glass as a cudgel.  A moment they faced each other; then a grim smile
+hovered about the Captain's thin lips.  "You're a queer fellow, Jim, and
+a mutinous one; and I don't know why I should waste words over you.
+Take this glass and look over that boat on the starboard."
+
+Webster, with a keen glance at his captain, did as he was told.
+
+"Well, what do you see?"
+
+"I see a mast with cross-trees."
+
+"Can you see the hull or rigging below the yards?"
+
+"No, sir, there's a layer of fog."
+
+"Ah, now, bend the flag on."
+
+Webster took another look at the Captain, then bent the Union Jack
+reversed to the peak.
+
+They looked at the cruiser, and she at once signalled the torpedo boats,
+which simultaneously turned almost in their own lengths, and one on each
+bow, steamed a quarter of a mile in advance.
+
+The cruiser came on hand over hand, and Captain Pardee's glance turned
+repeatedly from her to the grey belt ahead.
+
+He touched the bell, and the catcher responded with slightly increased
+speed, which soon brought her within hail of the torpedo boats.
+
+An officer on the port boat, clad from head to foot in oils, all
+glistening with wet, leant over the bridge, and through his hollowed
+hands called, "Slacken speed, sir!"
+
+"All right; what's the fuss about?"
+
+"Slacken speed!"
+
+"So I am."
+
+There came a hail from the starboard boat.
+
+"Make away, Number 4; the cruiser will settle this matter."
+
+The cruiser was signalling again, and the torpedo boats began to shear
+off.
+
+Captain Pardoe measured the distance to the fog, and called on the
+engineer for full speed; and before the torpedo boats had got well out
+of reach of the cruiser's guns, had she then opened fire, the _Swift_
+darted by them.  When she was out of the range of their torpedoes, had
+they resolved to fire, he gave one of them his wash, placing it between
+him and the cruiser, and thus attaining his object, which was to stop
+the cruiser's fire until he could make a dash for the shelter of the
+fog.
+
+This feat was greeted with a ringing shout from the crew, and the men
+shot admiring glances at the Captain.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+OBJECT OF THE VOYAGE.
+
+Into the welcome security of the fog they plunged, and dashed on
+impetuously, regardless of danger to themselves or other ships from
+collision, and heedless of the rules about half-speed.
+
+"Now is our chance!" growled the Captain, "and we'll not lose it.  If
+the fog's only deep enough the cruiser will not see us again this side
+the Atlantic."
+
+The fog closed round in damp clinging wraiths, affecting everyone not
+only with an acute feeling of discomfort, but with a sense of impending
+misfortune.  The sea, visible only for a few yards, came with a heave
+out of the white bank and went by into mysterious obscurity with a
+subdued swish, while the ship went on wailing hoarsely.  Those on deck
+thrust their hands deep into their pockets, hunched their shoulders, and
+stared with white faces at the drifting mists and the beads of wet on
+the ropes.  Between the hoarse, choking cries of the foghorn there was a
+heavy silence, in which the ear was strained to detect some sound of
+life beyond the impenetrable cloak, and the silence was unbroken by any
+word or motion, for each man stood where he was when the ship dashed
+into this mantle of death--an obscurity that is worse than the blackest
+of southern midnights, and is more dreaded by the mariner than the sound
+of breakers on a lee shore.  A seagull appearing out of nowhere, swooped
+upon the ship with a startling cry, and disappeared like a wraith of fog
+more solid than the other gliding and twisting coils of mist.  And the
+steamer plunged on, wailing and roaring in an ecstasy of mingled fear
+and rage as though it also felt the depressing influence.  Each one was
+impressed with an actual sense of insecurity in the headlong speed of
+the craft; the vibration from the stroke of the engines appeared too
+great for the stability of the frame; the dip and roll seemed to be at a
+perilous angle, and dark forms shaped themselves ahead, threatening the
+horrors of a collision.  These, it is true, melted away, being but
+darker masses of fog, charged, probably, with imprisoned volumes of
+smoke from another steamer; but the presence of this smoke, judged soon
+for what it was by its acrid smell, disclosed the imminence of the very
+danger they had anticipated.  At any moment there might loom out of the
+mist a solid mass in place of these darker patches, and at the speed
+they were going nothing could prevent the shock and dread disaster of a
+collision.
+
+"Keep a good lookout forward, Mr Webster," sang out the Captain, in
+tones that were muffled as though he were calling from a well.
+
+"We are doing that, sir," said Webster, who had gone forward as soon as
+the fog bank was entered; "but the spray is blinding."
+
+The Captain growled under his breath, poked his nose against the
+binnacle, and then glanced into the driving mist overhead.
+
+"It's lightening above, Mr Hume, eh?"
+
+"Yes, sir; but there appears to be a strong streamer of smoke on the
+port side."
+
+"Ay, I noticed it before; but it certainly is thicker.  I'll give 'em a
+call."
+
+The steamer's siren sent forth a rending cry from its brazen throat.
+
+Almost immediately there came a response--a wild, hoarse roar
+terminating in a frantic screech.
+
+"Where away, Mr Webster?"
+
+"Port, sir."
+
+"Starboard, sir."
+
+"Dead ahead!" were the conflicting cries.
+
+The siren flung another wild cry into the wet gloom--a cry that was at
+once imploring, menacing, and complaining.
+
+It was answered again by a roar as of a great sea beast in fear of pain.
+
+Then followed a deep silence, while every man strained his eyes.
+
+At the same instant they saw her, a great mass looming out suddenly just
+ahead.
+
+"Starboard!" shouted the Captain, in a voice of thunder.
+
+The _Swift_ leant over as she answered to her helm.  There was a noise
+of shouting from the towering decks of the strange steamer, a feeling of
+impending doom, as her iron side rolled over towards the low craft, but
+next instant she was swallowed up in the gloom astern.
+
+The Captain drew a long breath, and the men turned and looked at each
+other in silence, their faces still white and fixed.
+
+"That was a close shave, Mr Hume?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Frank, wiping his forehead; "I'd rather be in daylight
+with the cruiser opening fire than pass through such a moment again."
+
+"Ay, my lad, it was touch and go, and by the mercy of a good seaman at
+the wheel we didn't touch."
+
+Webster came with a swing up the steps, and clapped Frank on the back.
+
+"I told you she'd drown you before you'd have done with her."
+
+"Well, I'm not drowned yet."
+
+"No; but, by gum, you were near it!  Did you see the cook's face at the
+gangway when we rushed by?  Lord, I nearly died with laughter at his
+sudden gasp, and I shouldn't wonder but he's got his mouth open yet.  By
+the way, the Commodore's down at the cuddy door, and by the same token
+she's got her mouth open in surprise.  Why not go down and tell her the
+news?"
+
+Frank accepted the hint, and very soon was beside a tall figure, dimly
+seen in the shadow of the door; but, having got so far, he was at a loss
+to proceed.  It was a stilted form of address to call her "madam;" "Miss
+Laura" was at once too familiar, and smacked of servility.  Why had they
+not told him her name and have done with it; why, in fact, could she not
+tell it him herself?  Having now mastered his first boyish fears and awe
+of her beauty, and warmly conscious that he stood on a different footing
+to her since he had boldly lifted her in his arms, he determined to
+brush away the mystery which hedged her in.
+
+"I beg your pardon," he said, "but I hope you will forgive me for
+obeying the Captain's orders just now."
+
+"Ah! is that you, Mr Hume?  Can you tell me how we are getting on,
+since I am not able to judge for myself?"  She spoke gently, and he
+caught the gleam of a smile.
+
+"You must admit that, though the Captain was somewhat peremptory, the
+necessity was urgent."
+
+"And you must admit, Mr Hume, that he was obeyed with singular
+promptitude, which told of distinct pleasure on your part at the
+prospect of relieving the bridge of my presence.  But still, you have
+not told me of our position."
+
+"We are well away from the cruiser, and when we have pierced this bank
+of fog, which we may do soon, as it is growing lighter, we should be
+free from danger of pursuit.  Pray, however, do not think that we wished
+to keep the bridge to ourselves, and if I was presumptuous to act
+promptly, it was because I was anxious for your safety.  You have not
+said whether you forgive me?"
+
+"Is my safety, then, of any interest to you?" she said, turning her eyes
+upon him, and laying a hand upon his arm with the look and action of a
+born coquette.
+
+"Not with me only," he said earnestly, "but, if a new shipmate may say
+so, with every member of the crew.  Mr Webster told me his heart was in
+his mouth when he saw you in danger."
+
+"He is a brave fellow," she said softly, "and modest with it all--a man
+who would give his life with a smile for anyone he liked.  It sometimes
+distresses me to think that I should have led him and the others upon
+this venture, dangerous as it must be."
+
+"Will you share in the danger?"
+
+"Assuredly.  This boat is mine.  I had bought it when it was seized by
+the Customs.  The enterprise is of my planning, and what danger there is
+will be shared by me."  She lifted her head as she spoke.
+
+"Why should you venture upon anything that brings danger to yourself?
+Surely you have friends, relatives, who would have acted for you?"
+
+She stood silent for some time, and looked at him curiously for his
+boldness.
+
+"I have only one relative, Mr Hume, and he is my father, a prisoner in
+the hands of Balmaceda.  It is to rescue him that I have risked the
+passage of the Thames, and if I cannot save his life I will die with
+him."  There was subdued passion in her voice, and her hands were
+clenched.
+
+"Your father a prisoner in Brazil!  How can they imprison an
+Englishman?"
+
+"He is no Englishman.  My father is Manuel da Gama Lobo de Anstrade,
+Colonel in the Army, and member of a noble Spanish family, treacherously
+seized by that ruffian President."
+
+"But you--surely you are of English descent?"
+
+"My mother was English, Mr Hume, and I have been educated in England."
+She paused for some moments, then continued quickly: "I have told you
+more than is known by any on board, except Mr Commins and Captain
+Pardoe.  But I am seldom misled, and I am sure you will respect my
+confidence."
+
+"I will, Miss de Anstrade."
+
+"You must not mention my name.  If you knew the Brazilians you would
+understand.  Were this ship to fall into the hands of the President's
+party, and my name were discovered, there would be little mercy shown.
+Ah! what fiendish punishment they can devise!  Luiz, my brother, they
+made him walk blindfolded over the precipice at Garanagua."
+
+She spoke scarcely above a whisper, but with an intentness that thrilled
+her listener, and her eyes were fixed before her, wide open and
+gleaming.  He had seen that look before, as she stood on the bridge
+gazing into the tossing seas ahead, and yet seeing nothing.  Now he knew
+that a terrible picture was before her eyes.
+
+Instinctively he took her hand.
+
+"I am grieved I should have awakened these memories," he said gently.
+
+"You have not awakened them, my friend; they are burnt in."
+
+He stood there in silence, holding her hand, which was like a lump of
+ice in his warm grasp, and which she allowed to remain there,
+unconscious of his touch.  He could mark the hollow under her eyes, the
+lines of pain between her dark brows, and he sighed.
+
+She sighed too; her mind came back from its troubled wanderings in the
+far Brazil, and she looked down at her hand, drawing it away, and
+regarding him with haughty disfavour.
+
+"I am sorry," he said.
+
+"You are strangely daring, Mr Hume."
+
+"My thought was to show my sympathy, and I could not find words."
+
+"It is true.  You English are slow of speech, but quick to act.  That is
+why, in this matter, I am trusting to my mother's countrymen."
+
+"Will you trust me also, my Captain?"
+
+"You!  But we are to land you at Madeira."
+
+"I am in your service already for a time; will you not engage me
+permanently?"
+
+"But you do not understand.  We cannot hope to escape the Brazilian
+warships without a fight, and they are but the first of the dangers to
+be met and overcome."
+
+"And yet you will face those dangers?"
+
+"For my father's freedom!"
+
+"But Mr Webster, Captain Pardoe, these sailors, what of them?"
+
+"They are men accustomed to danger; they know the risks they run, and
+are satisfied with their reward."
+
+He flushed at this plain speech, but continued:
+
+"And yet a few hours ago you urged me to help you?"
+
+"And you at first declined?"
+
+"I knew nothing then; but now you have taken me into your confidence,
+and I would be a poor thing, indeed, if I were to step ashore at the
+first opportunity.  I may not be able to do much, but--"
+
+"You will see I do not run into needless danger--is that it, Mr Hume?"
+she said, with a smile.  "I accept your services, sir," she added
+slowly; "but I do so with a sadness at my heart that warns me of
+impending trouble.  I hope it bodes no ill to you.  My mind is fixed
+upon this enterprise; but, oh! often in the night my heart is heavy with
+forebodings, so that I could abandon myself to the relief of womanly
+tears, if I only dared.  It is not an easy task, this," she went on,
+with a tremble in her voice, "for a girl to be alone among strange men;
+but my father, pale and stern, beckons me on, and my brother--oh, my
+brother!"
+
+Her voice gave way, and she put her hand to her eyes; then, as he stood
+by pale, distressed, with an oppression in his throat, she thrust her
+hand forth with a wild gesture, and swept by him to the bridge.  Frank
+stood awhile, then went slowly forward.
+
+When, with a start, he came out of his reverie, it was to find the ship
+free of the fog, and dashing along in the grey of the evening towards
+the golden glory of an exquisite sunset.  The sea stretched away to
+where glowed a rim of molten gold upon the horizon; and from this
+glowing band there shot streaks of fire into the sky, and rippling bars
+of silver on the waters, while the deepening dusk turned the blue of the
+ocean to a wonderful hue, shading from grey to deep black.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+LIEUTENANT GOBO.
+
+On the afternoon of the fourth day, with lockers almost exhausted of
+coal, they sighted the outposts of Madeira--jagged rocks, with the
+clearest of outlines--and made for Funchal with some apprehension as to
+their reception from the Portuguese.
+
+They had not passed scathless through the Bay.  The funnels were coated
+with salt, the mark of a curling sea which had swept over the bows, and
+the starboard boat was missing.  The deck was soaked, and grimy from
+coal-grit,--while all on board looked worn and unwashed, as though they
+had been without sleep, and, indeed, they had passed through a wearying
+time, tossed about like corks, compelled to hold on at every step, and
+drenched with spray.  But though the catcher had plunged and rolled in a
+manner that tried the nerves of the oldest seaman, she had gone safely
+through those huge rollers, and they had learnt to trust in her.  What
+they wanted now was her full capacity of coal, with some tons over for
+storage on the deck, to enable her to make the long passage to Rio, if
+possible.  The question was, Had the Portuguese been warned by the
+Brazilian Consul in London, and would they give them coal?
+
+Very soon she was steering a course parallel to the vast slope of the
+Island, ploughing through waters of deepest violet.  Innumerable little
+white houses dotted that seemingly inhospitable slope of coloured
+sandstone, many as the white crests of the waves, and each one of them
+when viewed through a glass was seen to be embedded in a wealth of
+vegetation.  So steep was the slope, and so limited each settlement,
+that every bit of land was terraced, so that not one spadeful of the
+precious soil should escape.  From where, at the foot, the slope
+terminated in a precipitous descent to the foaming wave, these terraces
+ascended like irregular steps far up to the heights.  And there lived a
+frugal people, with that brilliant sea below them, and the blue,
+unclouded sky above, with the air tempered by the mists on the mountain
+ridge above to the most balmy softness, and with a soil, once saved and
+scraped together, that grew all they needed without much toil.  Theirs
+is the life of repose, with grapes and bananas for their principal food,
+varied with onions and fish, and washed down with the wine of that iron
+soil.
+
+A slothful people, perhaps, but they have discovered the secret of
+living on the soil and out of the soil, developing the idle ruminating
+pleasures of sleek cattle; happy in their little houses, their tiny
+plots of fruitful ground; rich in their climate, and most fortunate in
+their situation.  What to them the aspirations of the struggling hordes
+of Europe, the agonised cry of the hopeless poor of more powerful
+countries, the ambitions and the social schemes of the proud
+Northerners, but the echoes of a stormy life?
+
+The _Swift_ rounded into Funchal Bay, and anchored in the calm waters,
+under the guns of a picturesque fort covered with green.  The fires were
+raked out, and the long craft, weather-beaten and streaked with rust
+stains, was at rest--an object, however, of suspicion to the peaceful
+merchant-ships.  A tug from the shore shot out, encircled the catcher,
+and returned in haste.
+
+"That doesn't look friendly," said Lieutenant Webster.
+
+"They've had notice to look out for us," was the Captain's comment.
+"It's what I feared; but so long as they give us coal they may do what
+they like."
+
+"There's a boat putting off, sir--probably to warn us off."
+
+"Well, we can't go without coal, and if they won't give it we'll take
+it."
+
+"Yes," said Webster, looking reflectively at the fort.
+
+The boat approached within a ship's length, and a fat man in uniform,
+who held the tiller, took a long look at the _Swift_, then made a
+signal, and was rowed back again.
+
+The fat man was met by a number of men in uniform, and after much
+gesticulation the whole party entered a larger boat, flying the
+Portuguese flag at the peak and stern, and with an awning aft.
+
+This time they came alongside, mounted the steps, and stood twirling
+their black moustaches, while their dark eyes roamed over the long deck.
+
+"Have I the pleasure of speaking to the Captain?" said the stout man,
+looking at a group of three.
+
+"I am the Captain."
+
+"Ah! receive my respects.  And the name of the ship?"
+
+"The _Swift_--steam yacht."
+
+"True, she has the appearance of a pleasure-boat.  You intend, perhaps,
+to remain here?  The Island of Madeira is very lovely."
+
+"Yes," said the Captain; "but not at present."
+
+"You will be going on to Teneriffe?"
+
+"Doubtless; but we require coal.  You have a good supply?"
+
+"Why not?  But this small yacht would not require much for a cruise to
+the Canaries."
+
+"About eight hundred tons, sir, is all we require."
+
+"Eight hundred tons, sir?  Very good.  With that you could reach
+America, possibly Brazil.  Is it not so?"
+
+Captain Pardoe bit his lip, while the stout man turned with a smile and
+a shrug to his companions, one of whom strolled leisurely forward.
+
+"Perhaps eight hundred tons is more than I require, especially as I
+could get more on my return," said the Captain quietly.
+
+"I understand, sir; but that's a matter of business arrangement with a
+coal-merchant.  You have left England recently?"
+
+"Four days since."
+
+"Four days--carambo--a quick passage!  Then, sir, perhaps you can inform
+me of the progress of the revolution in Brazil.  Have the rebels been
+beaten?"
+
+"I am afraid I can give you no information about Brazil."
+
+"And you have not heard of the escape of a torpedo-catcher from the
+Thames, bound for Rio to help the rebels?"
+
+Captain Pardoe looked astonished.
+
+"You have surely been misinformed, senor.  No vessel could get out of
+the Thames without the wish of the authorities."
+
+"I assure you, my Captain, the impossible has happened, and, believe me,
+I first supposed your boat was that same vessel.  Ha! ha!"
+
+"Ha! ha! what a good joke, senor!"
+
+"Is it not?"  The officer who had walked forward returned, and whispered
+to the stout man.  "But why, my Captain, do you carry a torpedo-tube and
+a heavy gun?  Is it to shoot gulls?  Ha! ha!  I am afraid, Captain, you
+will not get your coal here, and that your visit may be prolonged to our
+satisfaction.  You will find the island of Madeira lovely--most
+beautiful.  In the meantime, I may introduce you to my friend Lieutenant
+Guilia Gobo, who will remain your guest with these soldiers."
+
+The stout officer gave some order to his Lieutenant, and clambered down
+into his boat.
+
+"My Captain," he said, with a pleased smile, "may I direct your
+attention to our powerful fort?  We have there some heavy guns; oh, very
+formidable."  He sat down chuckling, and rubbing his knees.
+
+"The old boy is pleased with himself," remarked Webster to Frank, who,
+together, had been amused spectators of the scene.  "He euchred the
+Captain without trouble--an easy matter enough, by the way, in the face
+of that little weapon forward.  Look at the skipper: dissimulation is
+not his _role_."
+
+Indeed, Captain Pardoe looked very black, as he confronted the
+Lieutenant and his four men.
+
+"Well, sir," he said, "what is the meaning of your presence on board my
+ship?"
+
+"I no speak the Ingleese," said the Lieutenant haughtily.
+
+"But he understands it well enough," muttered Webster.
+
+"You don't speak English; perhaps you will understand that I have enough
+coal to take me to Teneriffe, and I will leave in an hour.  Up to that
+time you are welcome to the run of the ship, but you will find it agree
+ill with your uniform."
+
+The Lieutenant turned sharply, and shouted after his superior officer.
+
+Captain Pardoe knitted his black brows, and was about to speak again,
+but turned to walk off, when he was joined by Frank.
+
+"I understood what he said, sir."
+
+"So did I, Hume, but I don't fear the fort's guns.  It is necessary to
+humour them, and with a little judicious palming we might win our
+object, but I have no genius for that work."
+
+"May I try, sir?"
+
+"Certainly, Hume, do what you like, for at the worst we can throw them
+overboard."
+
+"Then, sir, set the hands to clean the ship, and send Webster ashore to
+lay in a stock of vegetables, fruit, and fresh meat."
+
+"Since when were you appointed purser, Mr Hume?"
+
+"It will show them you do not mean to leave in a hurry, and we'll lull
+their suspicions."
+
+The Captain issued his orders at once, and in a few minutes Webster,
+with the chief engineer, Mr Dixon, were being rowed ashore, while half
+a dozen salts, with bare legs, were turning the hose on the grimy deck,
+and the stokers, black almost as sweeps, came on deck to hang over the
+bows and pull at their well-seasoned clay pipes.
+
+Before Webster left, Hume had drawn his attention to two large barges
+laden with coal which were anchored to the left, and suggested that he
+should find out what coal they contained.
+
+He next dived into the main cabin, where he found Miss Laura and Mr
+Commins looking at the island through a port-hole.  This was the first
+time Commins had emerged from his cabin, and though he bore traces of
+severe illness he was very spruce and neat in his dress, markedly so in
+contrast with the weather-stained appearance of the others.
+
+Their heads were very close together, and Commins had succeeded in
+making his companion laugh, a little circumstance which unduly nettled
+Hume.
+
+He secured some cigars, a bottle of wine, and was hurriedly leaving the
+cabin, when Miss Laura asked him a question or two concerning their
+position.
+
+"It is so annoying," she added, "that I dare not show myself on board,
+as the people here are sure to communicate with their friends in Rio."
+
+"I hope our young friend will be discreet," said Commins, with
+irritating condescension in his manner.  "Pray don't leave the cigar-box
+open, otherwise the sea air will spoil the contents; and I see you have
+selected the choicest of the 1880 brand."
+
+"These are for the Portuguese Lieutenant," said Frank shortly.
+
+"An officer!  What business has he on board?"
+
+"It appears they suspect us, and an officer, with four men, has been
+placed on guard."
+
+"That means we have been seized," said Commins, turning to Miss
+Anstrade.  "I advised you not to run into a Portuguese port; but you
+would be guided by your headstrong Captain."
+
+"There is no cause for fear," replied Frank.  "We hope to be off before
+morning with a full supply of fuel."
+
+"Your hopes may be interesting to you, sir; but I, for my part, do not
+find them amusing."
+
+"Enough!" interposed Laura with a frown; then, turning to Frank, she
+asked him if there really was any prospect of getting away.
+
+"There is, madam, if you have one commodity on board."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Money!"
+
+"Ah! come with me," and she started for the cabin.
+
+"Laura, don't be imprudent.  You forget."
+
+"No, on the contrary, Mr Commins, I remember that this gentleman has
+behaved nobly, and risked his life while others remained in safety."
+
+Mr Commins murmured something about being ill, but he shot an evil look
+at Frank.
+
+"Come, Mr Hume."
+
+"No, madam; if you assure me, that is sufficient.  It will be necessary
+to pay for the coal in cash."
+
+"You have some scheme," she said, looking earnestly at him, and placing
+her fingers on his arm.
+
+"I have, or, rather, the Captain--"
+
+"Ah, that is better," said Commins, with a sneer.
+
+"Say no more, Mr Hume; I have faith in the resources and courage of my
+officers."  She gave him her hand, but her eyes were fixed on Commins.
+
+Frank, somewhat uneasy at what he had witnessed of the familiarity
+between the two, hurried away with the wine and cigars to presently
+engage the Lieutenant in pleasant conversation in French.
+
+Seeing the officer comfortably seated in the chart-room with the wine,
+he went to the side to receive Webster, who had returned in the best of
+humours with a boat-load of bananas, custard apples, grapes, vegetables,
+and fresh meat.
+
+"I have left the engineer ashore, drinking Madeira with an old crony,"
+shouted the genial officer.
+
+"Good," said Frank, raising his voice.  "I'll ask the Captain to let me
+return for him later on.  Well," he whispered a moment later, as Webster
+stepped on board, "what about the barges?"
+
+"They have 300 tons, and are waiting out there for the Cape mail
+steamer, due early to-morrow morning."
+
+"Well, the mail steamer will have to wait.  That is our coal."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+COALING THE CATCHER.
+
+Lieutenant Webster joined the Portuguese officer in the chart-room,
+where, with his gallant attempts to speak French, and his readiness to
+join in the laughter at his own most amusing blunders, he quite charmed
+Lieutenant Gobo, who grew confidential, and imparted an interesting item
+of news.
+
+"You will remain with us, amigo mio, and we will crack many a bottle of
+old Madeira in a posado kept by an old man with two lovely daughters."
+
+"Thanks, senor, with pleasure, if we do not depart to-morrow."
+
+"To-morrow!  What say you?  We have a proverb that says that the wages
+of to-morrow mock the promise of yesterday.  To-morrow you will all be
+our very good guests."
+
+"For my part, nothing would please me better; but our Captain has said
+that to-morrow he will sail, and he is a very devil--diavolo--eh?"
+
+"You speak idly, my friend.  I assure you to-morrow this ship of yours
+will be seized."
+
+"How so, Lieutenant?  We have no quarrel with Portugal; and, moreover,
+there is no craft here that could overhaul us."
+
+"Not here at present, senor, but it is coming."
+
+"Your glass is empty, Lieutenant.  Is this a British ship you speak
+of?--for I know none other that could capture us."
+
+"There are other ships than British afloat," said the officer, twirling
+his moustache.  "The ship I speak of flies the Brazilian flag: the
+_Esperanza_ sloop of war, which, providentially, left Lisbon two days
+since, and may be here at any hour.  She was advised of the escape of
+your boat from the Thames, and has warned us to be on the watch.  Juarez
+is her commander, and I tell you he also is a devil.  Ha! ha!"
+
+"I perceive," said Webster, with a laugh, "you have been too smart for
+us.  We English are sometimes very dull."
+
+"Truly, mon ami, in quickness of wit, as in matters of love, we of the
+South are superior to you heavy islanders.  But you are good comrades,
+nevertheless.  Your health, senor."
+
+"I see the bottle's empty.  Pardon me, Lieutenant, while I overhaul the
+locker."  Webster, with an innocent look on his bronzed face, went below
+and sent a message to the Captain.
+
+"Sir," he said, as the Captain approached, "there is a Brazilian sloop
+of war in pursuit of us.  She may be here to-night, or in the morning."
+
+"How did you learn this?" asked Captain Pardoe, with a dark look.
+
+"From that yellow-skinned effigy on deck.  The _Swift_ is to be taken
+to-morrow and the crew landed.  It is all settled."
+
+"Is it?" said the Captain, with a peculiar smile.  "We shall see to that
+Hume will presently leave for the shore with two men.  As soon as his
+boat is clear have these soldiers seized and bound.  Take your measures
+quietly, Mr Webster, and be very careful that they do not cry out."
+
+"What's on foot, Captain?"
+
+"We mean to have that coal, my boy, sloop or no sloop.  Thunder, do they
+suppose I'll surrender to a sloop after defying a British cruiser!  You
+have your orders."  The Captain went down to the engine-room; and
+Webster, after securing another bottle, gave a few sharp words of
+instruction to the Quartermaster, who received them with a grin.
+
+Soon after a boat from the shore came alongside with a gendarme, who,
+after a few words with Lieutenant Gobo, received a note from that
+officer and returned.
+
+"I have assured my Captain," said the Lieutenant to Webster, "that we
+are friendly here, and that while one of your men is ashore he need not
+take extra precautions."
+
+"What precautions are, then, necessary?"
+
+"Oh, a boat or two of soldadoes!"
+
+"Mr Hume!" cried the Captain, from his position on the bridge, "you
+will take the boat for Mr Dixon, and see what arrangements you can make
+for coaling to-morrow."
+
+The Lieutenant jogged Webster in the ribs.
+
+"Is he not droll--this Captain of yours?"
+
+"Very droll," remarked Webster, with a meaning look at the
+Quartermaster, who stood near.
+
+Hume swung into the boat with two men, and gave the order to push off.
+
+Webster leaned over the side, ran his eyes over the men on deck who were
+drinking with the three soldiers, then spoke a word to the
+Quartermaster, who immediately joined the group, placing himself as he
+did so between the soldiers and their rifles, which rested against the
+side.
+
+Webster strolled to the chart house, took another look at the group on
+guard, then flung himself on the Lieutenant, pinning that astonished
+individual by the throat.  There was a scuffle forward, a smothered cry
+or so, and in a minute the four Portuguese were bound and gagged.
+
+"Lower the long boat, Mr Webster," said the Captain in low tones.
+
+This was done by the now thoroughly alert and expectant crew in silence.
+
+"Man the boat, take a tow-line, and make for the coal barges."
+
+Four men dropped into the boat, a tow-line was made fast.
+
+"Weigh anchor and deaden the noise with tow.  Let the flukes hang for
+the present."
+
+Quietly and slowly the anchor came in.  Webster entered the boat, the
+tow-line tautened, and the _Swift_ gradually moved off in the direction
+of the barges.
+
+Meanwhile Hume had met a boat half-way from the shore, with the chief
+engineer on board, and taking him in, waited till the shore boat had
+rowed out of hearing, then shaped for the barges.
+
+"You are shaping a wrong course for the _Swift_, Mr Hume."
+
+"We are making for two barges laden with coal, Mr Dixon."
+
+"Oh, oh, what's in the wind?"
+
+"These beggars won't give us coal, so we mean to take it.  We will
+approach the barges quietly, board them, and secure the people on board.
+Will you assist us, Mr Dixon?"
+
+"Certainly, my boy; and what's the Captain doing meanwhile?"
+
+"He'll be alongside very soon after we have done our business.  No doubt
+he's on the move now, with a tow-line out.  Gently, men, I think I see
+the loom of something dark."
+
+They stole softly up to the unwieldy boats, going alongside one which
+had an awning forward, made the boat fast, then clambered on deck.  One
+of the sailors walked along the broadside, and reconnoitred.  There were
+two men only, sleeping on a rough bed of sacks, their forms dimly
+outlined by the light of a lantern.  He then crossed to the other boat,
+which was unoccupied.  He made his report, and next minute the sleepers
+were aroused to find four men standing over them.  They permitted
+themselves to be bound without a murmur, on an assurance from Hume that
+they would not be harmed.
+
+A few minutes later the _Swift_ crept up, took in her boat, and got up
+steam.
+
+"Make fast the tow-line to the barges, Mr Hume," came an order from the
+Captain.
+
+"It is done, sir."
+
+"Cut the moorings."
+
+The rope was cut, and the _Swift_ steamed out, towing the barges, until
+she had rounded the south-western point below Funchal, when she dropped
+anchor, and all hands, including the two Portuguese sailors, were hard
+at it, transferring her coal to the torpedo-catcher.  The coal was in
+sacks, the steam tackle was set in motion, and with a loud noise that
+sooner or later would reach the ears of the people ashore, the precious
+cargo was swung on board and shot down the shoots, covering every part
+of the deck and rigging with grit.  The long, low steamer lay sandwiched
+between the barges, and while the steam tackle worked aft, forward the
+sacks were handled by the men, everyone, except Miss Anstrade and Mr
+Commins, lending a willing hand.
+
+They had been hard at work for an hour, when a confused babble of
+shouting was heard from the port, and shortly after they saw a shaft of
+light shoot into the sky and glance across the harbour.  It was the
+flash-light from the little fort, and no doubt revealed the absence of
+steamer and coal barges.
+
+Presently they heard the beat of engines--a steamer's light appeared
+round the point.
+
+"Show a light, Mr Webster.  We don't want to be run down."
+
+A red light was hung out over the stem.
+
+"Keep on with your work," shouted the Captain, as the men paused to
+watch the progress of the steamer.
+
+"Carambo!  Senor Capitaine, what in the devil's name is the meaning of
+this?" shouted a deep voice from the steamer, in furious accents.
+
+"Quien es?"
+
+"Demonios!  Colonel Alvaro, commander of the fort.  What mean you by
+moving off like a thief in the dark?  It is an offence against Portugal
+and the laws."
+
+Captain Pardoe laughed.  "I am merely taking coal for which I am willing
+to pay.  Will you receive the money?"
+
+"Yes," said a strange voice; "I represent the coal company."
+
+There was an altercation on board the tug, for such it proved to be.
+
+"I protest, Colonel Alvaro.  When I have received payment you may do
+what you like.  Lower a boat."
+
+Colonel Alvaro gave way, the boat was lowered, and a young Englishman
+stepped on board, who was immediately taken below, where he made a good
+bargain.
+
+"Now, Captain," he said, after securing a roll of notes, "you have acted
+in a high-handed manner, and it is no business of mine to help you, but
+the sooner you move the better.  The warship _Esperanza_ has been
+signalled, and will be here in half an hour."
+
+"Thank you," said the Captain, with a grim smile; "we can look after
+ourselves.  Mr Webster, release the soldiers, and let them return with
+these gentlemen."
+
+Webster did so, and could not forbear chaffing Lieutenant Gobo.  "We are
+no match for you, Lieutenant, in resource, but you see we are having our
+own way."
+
+"Matre de Dios!" cried the Lieutenant, grinding his teeth, "you will pay
+for this, you base picaro!" and he shot a vengeful glance at Webster and
+Hume, who stood close by, their faces black with coal-dust.
+
+Little did they dream that Gobo would make good his threat.
+
+The tug waited for its boat, then steamed away towards the harbour at
+great speed, Colonel Alvaro and Lieutenant Gobo shouting a string of
+threats as to what they would do on their return.
+
+Mr Dixon reported that the bunkers were filled.
+
+"Stack a row of sacks along the sides, and have them lashed.  Get a full
+head of steam up.  Mr Webster, cast this boat off from the port side."
+
+Soon the steam from the escape pipe set up its shrill clamour.
+
+The Captain mounted to the bridge, and with his night glass fixed to his
+eye searched the mouth of the harbour.
+
+"See that row of lights, Captain?" said Miss Laura.
+
+"A steamer just entering the harbour."
+
+"And there is another light moving."
+
+"That is the tug which just left us.  Is there much more coal left, Mr
+Webster?"
+
+"About fifty sacks, sir, I should say."
+
+"Whip them in, then.  All firemen get below."  He approached the tube.
+"Stand by, Mr Dixon!"
+
+The steamer which had just entered the harbour put out her lights, but
+there was a glow from her funnels which revealed her movements, as it
+grew rapidly brighter.
+
+"All aboard!" shouted the Captain.  "Cast off the barge!"  The men
+clambered from the barge, and the unwieldy craft was shoved away.
+
+"Full speed ahead!"
+
+The water was lashed by the screws, the _Swift_ vibrated like a living
+thing, and shot away, leaving the barges rocking on the swell she had
+kicked up.
+
+"Surely, Captain," said Miss Anstrade, "that steamer is following us!"
+
+"She is, Miss Laura, sure enough.  It is the Brazilian ship _Esperanza_,
+Captain Don Juarez."
+
+"Don Juarez," said the girl, in a startled whisper.  "O, Santissima
+Maria," she added, with a passionate cry, "that treacherous dog, the
+murderer of my brother!  Captain Pardoe, you must not fly.  Mr Webster,
+listen to me."
+
+"Laura, my dear girl," said Mr Commins, laying his hand on her arm.
+
+She shook him off with an angry gesture, and turned her flashing eyes on
+the Captain, while her bosom heaved.
+
+Some of the men had heard her cry, and stood near the bridge.
+
+"Men," she said, in quick, excited tones, "hear me!  That is a Brazilian
+warship behind.  It is commanded by a man who has done me a most fearful
+wrong.  You are Englishmen, and I ask you--"
+
+"Enough, madam," whispered Pardoe sternly.  Then, raising his voice,
+"Clear the guns for action."
+
+The Quartermaster's shrill whistle rang out in immediate response, and
+in reply a flame of fire leapt out from the darkness astern, followed by
+the screech of a shell.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+PURSUED.
+
+The _Swift_ was a formidable fighting ship, though built to tackle the
+midgets of the sea--the 130 feet torpedo boats.  She had no torpedo-tube
+in the stem, which had been strengthened for ramming; but she carried
+two tubes at the stern, one four-inch quick-firing gun, two six-pounders
+forward, and two twelve-pounders on pedestals.  Including the officers,
+there were twenty men to work the ship and guns, and a staff of ten
+firemen and engineers.  The seamen were picked men, tempted by high pay,
+and all of them showed the unmistakable stamp of strict training and
+discipline.  They were, in fact, men of the Naval Reserve, recruited by
+the Quartermaster--hard, weather-beaten, and, except when off duty,
+still-mouthed.  The Quartermaster, Henderson, was black-bearded and
+swarthy, like the Captain, and it was rumoured among the men that this
+was not the first time the two of them had shipped in the same capacity
+in blockade-running in the wars of South American Republics.  The
+conning-tower, a small chamber, fitted with tubes, knobs, levers, and a
+spare wheel, and walled in with thick plates of toughened steel, was
+just forward of the first funnel.  Beyond it was a turtle-backed deck of
+iron, and on either side were the six-pounders, protected by
+bullet-proof shields.  The Captain could fire the aft torpedo guns by
+electricity from the conning-tower.
+
+"Clear the guns for action, and slacken speed."
+
+The shrill, clear notes of the whistle rang out the sharp summons, and
+the men sprang to their positions with an alacrity which had not marked
+their actions when threatened by the British warships.  Then they had
+done their duty sullenly, with a sense of ill-omen at having to
+encounter their own flag; but now they were on a different footing in
+respect to this new foe, and eager to be at some other game than always
+on the run.
+
+"If our Captain's half as good at fighting as he is at running," growled
+the sailor known as Dick the Owl, for his night eye, "we'll have a
+bellyful, eh, mate? and good luck to it."
+
+"Eh, it's a queer thing, Dick, that we navy men should be under these
+port-to-port cargo and hat-box carriers, but the Captain's got red
+lights in his head when there's danger afoot, and maybe he'll be a good
+'un to follow."
+
+"As good as any you would find on the bridge of any battleship afloat,
+my men," said Lieutenant Webster, who had been standing by unobserved.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," said the men, touching their caps.
+
+"That's all right, my men; we've got to know each other yet," replied
+the Lieutenant, with a kindliness that won their hearts.  "Wash down the
+decks first," he cried; "we'll not go down to Davy's locker disguised in
+soot, like imps of darkness.  Out with the hose."
+
+The men laughed as they screwed on the hose to the hydrants and poured
+on a stream of water, sweeping the grimy decks from stem to stern.
+
+"Now, get below for a sluice and a dram," cried the cheery voice of the
+Lieutenant, whose idea of handling a crew was not according to naval
+instructions.  The men trooped down the narrow companion-way laughing
+and joking in their excitement; but the roar of the enemy's guns, as he
+fell round to port, and brought his starboard broadside to bear, was a
+summons that brought them tumbling on deck again ere they had time to
+wipe their mouths with a backhanded swipe.
+
+"Steady, men, and to your quarters," said the Captain quietly; "all but
+the men for the big gun, who will go below."
+
+Five men had taken their position about the big gun, which stood with
+its chase pointing up, as though looking away to the horizon for its
+enemy.  These men stood astonished at the order.
+
+"Below, men," said Lieutenant Webster, approaching them; "you'll not be
+wanted till morning," he added, as he noted their sidelong looks.
+
+They went down in silence; and, by the pressure of a button in the
+conning-tower, the Captain lowered the long gun into the deck, the same
+machinery sliding a heavy shield of toughened steel over the opening
+left by its disappearance.  This gun had been specially built for the
+catcher, and was of a larger calibre than the guns usually carried by
+that kind of craft.  It rose or fell on a strong powerful lever, on a
+modified principle used for the disappearing guns; and the frame of the
+ship had been strengthened amidships to bear the strain.  It could be
+loaded and fought on deck, or loaded below and fired from the
+conning-tower when at close quarters, and had been christened "The
+Ghost," after a trial made before reaching Madeira.  "The Ghost" was
+turned out at the Elswick Works, and could fire sixty fifty-pound
+projectiles in ten minutes.
+
+"We've laid our ghost," said Webster to Hume, who, being quite fresh to
+this part of the business, stood looking out into the blackness astern
+in a state of suspense; "we've laid our ghost, and must raise theirs."
+
+"Is that you, Mr Webster?" said the Captain, leaning over the bridge.
+
+"Yes, sir!"
+
+"I must ask you to go to your cabin."
+
+"To my cabin, sir?"
+
+"Yes; I will not want you till daybreak, and you will fight all the
+better, then, for a good sleep.  Take off the men from the
+six-pounders--the fewer on board the better."
+
+Webster went below with six men from the two guns, leaving on deck eight
+hands in all to work the ship and the two twelve-pounders.  One of these
+was at the wheel in the conning-tower; another was stationed forward on
+the lookout; and the others were in two steel towers, which were aft,
+about three feet above the deck, protecting the men from the hail of
+missiles that might be discharged from the machine guns, while their
+sloping sides would deflect larger projectiles.
+
+"Mr Hume!"
+
+"Sir."
+
+"Join me on the bridge."
+
+Frank mounted to the low bridge, and went close to the dark figure of
+the Captain for companionship.  They were unprotected by steel armour,
+and for himself he experienced a feeling of complete helplessness.  He
+felt that up there he was a mark for every gun aimed at the _Swift_, and
+that without any power of retaliation.
+
+"It is a fine night," he said aimlessly, looking up at the starry sky.
+
+"A very fine night, indeed," said the Captain, taking hold of his beard
+with both hands; "but there'll be rain in the morning."
+
+Frank brought his eyes down from the stare to a red eye that gleamed far
+astern.
+
+The Captain took a couple of steps, and spoke down the tube: "Please
+attend to your fires; there are too many sparks."
+
+Frank wondered at the Captain's quiet tones.  Usually he was sharp and
+rough; now he spoke as though he were asking for a second cup of tea.
+
+"I knew it," said the Captain.
+
+The red eye astern was dimmed by two livid flashes.  Frank heard the
+dull reports, and then with a thrill down his back listened to the cry
+of the shells as they sped on.  The enemy had as yet done no damage, but
+he knew that these shrieking messengers had at last scented their foe.
+He jerked his head violently as the shriek rose to a fiendish scream,
+and a swift rush of air swept across his face, whilst the crushing of
+iron behind him told that the shot had struck.  It passed through the
+forward funnel as though it had been a sheet of paper, and the smoke
+came pouring out of the holes.
+
+"They've got our range at last, and it's lucky for us they have no
+search-light."
+
+"I'll go and get my rifle," said Frank.
+
+The Captain chuckled: "She's a mile off, at least; and if not, you might
+just as well puff at a whale with a pea-shooter.  Still, I know how you
+feel.  It's devilish hard to stand fire without giving back."  He raised
+his voice: "Fire!"
+
+The twelve-pounders spoke together, belching out balls of fast revolving
+smoke, and spurring the ship on with their recoil.
+
+"It's no good, of course," muttered the Captain; "but it will encourage
+them to keep up the chase."
+
+"Why not give them the big gun, Captain?" asked Frank impatiently.
+
+"A waste of ammunition; and we'll want all we have when we get near the
+end of our voyage.  I could turn and engage them, but I like to see what
+I am about, and all I want to do now is to encourage them.  There she
+goes round; see her port lights; she'll give us another broadside, and
+do you count the flashes."
+
+"Count the flashes," thought Frank; "does he think this is a review?"
+
+The twelve-pounders let go at the row of lights, and as the smoke rolled
+away there came a muffled roar, and in an instant, it seemed to Frank,
+the air was full of shells.  The water was cup up astern, and one
+projectile struck the turtle-backed deck forward, and went humming into
+the black of the night.
+
+"She carries six guns to the broadside, I think.  What do you make it?"
+
+"A dozen, at least, Captain, and heavy metal," said Frank, wetting his
+lips.
+
+"No more than six and twelve-pounders.  A larger shell sets up a
+different music, as you will soon learn.  Still, I don't like it; their
+gunners are too smart."
+
+The Captain took a turn up and down the bridge, then sent a shout to the
+Quartermaster to cease fire.
+
+"Mr Hume, you will find a life-belt on the starboard side, opposite the
+hatchway, with a canister attached.  Cut it adrift."
+
+Frank found the belt, and sent it overboard.
+
+"Keep her three spokes to port."
+
+The steersman starboarded the helm, and the _Swift_ went off at an angle
+to her former course, whilst the canister, on reaching the water, flared
+out in a brilliant blaze in the ship's former wake.
+
+Before Frank had reached the bridge the enemy had come round and fired
+his two forward guns, then, keeping on to port, quickly let go his
+starboard broadside.  The water about the floating flare was dashed up
+in showers.
+
+The Captain slapped Hume on the back as he reached the bridge.
+
+"That's a simple trick, eh! and we could slip away as easy as winking if
+we had a mind to.  Lord, won't they howl when they find how they have
+been done!"
+
+There came a hearty guffaw from the towers aft as the men saw through
+the Captain's joke.
+
+"Lord, there he goes again," as the forward guns again belched forth;
+"what a ferocious devil the commander must be!  He takes that light to
+be a signal, and imagines he is firing at a crippled ship, the devil."
+
+The Quartermaster came forward.  "The enemy has slackened off, sir."
+
+"Is that so?" said the Captain, taking a long look at the steamer's
+lights.  "Ha, I have it," and he smacked his fist in his hand, showing
+the first symptoms of excitement.  "He thinks we've gone down, and we'll
+lay-to till morning, which can't be far off."
+
+"There'll be grey light in an hour, sir."
+
+The Captain kept his eye on the steamer's light, which rose and fell,
+but kept its place.
+
+"Quartermaster, take your men below for some hot grog and a bite, and
+rouse Mr Webster."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+The Captain went to the tube.  "Slacken speed, Mr Dixon, and be very
+careful with your fires.  Starboard your helm; bring her round."
+
+The _Swift_ went round with a steady swing, bringing the enemy's light
+on her port bows, instead of over her starboard stern rails.
+
+The men lingered awhile to see the manoeuvre finished, and then went
+below, satisfied there was to be a fight.
+
+"Keep her on that course now," said the Captain to the steersman.
+
+"Mr Webster," he continued, as that officer stepped briskly up and took
+a glance round, "see that everything is in readiness, and that the men
+take their positions without a word.  Within an hour the fight will
+begin."
+
+"Begin, sir?  You've been at it this past three hours, and I've been in
+and out of my bunk a dozen--times, while the men are all on the quiver."
+
+"We haven't come to knocks yet.  I'll present my card in the morning
+with a fifty-pound rat-tat."
+
+Webster laughed gaily as he set about his duties, and presently the men
+gathered silently to their posts, some of them every now and again
+stealing to the sides to make out the whereabouts of the enemy and the
+meaning of the manoeuvre, which puzzled them, as one might gather from
+their whispered arguments.
+
+The _Swift_ doubled back towards the eastern horizon, where the darkness
+was quickly melting into the grey of dawn, and a deep silence rested on
+the ship, and over the shining heave of waters.  Slowly the enemy's
+light was overhauled, then sank astern, but the _Swift_ kept on its way
+until a tint of pink appeared in the sky and the stars suddenly paled.
+
+"The time has come," said the Captain.  "Are you all ready?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!" came the answer in suppressed tones.
+
+"Round with her, my man, on the port tack."
+
+The _Swift_ rushed round, and there was a murmur of admiring criticism
+from the old tars as they now understood the meaning of the Captain's
+manoeuvre.
+
+"They are satisfied now," said the Captain, grimly, to Frank.  "They
+thought all along, I'll be bound, that I could not fight this ship."
+
+"I confess, sir, I don't understand your tactics."
+
+"Well, I suppose you don't.  The enemy's fighting strength is evidently
+in her bow guns.  So is ours.  I have got the 'vantage of her by going
+into action on her beam.  Mark me, before she can bear her bow guns on
+us she'll be crippled.  Full steam ahead!" he shouted, and the low craft
+rushed forward.
+
+The whole horizon on the east was now bathed in light, and in a moment
+the blood-red disc of the sun flamed above the black line of the waters,
+while streamers of light shot into the sky.  Straight ahead there rose a
+dark object.  A shaft of golden light stretching across the waters
+struck full upon it, and there stood out in a glory of softest fire the
+tall masts and long black hull of the Brazilian ship.  She was at rest,
+rising and falling gently; but there was a terrible awakening in store.
+Every minute brought her into clearer relief, though from the dark
+background beyond there was a blur about her deck, out of which,
+however, presently there emerged distinct objects--her boats, her bridge
+unoccupied, the gilt scroll under her stern, over which idly dropped the
+Brazilian flag; and last of all, the chases of her port broadside grimly
+projecting, with a glint of red sunlight on their smooth cylinders.
+
+The two vessels were now distant about six hundred yards, and at last
+the careless lookout on the Brazilian ship saw something alarming astern
+in the fierce rush of the low grey craft.  Some men dashed up the
+rigging to get a better view, and a small group gathered on the bridge.
+
+"We'll wake 'em up!" shouted the Captain, springing into the
+conning-tower and pressing a button, which brought up "The Ghost" from
+its bed.
+
+The real action had begun; the night's work had been child's play.
+There was a terrific din as the long gun threw shot after shot, and in
+ten minutes a dense bank of smoke enveloped the _Swift_.  The firing was
+suspended a minute.
+
+The Captain stood in the conning-tower, his hands on the wheel, and his
+eyes fixed in a narrow slit under the steel roof.  Giving a turn of the
+wheel to starboard, he brought the stem free of the smoke, and saw the
+enemy slowly gathering way, while men rushed about her decks in a state
+of terrible confusion at this sudden tempest of shells that had poured
+upon them.
+
+Some damage had been done evidently, but principally to her top rigging.
+And now she spoke from her stern guns, but not allowing sufficiently
+for her height, the first stinging flight of shells went over the
+catcher.
+
+"Stand by the six-pounders!" cried the Captain, his voice rising to a
+roar.  "Depress your muzzle, Mr Webster!  Fire!"
+
+Again there was another tremendous fusillade, continuous and deafening,
+while the men's eyes smarted from the sulphur in the smoke, and their
+throats grew dry and husky.  For five minutes the rain of lead was kept
+up, and from the three guns one hundred projectiles tore into the sloop,
+plunged along the port side, and shattered her rigging.  Lieutenant
+Webster devoted his second storm of fire at the stern guns, and the
+stanchions and bulwarks about them were ripped up, and the guns
+themselves dismounted.
+
+The order to cease fire was again given, and the Captain made a point to
+starboard just as the sloop was swinging round to bring her port
+broadside to bear.
+
+The ships were now but two hundred yards off, the sloop bearing off from
+the port quarter of the catcher in her attempt to come round and bring
+her bow guns to bear.  Once she could do that she could blow the _Swift_
+out of the water, but Captain Pardoe had foreseen the manoeuvre and was
+ready for it.  Counting upon the narrow turning power of his boat, he
+swept on, and suddenly put the wheel hard to port, bringing the vessel
+round within her own length, and bringing the boats stern to stern.  At
+the same moment he flashed the signal below to fire the stern torpedoes.
+Then he stepped out to watch the effect, and the men, with heaving
+chests and smoke-blackened faces, from which their eyes glared with the
+fever of battle, watched too.  There was a cry from the deck of the
+sloop, as they saw the leap from the tubes of the two torpedoes, a
+hoarse cry from the Captain to the man at the wheel, a terrible pause,
+and then two lines of bubbles below the water marked the swift rush of
+the deadly tubes.  One line, it was seen, would continue free of the
+ship, the other went straight for her stern, and a sailor, in a mad fit
+of rage, first discharged his rifle at the approaching torpedo, then
+plunged overboard with a wild yell.  A moment later there was a muffled
+roar, a vast column of water was thrown up, followed by a rending and
+grinding noise.  The stern of the sloop was raised, then settled down in
+the trough of a great sea raised by the explosion.  The torpedo had
+reached its mark, and Captain Pardoe stood by to give what assistance he
+could.
+
+There was the wildest consternation on board the sloop, and the rending
+noise continued; but though she lay helplessly on the water she showed
+no signs of sinking.
+
+The men on board the _Swift_ set up a hoarse cheer, and shook each other
+by the hand.
+
+"It's twenty minutes since we went into action," said Webster, wiping
+the blood from his brow.  "Three cheers for our Captain, men!" and
+waving his hat, he led the hurrahs.
+
+"For the love of God," cried a voice in English from the sloop, "help
+us!"
+
+"Strike your flag!" cried the Captain.
+
+The gay flag came down, and the Captain brought the _Swift_ nearer.
+"What is the matter?"
+
+"Your cursed torpedo has blown away our propeller, and the shaft--oh,
+Sancta Maria!--listen to it!--is breaking the ship."
+
+"Why don't you shut off steam?"
+
+"Our engineer is dead.  Demonios!  Don't talk, but act."
+
+"I'll send our engineer to you."
+
+"Quick, quick!"
+
+Mr Dixon came up from the bowels of the _Swift_, where, without the
+stimulant of action, he had stood by his work, animating his men with a
+quiet courage, which was the finer because he stood in absolute darkness
+regarding the progress of the fight, and knew that at any moment he
+might be sent to the bottom a helpless victim in an iron prison.  His
+face was white and streaming with perspiration, and at the first touch
+of the cold air he reeled with dizziness, but when told what was
+required of him, he prepared for his new task without a word.  The
+_Swift_ moved gently under the tall sides of the sloop, and the
+engineer, with Webster, Hume, and six men, were quickly on board.  Mr
+Dixon went at once to the engine-room, whence proceeded a truly infernal
+din.
+
+"Where Is the Captain?" asked Webster of a dozen men round him.
+
+A short, thick-set, bullet-headed man, with a neck like a bull, and
+moustaches that reached up to his ears, stepped forward.
+
+"Your sword, Senor Juarez!"
+
+"I must know to whom I am asked to surrender."
+
+"To the National flag," said Webster haughtily.
+
+"Carambo! that is an excellent jest.  Is the flag broad enough to cover
+the ships of every nation?  And why should I surrender my sword?" he
+asked, with a fierce scowl, while his officers drew near threateningly.
+
+Webster stepped quickly to the bulwarks, and called to Captain Pardoe to
+stand away.
+
+That officer went at once full speed astern, and lay-to a cable length
+off, with the men at their guns.
+
+"You see?" said Webster.
+
+The Brazilian Captain, with a terrible malediction, broke his sword over
+his knee.
+
+"A thousand thunders!" he roared, while the black blood swelled in his
+temples, "to think I should have been beaten by that--that thing--and
+scarcely a boat's crew hurt!"
+
+"It is the fortune of war," said Webster, looking around.  "But while we
+talk the ship may be sinking for want of a little sailor-like care.
+Have you a spare sail, senor?"
+
+The Brazilian Captain folded his arms and spat on the deck.
+
+"You surly brute!" cried Webster.  "Here, men, cut away the mizzen
+sail!"
+
+In a trice the British sailors swarmed up to the mizzen yard and cast
+loose the sail, which came down with a thud, knocking a couple of
+yellow-faced sailors off their legs, whereat the tars up aloft laughed.
+At this a dozen of the enemy drew their knives and looked to their
+Captain for a word.
+
+It was a ticklish moment, and Hume pulled out a revolver, which he
+instantly presented at Juarez.
+
+"Good, my lad," said Webster.  "Shoot him down if he moves a foot.  Do
+you understand, senor?"
+
+Juarez glared like a wild beast, and a hoarse, unintelligible cry
+escaped from his thick lips, but he kept quiet, while Webster, without
+another look at the scowling group, quickly slipped the great sail over
+the side, and had it drawn round and up over the damaged stern.
+
+In the meantime Mr Dixon, working down below, had stopped the engines
+and explored the shaft funnel, ascertaining the extent of the damage
+done by the shaft in its unchecked revolutions.  He came on deck,
+wearied out, to be met by dark looks.
+
+"What's the meaning of this?" said he.
+
+"The meaning is," cried Webster, with a bitter look of contempt round,
+"that these cowardly hounds won't lift a finger to help us, and I'm
+damned if my men will do another stroke to save them!  Let the ship
+sink, and she is sinking fast."
+
+"And you'll sink with us!" roared Juarez.  "Down with them; slit their
+throats!"
+
+There was a rush of men, and the little party were hemmed in.
+
+A young officer bounded forward with drawn sword, and wheeling round,
+faced his men.
+
+"Diavolo!" he hissed through his clenched teeth, "what devil's game is
+this?  You called to these gentlemen in your fear to help you, and now
+you would turn on them like base assassins.  I tell you," he cried
+passionately, "it shall not be!"
+
+Webster and Hume, with their blue eyes flashing, ranged up on either
+side of their unexpected friend, while the British tars stood with their
+cutlasses ready.
+
+Captain Pardoe, seeing something amiss, drew near.  "Do you hear," he
+shouted, "if you harm my men I'll let go a torpedo."
+
+The young officer repeated the message, and the men whispered among
+themselves, then threw down their arms.
+
+Juarez shot a venomous look at his officer, and placed his foot upon a
+knife, which, presently, he drew toward him.
+
+Webster thanked the gallant foe for his assistance, and assured him that
+the sloop would keep afloat until they reached Madeira.  He then turned
+to the side to speak to Captain Pardoe, while Frank Hume walked aft to
+see what damage had been wrought by the fire of the catcher.
+
+There was a cry, and they turned to see the young officer fall, struck
+to the heart by the vengeful Captain.  The next instant Juarez himself
+was cut to the deck by a slashing blow from a cutlass.
+
+At this act of black treachery the small boarding party were ready to
+make a furious rush, but the sloop's officers and men looked on
+themselves appalled, while a young fellow, quite a boy, flung himself on
+the officer's body in a passion of grief, then suddenly springing up,
+drew his knife and advanced towards Juarez.
+
+"Enough!" said Webster sternly.
+
+"Kill the black-hearted dog!" screamed the Brazilian sailors, giving
+vent to their hate for their brutal commander, which no doubt had been
+long pent up.
+
+"I see," said Webster, with a grim smile; "we must get this fellow on
+board to save him from his friends."
+
+He signalled to the _Swift_, and when she came alongside, Juarez, who
+still breathed heavily, was lowered to her deck.
+
+"What's to be done with the sloop, sir?"
+
+"Oh, leave her, if she can float, and think ourselves lucky to be free
+of a gang of prisoners."
+
+"She can reach Madeira by means of her sails."
+
+"Take a look round, then, and come aboard."
+
+Webster and Hume went aft, where all the damage done by the _Swift's_
+guns had taken place, and there they found the bulwarks smashed to
+splinters, the two guns overturned, and the deck wet with blood from a
+dozen dead.
+
+With a last word of advice to the gloomy and silent officers of the
+sloop, Webster stepped overboard, and very soon the _Swift_ went on her
+way.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+A PAINFUL SCENE.
+
+The stricken sloop lay like a log on the ocean as the _Swift_ stretched
+along into the Atlantic.  In less than half an hour she had been struck
+down, maimed, and humbled by an enemy which she had treated with
+contempt.
+
+"Why didn't you sink her?" said Commins softly, coming to the side of
+Captain Pardoe, who stood with a dull flush in his face, fixedly
+regarding the labouring sloop.  "You are fighting for the National
+Government.  Why didn't you sink her?"
+
+Pardoe turned and regarded the man at his side under his brows for a
+moment.  "What a devil you are, Commins!"
+
+"Am I really?" remarked Commins imperturbably; "but, however flattering
+to my sagacity, that is scarcely an answer to my question.  You have
+committed a blunder, Pardoe, and if the authorities at Rio were informed
+of it they might--I'm not saying they would, mind you--but they might
+court-martial you."
+
+"Court-martial me for smashing an enemy's ship?  You're a fool,
+Commins!"
+
+"Pardon me, but you have not smashed the enemy.  There he goes leisurely
+on his way back to port after you had him in your power, and if either
+of us is to be called a fool I am inclined to think you are entitled to
+that honour.  Take my advice: go back and sink that ship."
+
+"Do you mean that?"
+
+"Certainly, in your own interests.  The Brazilian Admiral would be the
+last man to suppose you had let the enemy escape from motives of
+humanity.  And, then, you saved the life of that fiend, Juarez."
+
+"Juarez is my prisoner."
+
+"Yes, truly; but, observe how absurd your case would be when you say to
+the Admiral: `I let the warship escape, but I have brought you her
+Captain, who would have been assassinated by his own crew.'"
+
+"I see you have already placed me on my trial," said Pardoe dryly.  "I
+presume you wish me to murder Juarez as well as to sink the ship?"
+
+"You have a brutal way with you, Pardoe, as befits, no doubt, a brave
+sailor; but it jars.  As for Juarez, it may give our friends some
+pleasure to dispose of him at Rio, though his presence on board will
+cause me a feeling of nausea; but it is necessary that you should do
+your work thoroughly, and for your safety, and the success of our
+mission, you must destroy that ship."
+
+"I must!" said the Captain, with a dark look.
+
+"Well, there is no compulsion; but that is my opinion, and the opinion
+of Miss Laura de Anstrade."
+
+"You lie!"
+
+Commins grew white to the lips, and his gloved fingers, resting on the
+bridge rail, trembled, but recovering himself, he said: "I will bring
+her here, and you shall receive the orders from her own lips," then left
+the bridge.
+
+Captain Pardoe flung himself round, took a hasty turn up and down the
+cramped bridge, then, with a stern and angry visage, faced Miss
+Anstrade.
+
+She came swiftly, with a rustling of skirts, and a faint perfume that
+seemed strangely out of place, as much out of place as would be the
+inhuman order from her woman's lips to destroy a helpless ship.  Her
+large eyes glared with a feverish light, her breast heaved, and her
+hands were clutched in a sort of hysterical passion.
+
+"Captain Pardoe," she cried, in a thin, unnatural voice, "why have you
+let that ship escape?"
+
+"Because, madam, I had not men enough to work her, and she would never
+have reached Rio."
+
+"No; but she can reach the bottom."
+
+"Good God!" he muttered, his face turning an ashen grey, "Miss Laura,
+you cannot mean that?"
+
+"Yes; but I do!" she said, with a gasp.
+
+"Then," he said fiercely, "you must put someone else in command."
+
+"Oh, no, no!" she cried, "I never--"
+
+"Be firm," whispered Commins; "think how your case will be strengthened.
+If you can say you have destroyed one of the enemy's ships.  Remember
+your brother!"
+
+Captain Pardoe noticed the action, and, pointing to Commins, he said
+bitterly: "Appoint that man your Captain, madam; he alone is capable of
+such an act, and perhaps Juarez would assist him."
+
+"It is policy," whispered Commins.
+
+The name of Juarez had a strange effect on the girl.  She drew herself
+up, and in a hard voice called Lieutenant Webster.
+
+He, seeing something unusual occurring, as, indeed, had all those on the
+main-deck, had drawn near.
+
+"At your service, madam," he said, with a hasty look at Captain Pardee's
+dark face.
+
+"I wish to appoint you Captain, Mr Webster."
+
+"Thank you, madam!"
+
+Commins smiled as Pardoe threw his head up with a snort of indignant
+surprise.
+
+"Mr Pardoe has refused to obey orders.  I beg your pardon, what were
+you about to say?"
+
+"I don't think I wish to say anything, madam, and I'd rather not hear
+anything more;" saying which, Webster, with a distressed look on his
+frank face, stepped by, and stood beside Captain Pardoe.
+
+"Ah!" cried Miss Anstrade, "you desert me for him.  Let it be so.  I
+would rather know at once whom I may trust."  The weakness and
+hesitation which at first she had shown disappeared, giving place to a
+feeling of wounded pride.  She drew herself up, and regarded the two
+officers scornfully, forgetting, as only an angry woman can, the
+services they had already performed.
+
+"I will have you placed on board yonder ship with that defeated crew,
+and perhaps then, when they turn their fury on you, you will repent your
+ingratitude.  Once before I had to turn to these gallant sailors in
+order to shame you into doing your duty, and now, with confidence, I
+will appeal to them once more."  Her voice rang out clear and loud, and,
+charmed herself by the sound, she dwelt on her words.  The men edged up,
+looking at the group on the bridge; and, if she had not been carried
+away by the confidence of her tone, she would have seen that their
+aspect was not friendly to her or to the man at her side.  Hot, and most
+of them bleeding from a fight into which they had been led with courage
+and skill by their officers, it was not to be thought that they would,
+on the bidding of a woman, turn their backs upon their leaders.  Commins
+was quick to note their bearing, and so was Hume, who stood by, amazed
+at the scene.
+
+As she stood there with a proud smile on her lips, Frank swung himself
+up, unceremoniously shouldered Commins away, and stood by her side.
+
+"Men," he said, "it is a fine custom after a fight for the Captain to
+thank his officers and men, and one that should be kept up by us.  This
+lady is our commander, and she wishes to thank you all for the splendid
+courage with which you have fought at this engagement against a foe of
+double our strength."
+
+"Sir," she said, recovering from the shock of surprise, "what is the
+meaning of this insolence?"
+
+"For Heaven's sake," whispered Commins, "let him speak.  Don't you see
+the men side with them?"
+
+She flashed a startled look over the upturned faces, then, with a motion
+of her hand, signified to Frank to continue.
+
+"Say a word to them, madam, yourself."
+
+"Do you command me?" she asked haughtily.
+
+"No, madam, I implore."
+
+With a terrible look at Commins she went forward, and with a smiling
+face, though her hands were clenched, she thanked them.
+
+The men touched their caps, but they lingered, casting puzzled glances
+at the Captain and Lieutenant.
+
+"If so please you, mam," said the big Quartermaster in deep tones, "we'd
+like to know what's been said by way of thanks to the Captain for the
+handsome way he took the ship into action, and to the Lieutenant for the
+way he worked `The Ghost' Isn't it so, mates?"
+
+There was a deep growl of assent.
+
+"My men," said the Captain, in a deep bass that had a thrilling touch of
+emotion in it, "I am pleased with you, and I think you are satisfied
+with me and with the ship.  And all of us are proud of the young lady,
+who, trusting herself fully in our keeping, has so bravely shared our
+dangers."
+
+"Three cheers for the lady," sang out Dick the Owl; and "God bless her!"
+chimed in the Quartermaster.
+
+The ship rang again to the shouts of the men, and Commins slipped below.
+
+Miss Laura coloured, then grew white, but the Captain was too
+experienced a man to show his triumph, though he could not forbear one
+shot:
+
+"If you will allow me, madam, I will go to my cabin, for I have been on
+the bridge all night."
+
+"All night! you are cruel to remind me of it, Captain."
+
+"Am I Captain again, then?"
+
+"Go to your room, sir," she said, with a frown, "and consider yourself
+under arrest till eight bells.  Now, Mr Webster," she continued, with a
+sudden change of manner, "you will show me over the ship, and explain to
+me all about the action.  I see you are wounded."
+
+"Merely a scratch, madam, from a flying link from the anchor chain."
+
+He led the way down, and Hume and the Captain, lingering on the bridge,
+saw her chatting with the men, and examining the damage done aft, where
+a flight of missiles had struck the deck.
+
+"That was a timely speech of yours, Hume," said the Captain, "and saved
+us from an awkward fix, for had the men once got the notion that they
+had done me an obligation, there would have been an end to discipline,
+tried men as they are.  I am not satisfied that we have a plain course
+before us, for we have to reckon with that man Commins, and the whims of
+a young lady."
+
+"She appears to be quite reconciled now," remarked Hume.
+
+"Maybe, and I hope so, but a woman can sail under false colours and
+dummy portholes without a sign of her real feelings.  See the way she's
+smoothing down Black Henderson.  I shouldn't wonder if she's scheming to
+gain the men over in preparation for the next mad-brained jamboree."
+
+"What relation does Mr Commins hold to her?"
+
+"That is no business of ours," said the Captain gruffly, "and harkee, my
+lad, remember that you are sailing under her orders, and that you have
+to stand by her, and not me."  With that he swung down below, leaving
+Frank to his own reflections, which were not of the brightest.  He
+noticed that Miss Anstrade had ignored his presence, and wondered
+whether she was displeased at his interference, then dwelt on the
+influence which Mr Commins undoubtedly exercised over her, and finally
+blamed himself for having committed himself to this mad venture.  His
+thoughts went back to his uncle, and to the promise which he had given
+to search for that impossible Golden Rock, and he asked himself if he
+would not have been happier had he started on that forlorn enterprise;
+but, even as he thought, his mental image of that imaginary rock faded
+away before the visible presence of the wayward, passionate girl whose
+beauty had already beguiled him.
+
+She had parted from Webster, who was busy with the men, and came slowly
+picking her way over the litter of coal scattered from the bags by a
+shell which had ripped up the whole row on the port side, her one hand
+stretched gracefully to its full length at her side to hold up her
+skirts, the other at her throat holding a black mantilla which framed
+her face.  Passing up to the bridge, she leant forward with her elbows
+on the rails, the wide lace on her sleeves falling back and disclosing
+shapely arms, and, with her chin in her hands, looked dreamily over the
+grey sea to a faint blur which marked the toiling sloop.  She had not
+noticed him by so much as a glance, and, accepting this as a hint, he
+put the length of the bridge between him and her.
+
+"Mr Hume."
+
+He turned, but she was still absorbed in watching the sloop.
+
+"Must I call twice?" she said in her low, rich tones; and he was by her
+side.
+
+"I feared I had offended you by my interference."
+
+"And would my displeasure disturb you?" she asked, reclining her head
+until she could look at him, and so keeping it.
+
+Frank thought of Captain Pardoe, and wondered if she could be acting a
+part.
+
+"Why do you look at me so?  Tell me, what do you think of me?"
+
+"I think you are very beautiful," he said daringly, carried away by her
+beauty, and forgetting the part she had just played.
+
+"Don't.  This is no ball-room interlude, and such a vapid compliment is
+out of place here.  Be frank.  Come, tell me."  She nestled her face
+more comfortably in her supporting palm, and looked at him with a faint
+smile that parted her lips.
+
+"Don't," he murmured, repeating her word; "I am only human."
+
+"And I am not.  Is that it?  Well, perhaps you are right."
+
+"I did not say so.  What I meant was, that if you look at me so--"
+
+"Spare me!  I detest explanations.  Do you see that ship?" she turned
+her face to the labouring sloop.  "It carries many souls--men who have
+friends waiting for them in some far-off hacienda, gleaming white in the
+bright sun, wives, mothers, and others as dear, who would grieve were
+they lost.  You know, I had it in my head to sink that ship and all on
+board.  What do you think of me?  I would like to know."
+
+"It was a horrible fancy," he said a little sternly; "but I do not
+believe you meant to carry it out."
+
+"Ah! you do not know me," she whispered, with a shudder; "I am sometimes
+afraid of myself."
+
+"You brood too much over your sorrows.  Why not come up here more often
+and talk with us?" he said, with a jealous thought of Commins.
+
+"That is very good of you," she answered demurely, with a swift change
+of expression; "and I appreciate the invitation all the more because of
+the evident implication that I alone am to benefit from it."
+
+"You misunderstand me," he said hastily; "what I meant--"
+
+"Yes, yes; how dull you are, Mr Hume!"
+
+"I am sorry you should think so, madam," he answered stiffly.
+
+"Now go off in a pet, and leave me to my own thoughts, which, of course,
+are very pleasant company for a lonely girl among a lot of morose and
+fiery men, who cannot see that the strain upon her is almost too much."
+She said this with a smile, but Hume noticed that the lips trembled
+while they smiled, and that in the eyes there was a worn, almost wild,
+look.
+
+"Take my arm, Miss Laura," he said gently.  "Let me tell you my story;
+it may interest you."
+
+She took his arm with almost a convulsive grasp, and for a moment she
+bent her head; then with a soft and womanly look she asked him to talk
+and not to heed her silence.  So they paced up and down, six paces one
+way, six another, and were necessarily thrown together by the narrowness
+of the passage.  He talked of his uncle, the tough old hunter, of the
+simple life he led, of his sacrifice and quiet death, and a sweeter look
+stole into her face.
+
+"And so," she said, "you have put aside the quest entrusted to you by
+that good old man and thrown in your lot with me?  I thank you, but you
+must find the Golden Rock."
+
+"If it is there," he said, smiling at her eagerness.
+
+"Oh, it exists; I am sure of it.  I can see the gleam of it now;" and
+she shaded her eyes with her hand.
+
+"But it is not on the sea," he said laughingly.
+
+"I am looking beyond the sea, among your African mountains, to a flame
+that glows under the rays of the morning sun, and there is a ring of red
+around the flame.  Ah! you will encounter many dangers."
+
+"What will it matter," he said, "since I am alone in the world?"
+
+"It may matter," she whispered, and then withdrew her arm, and hastily
+quitted the bridge, after one anxious look at the sloop, and a murmured
+prayer that it would safely reach port.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+A STRANGE VESSEL.
+
+Five days after the stormy scene on the bridge, Frank Hume and Webster
+were lying forward, upon rugs, on the turtle-shell deck, in the full
+blaze of a hot sun.  The sea was calm, even beyond the power of the
+_Swift_ to toss up spray, and stretched away, unbroken by so much as a
+single gleam of white, to the horizon, though astern there lay a long
+trail, slightly sinuous, over which, with many a sweep and soar, there
+hawked a pair of gulls.  Now and again, from the heave of the water
+before the fast slipping foot of the _Swift_, there ripped out a flight
+of flying fish, who, after an unmistakable beat of their glittering
+wings, shot away to the right and left, to fall with an awkward splash
+into the sea.
+
+Here and there, propped up against some wide-mouthed ventilator, or
+stretched in the grateful shadows of the boats, were a few barefooted
+sailors engaged with needle and thread, while under an awning aft Mr
+Commins and Miss Anstrade reclined in deck-chairs.  The harsh grating
+noise of the steering gear, and the ceaseless thud of the propellers,
+alone broke the silence, which, like the silence of vast stretches
+ashore, or of deep-wooded solitudes, hushes the voice of animals and
+kills speech in men.  Out on the bosom of the sea, or on the summit of a
+mountain, the trifles which interest us among our fellows have little
+power against the subduing influence of vast unpeopled spaces.
+
+All the morning the steamer reached on, always remaining in the centre
+of the same wide circle, and it was only when the Quartermaster struck
+eight bells that there was any movement among the brooding men.  Webster
+sat up, and with his hands on his knees, and his cap at the back of his
+head, looked over the shining waste, then yawned.
+
+"What an eloquent fellow you are, Hume!" he said; "you've got no more
+conversation and greater powers of observation than a bale of wool.
+There's that fellow Commins still talking to the Commodore and oiling
+his jaw-tackle with iced champagne, the lubber; and to think you might
+be enjoying the same privileges if you only had the wit to make yourself
+agreeable."
+
+"I don't care for champagne iced."
+
+"You don't, eh? but maybe you'd care to be seated where he is, within
+the range of those lustrous eyes, or was it luminous you called them,
+for all the world as though you were speaking of a black cat in a
+coal-cellar?  And such cigars as she smokes, too?"
+
+"She doesn't smoke cigars!"
+
+"Man, I saw the glow of one last night, burning red, and lighting, by
+its reflection, the dark splendour of her eyes, as you magnificently put
+it."
+
+"It was a cigarette, and you might know, if you were not always between
+waking and sleeping, that most high-bred Spanish women smoke them, and
+think no more of it than a dab of powder."
+
+"Then you were smoking the cigar, and I was awake enough to see that the
+fierce light of the cigar was closer than the breadth of my hand to the
+tiny glow of the dainty cigarette.  I've been thinking whether I ought
+to congratulate you or her first."
+
+"Don't be an ass, Webster; I was merely explaining to her the map of the
+stars."
+
+"Then there's nothing between you?"
+
+"Nothing but the length of the ship."
+
+"Then that relieves my heart of a great pressure, which has sat there
+ever since I had salt junk for breakfast.  I shall propose to the
+Commodore myself."
+
+"The devil you will!" said Frank, rising to his elbow, and regarding
+Webster with anxiety.
+
+The Lieutenant sighed, and then winked solemnly.
+
+"Yes, my boy, for I'm sick to death of seeing that red-banded dandy
+flashing his teeth in the face of her as though he were the only man on
+board with courage enough to make love to a pretty girl."
+
+"You are fooling."
+
+"Not me.  I've been thinking, and it occurred to me that I've lived long
+enough in a circle.  I want to pass the remainder of my life in a square
+house with someone like the Commodore, who won't obey orders.  She would
+want to paint the walls yellow to match her complexion, and I would tell
+the Quartermaster to paint them blue to remind me of the sea.  The house
+would have a flat roof with a flag-post on the weather quarter.  I would
+hoist my colours in the morning, and she would bend on hers in the
+afternoon, for I've noticed that a woman grows more active as the day
+dwindles.  It is a trait she enjoys in common with cats."
+
+"My dear fellow," said Frank earnestly, "all you have to do is to give
+her a sketch of that programme, and that will be enough in the way of
+wooing."
+
+"Can you suggest any improvement?"
+
+"Well, you would do well to hint at the luxury of green blinds for the
+windows, and pictures on the walls."
+
+"If there is one thing I detest more than soda with whisky, it's satire;
+you should leave such weapons to that glass-eyed lubber aft, who always
+looks at me as if I were a monstrosity, and sets my muscles moving to
+catch him by the neck.  Now, Frank, for the honour of all good men, sail
+in and win the prize.  I mean it.  You can see for yourself that the
+fellow is every kind of a rogue, and though the Commodore doesn't answer
+well to the helm, it would be a wicked shame to see her taken in tow by
+that shark.  Hang me if the fellow was not rattling dice last night with
+that black-hearted piccaroon, Juarez."
+
+"Is that a fact?"
+
+"Ay, that it is; and it came across me that the two of them were too
+friendly for our safety.  It was about four bells, and I had gone below
+to turn in, when I heard the unmistakable rattle, and peeping in through
+the ventilator above the door, saw the two of them hard at it, with the
+everlasting bottle at their elbows."
+
+"Have you told the Captain?"
+
+"I did; and he scowled horribly.  You know how pleasant he looks when he
+is put out; and he went down straightway and tumbled the gentle pirate
+into his cell, at the same time threatening to clap Commins in irons if
+he sought such congenial society again."
+
+"And--?"
+
+"Commins swore most foully.  I never thought the creature had such a
+command of language; but the skipper asked him if he would complain to
+the Commodore, when he calmed down rapidly into soft words and
+treacherous smiles.  I tell you he is a plotter, and if anything goes
+wrong with the rebels--the National party, by compliment--he would sell
+us for a brass candlestick.  Now, if you will dash in, cut him out as he
+lies at his moorings in the light of her friendship, I will not bring my
+fascination to bear upon her."
+
+"I'm afraid it's hopeless," said Frank, with a sigh; "and don't you
+think we are talking without book?--for we have no reason to suppose
+that she wishes to be freed from the attentions of Mr Commins, still
+less that she is in any danger from him."
+
+"You've got too much of the calculating machine in you, Frank--a defect
+we sailors don't possess.  This is a matter not to be reasoned about I
+can feel in my marrow that the man is a scheming rascal."
+
+The Quartermaster struck eight bells, and Webster went off to take a
+sight, the Captain having already entered upon that daily task.
+
+They were three days off Cape Verde, having made the islands to take in
+more coal, and were making across the Atlantic, in a south-westerly
+course, right out of the track of vessels.  When Hume, who was looking
+forward listlessly, cried out, "Ship ahead!" there was unusual interest
+aroused, and glasses were brought to bear upon the distant speck.
+
+"A steamer!" cried Captain Pardoe, "and lying to, for there's not so
+much as a stain of smoke against the blue of the sky beyond."
+
+The men and officers, now thoroughly aroused from their drowsy torpor,
+stared at the distant ship which had so suddenly slipped from the
+horizon into this silent sea.
+
+"Do you make out any signals, Mr Webster?"
+
+"No, sir; but I can't see a single boat, and it seems to me the tackle
+is hanging from the davits."
+
+"Strange," muttered the Captain; "for there have been no indications of
+storm.  Maybe the boats are out for some business of life-saving."  And
+he swept his glass to right and left of the steamer, which was rapidly
+taking shape to the naked eye.
+
+"Bring her round a couple of spokes--so.  Hold her at that."  The
+_Swift_ bore down straight for the stranger, and for some minutes not a
+word was spoken on her, as every man eagerly searched the ship, and then
+the smooth water about her, for the first trace of any sign that would
+explain the mystery of her fixed and lonely state.  The belt of sea
+beyond widened out, her straight bows rose higher; a sailor picked out
+the red band round her funnel, and now one, and then another, with a
+quick cry, averred they saw men on board; but yet there was no sign of
+her boats, or trace of smoke.
+
+"She has a slight list to starboard, Mr Webster."
+
+"I marked that, sir; but she has not settled down, and can't be making
+water."
+
+"She looks over seaworthy for a castaway.  Who is it can see a man on
+board?"
+
+The sailor Dick touched his cap.  "There's a chap swinging on the
+starboard side, sir, just below the forward davits, and there's another
+lying on the booby-trap."
+
+The other men looked at Dick, then, with knitted brows under the shade
+of their flat palms, gazed intently at the spots indicated; but, failing
+to make out any object so small at such a distance, they all turned to
+watch the Captain, and judged from the sharp inquiring glance he threw
+at the Lieutenant before taking a longer view that there was now some
+key to the mystery.
+
+"There certainly is a man up aloft, and another hanging at the side; but
+he is strangely still."
+
+"It seems to me his legs move," muttered Webster.  "My God! what is that
+below him?"
+
+To the straining looks of the excited crew there flashed for a moment a
+speck of white at the side of the ship, followed by a faint toss of
+spray against the black hull.
+
+"'Tis a shark!" shouted Dick.
+
+Another pause succeeded, and from the doors there peered out the grim
+faces of half a dozen stokers, who had, down below, felt the contagion
+of excitement.
+
+"There has been foul play," said the Captain; "no live man would remain
+within a yard of those gaping jaws and not struggle to escape."
+
+"Fire a blank charge, Mr Webster."
+
+The twelve-pounder roared its summons, loud enough to wake the dead, but
+no white face was lifted over the bulwarks of the vessel, and no
+movement came from the two still forms.
+
+"Make ready to launch the boat."
+
+There was a rush of naked feet, four men tumbled into the boat with
+Webster; the ropes were loosened, and the davits swung out.
+
+"Captain, what is that dark cloud beyond the ship?" asked Miss Anstrade,
+who had been standing on the bridge with a look of wonder in her face.
+
+"A capful of wind, Miss Laura."
+
+The steamer soon heeled over slowly to the breeze; then her stern,
+making a ripple on the water, came round, and she lay broadside on,
+showing the high poops, lofty bridge, and deep, well-like quarter-deck
+of the ocean tramp.  The strange figure hanging over the swell of her
+bows swung to the lazy motion of the ship, his feet nearly touching the
+heave of the sea made by the list.
+
+Out of that swell there rose the gleaming belly of the great fish, the
+next moment the ropes hung limp against the ship!
+
+A murmur of horror rose from the _Swift_, and Miss Anstrade caught Frank
+convulsively by the arm.  "O Sancta Sanctissima!" she cried, "what a
+fearful thing is the sea!"
+
+Yet it could not have been more peaceful, as it came with a soft
+caressing ripple against the grey sides of the catcher, its glossy
+surface belying the evidence of that ghastly tragedy, whose eddying
+ripples it had hastily smoothed away.
+
+And the derelict, lazily dipping, pointed her tall narrow bows once more
+at the _Swift_, and seemed to the sailor-men to appeal to them in her
+helplessness; so they pitied her as if she had been a living thing.
+
+"What is the matter with her?" asked Miss Anstrade, her face still
+white.
+
+"She has been abandoned, evidently; but I must find out why, for she
+appears to be seaworthy.  Her rigging is uninjured; she cannot be making
+water, and if her steam-gear were damaged she could trust to her sails."
+
+The _Swift_ was now within a few lengths of the derelict, and passing
+under her stern, turned to examine her port side.
+
+There, at last, was some evidence of violence, for one of her iron
+plates had been ripped open, the port side of the bridge had been
+completely swept away, and there were two jagged holes in her forward
+bulwark, the jagged ends projecting out, while fragments of a boat hung
+from her davits.
+
+"She's been under fire!" said the Captain in astonishment.
+
+"Ay, ay, raked fore and aft by bow chasers," was the comment of the men.
+
+"Stand by to lower the boat.  Let go!"  The boat sank to the sea,
+shipshape and even, and Hume, with a word to the Captain, slipped down
+into her.
+
+"Give way!" cried Webster, standing up in the stern-sheets.  The men put
+their backs into it, and very soon an active tar, making use of his toes
+and hands, was on the quarter-deck.  He took one quick look around, then
+let down a rope, up which the rest scrambled one after the other.  An
+extraordinary spectacle met their gaze: the well was littered with
+splinters; the ladder reaching to the main-deck was smashed; the
+entrance to the alley-way blocked with the iron wall of the cabin, which
+had been torn away from its fastenings.  On the starboard side, however,
+the deck was clear, and passing round, they went up the step to the
+main-deck.  The starboard side here was free, but on the port side the
+deck was ploughed up, and hampered with a part of the bridge and portion
+of the boat, while the row of skylights were shattered into pieces.
+
+Sending a couple of men aloft to bring down the man on the booby,
+Webster and Hume went below to examine the state-room.  The table was
+set for dinner, but the plates were clean, and the meal had not been
+served.  Fallen over on the table was a--bottle of whisky, from which
+the spirit had run out over the cloth, still filling the room with a
+strong odour, and on the floor was a broken glass.  The cabin door
+opening into the saloon was open, and an inspection showed that the
+contents had been overhauled, the boxes standing open, and the floors
+covered with clothing which had been hastily tossed out.
+
+On a small table, in the Captain's room, was the log-book, the last
+entry broken off--
+
+"1 degree North latitude, 30 West longitude.  Towards evening sighted a
+cruiser, which showed the Brazilian (National) colours, and held on.
+She signalled for our colours.  Run up the National flag, when she
+hauled down her colour and ran up the Government flag, at the same time
+signalling us to lay-to.  Expecting little mercy if she found out the
+nature of our cargo, made a run for it.  She gave chase, and opened fire
+with her bow guns.  Cruiser gave up the chase at dusk, just as a
+discharge from her bow guns severely mauled us.  _Irene_ making water
+fast, and resolved to take the boats and--"
+
+"That explains her state," mused Webster, as he turned over the pages of
+the log, which showed that the _Irene_, 1,500 tons, had left Bristol for
+Rio in June, 1893, and had up to the last entry made an uneventful
+voyage.
+
+"It's a monstrous thing," said Frank, "that a peaceful merchant steamer
+should have been served in this way."
+
+"She probably carries contraband of war, and navy men don't go to much
+ceremony before playing bowls with a blockade-runner.  Ask the skipper;
+he's been at the game often, and by the same token I believe he took
+command of the _Swift_ to wipe off old scores.  Let's get below."
+
+Calling two of the men, Webster lifted a hatchway, and, with a lantern
+from the storeroom, descended to investigate, and was not long in
+finding that the main hold contained a large shipment of rifles packed
+in cases.  Returning to deck, they found the two men who had been sent
+aloft standing by the side of a young sailor who had been struck in the
+head, evidently by a fragment of iron.  He was stiff in death, and
+Webster, with a gentle touch, drew the eyelids over the blue eyes.
+
+He then turned to the side to haul in the ropes, from which that other
+figure had swung.  There was a loop in the end, in which the unfortunate
+man in launching the forward boat had probably been entangled, and
+overlooked by his comrades in the dark.  Subdued and saddened by what
+they had seen, they returned to the _Swift_, and Webster made his
+report.
+
+"A blockade-runner," said the Captain, his gloomy eyes lighting up; "and
+full of arms.  What a prize she would be for the rebels!"
+
+"And for us, too," said Mr Commins quickly.  There was a long pause,
+and the Captain paced restlessly to and fro, casting quick glances at
+the derelict.  "She would mean a fortune," he continued slowly, "for I
+happen to know that the land forces of the National party are badly
+armed.  Now, Captain, here is an opportunity that falls right into your
+mouth, and I would strongly urge you to accept the gift.  I admit I was
+wrong about the _Esperanza_, but concerning the advisability of taking
+possession of this rich derelict there can surely be no two opinions."
+
+"But I should have to place a crew on board, and that would weaken us,"
+said the Captain, with an air as though he liked the proposal.
+
+"I, myself, don't see any bar to that arrangement," said Commins,
+stroking his chin, and eyeing the Captain thoughtfully.  "I dare say
+now, with half our crew, you yourself could undertake to run the
+blockade with that ship."
+
+"I am not going to leave the _Swift_," said the Captain roughly.
+
+"I should hope not," laughed Commins.  "I had in mind the history of
+some of your daring trips as blockade-runner, and, of course, as I
+presume, Mr Webster, and our young friend, Mr Hume, with as few men as
+you could spare, could be put on board.  They could make for some port
+north of Rio, and after reporting her whereabouts and arranging for the
+reward, you could re-ship the crew previous to carrying out the object
+of this voyage."
+
+"That would mean delay, and Miss Anstrade may object," urged the
+Captain, who, nevertheless, was evidently pleased with the scheme.
+
+"You have heard the Captain's suggestion, madam," said Commins, turning
+to Miss Anstrade, "which seems to me very important, and which, if
+carried out, would have a most valuable bearing on our chance of
+success.  With that ship and its cargo in our hands we could, with
+confidence, ask for every assistance from the national commanders ashore
+and afloat."
+
+Miss Anstrade knitted her brows as she looked at the speaker.
+
+"You know my wish," she said wearily, "is to reach Rio as soon as
+possible.  I understand you to say that the cargo of yonder ship would
+realise a fortune, and it seems to me if I demanded from my struggling
+countrymen money in return for services, they would be under no
+indebtedness to me.  If we are to weaken our strength to save that ship
+I would prefer to give it up without any question of reward."
+
+"But you have no objection to the crew sharing in any prize money that
+may be offered," said Commins quickly, with a side glance at the
+Captain.
+
+"None whatever," she said coolly.
+
+"And you consent to our saving the ship?"
+
+"I suppose so, though I clearly see my opinion would not be considered
+if it were opposed to the step."
+
+"Not so, madam," said Captain Pardoe.  "That ship and its cargo should
+realise 90,000 pounds, but if you say leave it, I will send her to the
+bottom, so that she shall not fall into the enemy's hands."
+
+"Do as you wish," she said, with a sad smile, and turned away with a
+sigh.
+
+The Captain and Mr Commins continued eagerly to discuss the matter,
+while Hume, who had been standing near with Webster, plucked the latter
+by the sleeve to draw him aside.
+
+"Well, what do you think of this new scheme?"
+
+"I don't know that I like it over well, but I judge the temptation would
+prove a strong one for the Captain.  It is a big stroke of luck, after
+all."
+
+"The Captain appears to be rather keen upon money making."
+
+"I suppose he is," said Webster slowly; "and so are most men when they
+have the chance.  Would you say there was any sentiment about the
+skipper?"
+
+"As little as there is about that twelve-pounder."
+
+"That's where you lose your compass," said Webster gravely.  "For
+fifteen years the Captain's dream has been to save money enough to make
+a home for his future wife, my sister, Hume.  When I was a boy at school
+he was courting her--a fine, high-spirited fellow, with a way about him
+that won everybody's goodwill.  I have marked him grow more silent and
+stern as the years went by, and I have seen my sister's gaiety grow into
+a sweet and tender patience; but never a word of marriage from him.  He
+was waiting for his fortune, and twice he made it and lost it, once
+after ten years in the merchant service, when he was wrecked, and once
+after running a blockade, when he was captured and imprisoned by the
+Peruvians.  `'Tis coming, love,' he would say; `a house for you and a
+little farmyard for me, down in the old county.'  Poor little Loo!  I
+think I see her now sitting, as sometimes she would when the housework
+was done, with her hands in her lap, looking wistfully into the future.
+God grant her wishes may be fulfilled!"
+
+"I say no more about the Captain," said Frank warmly, "except to echo
+your prayer.  For his sake I hope this plan will carry through well, but
+after what you said of Commins I am suspicious.  He may have some design
+in dividing our strength."
+
+"No doubt he has, but he might as safely light a cigar at a volcano as
+attempt to win over any of our men."
+
+The Captain's voice here rang out:
+
+"Mr Webster, we will lay by till morning.  Take all the men on board
+and get it as shipshape as possible.  Find, if you can, the supercargo's
+manifesto, and if you can't, then make a rough inventory of the cargo."
+
+The _Swift_ was laid alongside the _Irene_, on her weather side, and
+moored fore and aft, the smoothness of the sea permitting this.  In this
+position the low funnels did not rise above the lofty side of the
+steamer, and she was completely hidden from the view of any vessel
+coming up on the starboard side.  Her fires were damped down, steam shut
+off, and the engineer and his staff were soon busy in the engine-room of
+the _Irene_, while the Quartermaster, with his men, smartly cleared away
+the litter in readiness for the carpenters.
+
+So the work went briskly on, and in the quiet of the evening, in the
+presence of all the crew, the body of the dead sailor lad, sewn up in a
+sail-cloth, was committed to the deep sea, the bass voice of the Captain
+ringing out solemnly in the impressive silence.  And when the last eddy
+had died away the Captain shivered and drew his hand across his brow.
+
+Maybe the summons for him also had already sounded, and he paced the
+deck long into the night.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+THE SEA FIGHT.
+
+The _Swift_ had been almost deserted, as the larger decks of the _Irene_
+offered an irresistible attraction, and when the work was abandoned at
+dusk the crew took possession of the forecastle, while Miss Anstrade,
+with Hume and Webster, lingered on the poop, after surrendering the
+main-deck amidships to the Captain, who preferred his own company.  Mr
+Commins, alone for choice, remained on the catcher, and for a long time
+the glow of his cigar could be seen under the small awning, while
+Juarez, over whom he had offered to keep strict watch, lay near, under
+the shadow of a lamp, smoking cigarettes.  The Brazilian Captain had
+never been permitted to appear on deck when Miss Anstrade was there, and
+his close confinement below had not improved his naturally brutal
+nature, but he had tamed his temper down to the point of almost abject
+humility in imploring the Captain to let him on deck.  Now the guttural
+tones of his voice could be heard as he made occasionally a few remarks
+to Mr Commins, the only man who cared to hold converse with him.
+
+The night was beautiful, the dark vault of the sky gloriously gemmed
+down to the dark belt of the horizon, while out of the intense black of
+the sea there gleamed, near at hand, swordlike flashes of phosphorescent
+fire from predatory fish, and between the sea and the sky there was no
+living thing to break the brooding silence.  The men, glad of the
+opportunity to stretch their legs, were soon asleep, and, except for an
+occasional murmur of voices from the three on the poop and the rough
+burr of Juarez at intervals, there was no sound on board.  The swell of
+the sea rising and sinking between the catcher and the _Irene_ made a
+soft ripple, followed by a deep sigh, having a power in its melancholy
+music to draw Miss Anstrade to the port side, where she had leant with
+her elbows on the rail, until at the dim sight of Juarez she started
+back with a shudder of revulsion and sought the remoter side.
+
+There the three of them leant, the efforts of the two men to talk to the
+girl between them gradually lessening to complete silence.  She had
+changed greatly since the excitement of the wild rush to Madeira, had
+grown listless, the womanhood in her revolting against the strain and
+burden she had rashly imposed on herself, and at each sign of
+helplessness the two young men had felt more tender towards her, trying,
+each in his own way, to show their sympathy.  They had talked often
+together about the object of the voyage, and, sanguine though they were
+with the ardour of youth, they could see nothing but disaster before
+them, while the desperate nature of the enterprise had also come home to
+her.  Presently, with a moan, she thrust her hands forward:
+
+"There is nothing but failure before me, and perhaps death."
+
+"You are over-worn," said Frank gently; "and, indeed, the _Swift_ is too
+rough a boat for a lady."
+
+"Ay, that it is, Miss Laura," said Webster, "and, as for talk of failure
+or death, they are for us to prove, and not for you, who are made for
+better things.  This steamer has been thrown across us by the mercy of
+Providence, and it is your duty almost to accept the gift, and embark in
+it for a safe port."
+
+"I despise myself," she said wearily; "but I have no courage and no
+hope, and shudder at the thought of remaining on the _Swift_.  I cannot
+understand it."
+
+"I think I can," said Frank, in a low tone.  "You have been mistaken in
+yourself, and your presence on board, in contrast with the grim ship,
+has seemed to me a sort of marvel.  You are fitted for better things."
+
+"You mean I have no strength of purpose," she said slowly.  "And do you
+expect me to relinquish this enterprise, to go back without striking one
+blow, to surrender to my weakness, and for ever be a victim of my
+cowardice, haunted by a memory, and lashed by my conscience?  No--no--
+never!"
+
+She threw her head up proudly.
+
+"You may go to safety in this ship; but--I--I will do what I have said."
+
+"You mistake us," said Hume; "neither Mr Webster nor myself asks you to
+give up the enterprise.  We have no thought of turning from it; but we
+do think strongly that you should not share in the work and worry of it.
+It is not fair to you; it is unjust to us."
+
+"Unjust, sir--how?"
+
+"Madam, you may not know it, but every man on board the _Swift_ thinks
+more of you than of his own safety, and if they all knew you were ashore
+they would be happier in working out your purpose."
+
+"You are right there, Frank," said Webster.  "We'd go into action with a
+laugh if you were not aboard, madam, but every shell would make our
+hearts beat with fear if you were with us."
+
+"Ah! my friends," she answered with emotion, "you make my sorrow all the
+greater to think I should have brought you to this, and be myself so
+fearful of the end.  Forgive me, but I am proud and weak by turns.  Oh,
+if I had the courage of a man!"
+
+"You are better as you are," said Frank.  "Your weakness has more power
+over us than if you never winced or wavered."
+
+Suddenly she stood back and looked at them, laughing low.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"It has occurred to me, gentlemen, that you are both to remain on the
+_Irene_."
+
+"Yes, madam; but why does that amuse you?" said Frank helplessly.
+
+"And so you have been scheming to have my company.  I am sure I am
+greatly charmed, and would be more if you had not pretended an anxiety
+for my safety."
+
+"Pretended, madam!" gasped Webster.  "I'll see the Captain hanged before
+I leave the _Swift_.  He can sail this old tub himself, so that he takes
+you with her."
+
+"Thank you, sir," she said, with another rippling laugh, "though you
+might have turned me over to the Captain more gracefully.  And you, Mr
+Hume?"
+
+"We are plain men," he began stiffly.
+
+"Yes, you are very plain, and very stupid."
+
+At this unexpected retort the two men fell into a gloomy silence, being
+too much in earnest and too greatly surprised to laugh.
+
+"Ah, dear," she said, "that I had one woman with me, then I could laugh,
+and rage, and weep upon her neck within a minute, and have no ill looks
+in return.  Come, my friends, be not angry."
+
+She gave each one a hand, and each raised it to his lips, which showed
+that they could express themselves well in deeds, though not in words.
+
+She placed both hands to her cheeks, and her fine eyes glowed as she
+looked at them.
+
+"It is the kiss of brave men," she said in low, thrilling tones; "the
+pledge of your lives to me.  Ah, my friends, I read that little act more
+clearly than what you could tell me in words, and see, for those who
+love you, for the mother who has treasured you, in return for the homage
+the strong and brave pay to woman, I kiss you."
+
+She leant forward, and pressed her lips to their cheeks in turn.
+
+They stood back and straightened themselves with kindling eyes, feeling
+as the young knight who has received his spurs.
+
+"Out with all lights!"  It was the Captain's voice, ringing out loud and
+stern.
+
+There was a breathless pause, followed by a confused murmur of voices.
+
+"Silence, forward, there.  Is that you, Mr Dixon?"--a quiet, grave man,
+whose heart was with his wife and child at home.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Get up steam, but be careful with your fire."
+
+"What can the matter be?" gasped Miss Anstrade, at the sound of men
+moving quietly from the _Irene_ into the _Swift_.
+
+Webster, at the first cry from the Captain, had sprung to the bulwark,
+holding to a wire rope-stay.
+
+"There's a steamer's lights away aft.  I wonder she has escaped us."
+
+The Captain's dark form appeared on the poop.
+
+"Mr Webster, see the fires relit on this ship."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir.  What do you make her out to be?"
+
+"When did you mark her?"
+
+"When you called, sir."
+
+"Ah!  She appeared an hour since, and I judge from her movements and her
+lights she is a man-of-war, probably the same cruiser which surprised
+this ship before."
+
+"Do you think she has seen us?"
+
+"I'm afraid so, though our lights must be very dim, for she altered her
+course and is bearing down.  She may pass us, unless she brings the
+spars of the _Irene_ against a star.  I won't leave this prize, however,
+until I am obliged."
+
+Webster moved off, and the others, including the sailors on board,
+watched the approaching vessel; while Mr Commins, who could not, of
+course, see the stranger from the hidden catcher, hurried on board to
+find out the cause of the commotion.
+
+"You think she is the Brazilian steamer?" he said in a voice of alarm,
+listening to the explanation.  "Curse it!  Misfortune dogs us.  I wish
+we were out of this!"
+
+"Speak for yourself," answered the Captain in a growl.
+
+Mr Commins lingered awhile, and then went off to give the news to
+Juarez, who received it with a savage laugh.
+
+The red light rapidly approached through the black of the night, and it
+was evident she would pass very near.  The excitement grew rapidly as
+the news was passed from mouth to mouth in rapid whispers.
+
+"Mr Hume, will you help Miss Anstrade to the _Swift_; pass the word to
+the men to get on board, and have them stationed at the guns."
+
+In a few minutes Captain Pardee was the only man on board the _Irene_,
+with the exception of the stokers, who were busily preparing the fires.
+
+To those in the _Swift_ who could see nothing there followed a long and
+anxious state of suspense, broken at last by the low voice of the
+Captain speaking from above.
+
+"Mr Hume, stand by to slip the fastenings."
+
+They held their breath, listening, and to them came the regular beat of
+engines.
+
+Louder and louder grew the noise, but they could see nothing of the
+danger, and its imminence seemed to them the nearer.  There was a
+movement in the air, the pulsation of the distant screw affected them so
+that they believed the _Swift_ itself was throbbing, and presently the
+_Irene_ leant over towards them gently, and as gently rolled away.
+
+"'Tis the wave from her wake," muttered the Quartermaster.
+
+The sound of the engines gradually lessened.
+
+The Captain's figure appeared above.  "She has passed," he said.
+
+There was a rush for the tall sides of the _Irene_, and presently
+everyone was staring forward at a green light fast diminishing in the
+dark, now at its blackest before the dawn.
+
+"Thank God for His mercy," murmured Miss Anstrade, who had stood near
+Hume silent and white, though without a sign of fear.
+
+"You may well say that, Miss Laura," said the Captain.
+
+The green light sunk rapidly, and had almost disappeared, when suddenly
+a brilliant glare shot up, throwing a sickly light over the group on the
+poop.
+
+The Captain gave a bound to the side, and next minute there was a hoarse
+cry as his pistol rang out.
+
+"It is that villain Juarez; send his black soul to hell!  Overboard with
+him!" roared the Captain.
+
+The black-bearded Quartermaster, balancing himself on the rail a moment,
+sprang to the iron deck below, and next minute there was a howl of
+mingled fear and rage, followed by a splash.
+
+"Launch the boat, and smother that light with a sail!"
+
+The Captain gnashed his teeth as he glared at the brilliant flare from a
+life-saving light floating on the quiet waters, and sending forth an
+appeal to the distant battleship.  Mr Commins stood in the catcher near
+the spot where the slinking figure of Juarez had been shot down,
+seemingly without power to move, as he looked horror-struck at the dark
+waters.
+
+Without a second's delay the boat was launched, and a strip of canvas
+thrown over the light, when the darkness settled down blacker than
+before.  But the mischief had been done, and sullen looks were directed
+at the dim speck in the distance.
+
+"Ay, ay, there she comes round," said the sailor Dick.  In the distance
+a red light replaced the green, but as they watched it suddenly
+disappeared.
+
+"She has gone," said Miss Anstrade, with an hysterical sob.
+
+The Captain shook his head.
+
+"She has put out her lights, and will hang about till morning."
+
+"We'd better slip away, sir," said Webster.
+
+The Captain lifted his fist, and banged it into his open hand.
+
+"By the Lord," he growled, "I'll not leave this ship without a fight for
+it!"
+
+The Captain, however, gave way so far to the urgent protestations of
+Miss Anstrade, that he abandoned any idea of placing a crew on board the
+derelict until daylight revealed whether there was any chance of getting
+clear away.  Fires were kept going on board the _Swift_, a look-out was
+stationed on the larger vessel, and the men were sent to their berths.
+Miss Anstrade retired to snatch an uneasy sleep, and the Captain,
+leaving Webster and Hume in charge, went also to his cabin, falling
+almost immediately into a sound sleep.  The small hours of the night
+passed anxiously to the two officers who patrolled the poop of the
+_Irene_ in silence, listening for any sound that would indicate the
+whereabouts of the stranger.  There was, however, no sign of her
+presence, and when the intense darkness of the night began to fade
+before the dawn, a thick, white, low-lying mist wrapped the ship as in
+an impenetrable cloak.
+
+Webster, to get a view over the mist, if possible, went aloft, his
+figure soon becoming blurred, and after a long stay, descended rapidly.
+
+"She is near us," he said in an excited whisper to Hume.  "Waken the
+Captain.  We could slip away without being seen."
+
+Very soon Captain Pardoe climbed on board, and heard what his Lieutenant
+had to say.
+
+"I should judge her position to be about a mile on the starboard beam,
+and she is steaming ahead at eight knots.  If the mist doesn't lift we
+could easily slip her by making a nor'-west course."
+
+"Which way is the wind?  Ah! blowing across to her.  She would hear us
+getting under way.  We'll lie close awhile; but do you, meanwhile, Mr
+Hume, rouse the crew; see they have a nip to warm them up, and get them
+to their quarters quickly and in silence.  Is all in readiness on board
+the ship, Mr Webster?"
+
+"Yes, sir--except the crew."
+
+"I'll take a look at her myself;" and the Captain went heavily into the
+rattlins.
+
+There was a movement on the _Swift_ as the men presently went to their
+stations, and a sound of murmuring voices, followed, presently, by the
+rush of escaping steam from both vessels as the fires were stirred.  A
+few minutes more, and the stranger would put himself out of hearing.
+The engineer stood in readiness to set the screw in motion, and men were
+at hand ready to throw off the lashings which moored the catcher to the
+_Irene_.  Suddenly, however, the mist began rapidly to melt, showing in
+an instant almost a wide stretch of grey water.
+
+The Captain reached the deck with a bound, just as the notes of a
+boatswain's whistle came faintly over the still waters from beyond the
+melting mist.
+
+"She has seen us," said the Captain hoarsely.
+
+As he spoke, there appeared the blurred outline of a big ship, about a
+mile and a half distant, over the starboard stern, and the next instant
+she stood out, broadside on, just as she came round, with tall masts,
+and lofty sides of gleaming white.
+
+"She has caught us, Captain," said Webster quietly; "and we could easily
+have got away in the night."
+
+The Captain turned on his heels with a stormy look on his face, and
+walked a few steps, when he stood with his eyes bent on the deck.  Then
+he threw his head up, gazed keenly at the cruiser, and when he faced
+Webster again his mind was made up.
+
+"On board," he cried, waving his hand to the catcher, and in a moment
+was on the deck of the smaller ship.
+
+"Madam and men," he said in his deep tones, "the ship we saw last night
+is, I fear, a cruiser of the Brazilian navy.  She is near us, and if she
+is an enemy we are in danger.  The blame is mine.  I should have kept on
+instead of remaining to save this vessel."
+
+Miss Anstrade made as though she would speak, but the Captain waved his
+hand.
+
+"Madam--Miss Laura--no words you could say would add to the regret I
+feel.  But there is no time.  I have brought you into this peril, and
+please God I will deliver you.  I want nine men to fight this ship.  Who
+volunteers?"
+
+There was a moment's pause as the men looked at one another, then the
+Quartermaster stood out.
+
+"We are all yours, Captain; to the last man."
+
+"Ay, ay," came the response.
+
+A dull flush crept into the Captain's face.  "Thank you, men," he said
+quietly; "but I want nine only.  Quartermaster, select eight.  Mr Hume,
+help Miss Anstrade on board.  Mr Webster, take command of the _Irene_,
+and make full steam as soon as I engage the cruiser."
+
+The men lingered reluctantly, and Miss Anstrade, with heaving breast,
+stood looking at the Captain.
+
+"Quick, Mr Hume," said the Captain, and at the same moment he took Miss
+Anstrade by the hand and led her to the ladder.  "I am very sorry," he
+said; then his hand was seized by a sailor, and all the men in turn
+wrung his hand as they passed.
+
+He looked round, and saw Webster standing by the engineer.
+
+"Come, Jim, my boy," he said to the Lieutenant, "it is your duty to save
+Miss Anstrade."
+
+Webster moved forward with a strange look in his face.
+
+"Remember Loo," he said hoarsely, "and let me stay here."
+
+"It cannot be, my lad.  Good-bye, my boy, good-bye, and tell her I did
+what she would expect me to.  Up."  He almost forced Webster to the
+ladder, then turned.
+
+"Mr Dixon," he said, and looked at the engineer.  "If I could spare you
+I would, for it's death before us."
+
+The engineer smiled softly.
+
+"I am not sorry, Captain," he said, "for I understand."
+
+He took one last look round at the wide sea and crimson heavens, then
+his lips moved, he turned to grasp the Captain's outstretched hand, and
+the two men looked into one another's eyes.
+
+A pale figure of a man slipped out of the door and made furtively for
+the steps.
+
+"Mr Commins,"--the Captain's hand was laid upon his arm--"you will stay
+with me, for your scheming nature and coward heart have brought us to
+this."
+
+Mr Commins trembled beneath the gloomy eyes turned upon him, cast one
+imploring look at the faces above, then, without a word, allowed the
+Captain to lead him to the cabin door.
+
+The sound of a gun broke with relief upon the strained nerves of the
+spectators.
+
+"Cut the moorings!"
+
+Silently the men on the _Irene_ cut through the ropes, and the _Swift_
+floated free.
+
+There was another sullen report, and a shell tore through the tall
+rigging of the _Irene_.
+
+The big, white cruiser, with a cloud of smoke hanging about her sides,
+was leisurely steaming up about half a mile distant, and there was no
+question of her nature, nor of the ferocity of her commander, who could
+ruthlessly open fire for sheer devilment on a defenceless ship, for the
+_Swift_ was up to the present completely hidden.
+
+What must have been the astonishment of her people when, following their
+last shot, there broke from the blockade-runner a murmur of cheering as
+every soul on board cracked his throat in sending up a loud hurrah for
+the _Swift_ and her gallant crew; and when, immediately afterwards,
+there shot out from the shadow of the _Irene_ a long, low grey craft.
+When the hunter, coming upon the dead quarry he had wounded earlier in
+the day, suddenly discovers, crouching behind, the striped body of the
+tiger, his feeling of dismay, perhaps, would be the same.
+
+"Captain!  Captain!" cried Miss Anstrade, "what are you doing?  Ah,
+heaven, I see it now; may the saints preserve him!"  She caught hold of
+a rope, and stood looking from the catcher to the towering battleship,
+with its broadside pierced for heavy guns, and its decks crowded with
+men.
+
+"Oh," she said, "it is cruel!"
+
+Captain Pardoe stood on the bridge before entering the conning-tower,
+his glass to his eyes, and his feet braced apart.  Then he turned and
+waved his hand to the _Irene_, bringing it to his mouth in a trumpet.
+
+"Steam away at full speed, and make for Cape Verde.  Good-bye."
+
+Another cheer, strangely hoarse, broke from the _Irene_, and was
+responded to by the men on the catcher, and a moment later the four-inch
+gun opened fire with a roar.  The smaller guns spoke, and the whole five
+of them flashed out shot after shot, making such a volume of smoke that
+the low ship was at once completely hidden from those on the _Irene_.
+
+"My God," murmured Webster, "why did I not stay with him?"
+
+"Don't let his sacrifice be in vain," said Hume, touching Webster on the
+shoulder.  "He will be happier if he knows we can escape."
+
+"It is terrible, Frank; I cannot give the order.  Do so yourself."
+
+Hume sadly went to the bridge and gave the order for full speed ahead,
+but the _Irene_ had not gone a mile when, as though by common consent,
+the steamer slowed down, and everyone on board, even to the stokers,
+crowded on to the stern poop to watch the unequal battle, letting the
+steamer drift as she liked.
+
+The cruiser had made not the slightest attempt to stop the _Irene_, for
+the storm of shot bursting in a sudden upon her, when she was in the
+full security of conscious strength, had plunged her into a state of
+wild confusion.  At the first smash and yell of the missiles along her
+sides and through her tall rigging, there had been a wild rush from her
+decks as the terrified crew sought shelter from the mysterious enemy,
+and their panic was increased by the fierce bombardment which the
+catcher poured in from her five quick-firing guns at the rate of thirty
+shots a minute.  They saw approaching a revolving cloud of smoke, out of
+which there flashed flames of fire, and the cruiser fairly turned and
+fled, pouring in a scattering broadside which went wide of the mark.
+
+When the _Irene_ slowed down, the cruiser, about two miles distant, was
+steaming on a south-west course, and the _Swift_ was turning under cover
+of her smoke, which hung low on the water.  The men on the derelict
+raised cheer on cheer in a state of great exultation.
+
+"It is magnificent," said Miss Anstrade, with shining eyes.  "Why don't
+you cheer, Mr Webster?" and she gave out a ringing cry.
+
+"It is too good to be true," murmured the Lieutenant, as he anxiously
+watched the cruiser.  "Ah, I feared so.  See, he is coming round."
+
+The stately white ship, making a wide sweep to port, came round, letting
+go her broadside of six guns and her two heavy bow chasers before she
+steadied on a course which would bring her very soon opposite the
+_Irene_.  The water about the _Swift_ was torn up, and she heeled over
+to the shock.
+
+"She is struck!"
+
+"Good God, she is sinking!"
+
+"No; hurrah! she is righting."
+
+Miss Anstrade covered her face with her hands, then threw them from her
+with a passionate gesture, while Webster and Hume stood by with white,
+set faces.
+
+The _Swift_ had pointed her bows at the cruiser, and was firing now only
+with her four-inch, at the same time steaming slowly astern, as though
+waiting for some opening.
+
+The contrast between the combatants was most striking, as the _Swift_
+lay broadside on to the _Irene_, a long, low, grey line on the great
+waste, while, though further off, the high bows of the cruiser, her
+lofty decks and towering spars, loomed vast and terrible.
+
+"God's truth!" cried one sailor, smashing his brawny fist against the
+bulwarks, in a fury; "it's wrong; it's a shame; they're not matched!"
+
+"Watch him; he's porting his helm."
+
+The cruiser was now altering her course, and the water was piled up as
+she turned a few points to port, bringing her bow chasers to bear on the
+_Swift_.
+
+"They'll rake the _Swift_ fore and aft; sweep her guns away," muttered
+Webster, moistening his lips.
+
+"Look! there he goes!  God bless the Captain!  Hurrah for our mates!"
+
+The _Swift_ suddenly moved ahead, and gaining way from the tremendous
+power of her engines, leapt towards her huge opponent.  That moment the
+heavy guns roared, but the shells missed their prey by a few feet.  As
+it was the two funnels were sheered off as though they had been cut, and
+the fragments whirled aloft.  Then the catcher's guns maintained a
+furious fire as she swept on, but the cruiser, completing her manoeuvre,
+went round to port, and from her bow to her stern her broadside guns
+thundered one after the other.
+
+A shudder, a hoarse murmur of grief, ran round the group on the _Irene_.
+
+Out of the smoke the _Swift_ swept to leeward, rolling heavily.  Her
+long gun had been torn away from its fastenings and thrown across the
+ship, the shields about the twelve-pounders were battered down, and the
+brave men who had served them were stretched motionless.
+
+Her guns were silenced.  There remained yet her torpedoes, but were
+there any left to work them?
+
+The cruiser was still going round to bring her port broadside to bear,
+and it all depended now whether Captain Pardoe could turn the _Swift_,
+carry her under the stern of the enemy, and discharge his torpedoes.
+
+But the _Swift_ rolled heavily, and at the moment when she should have
+turned to starboard her bows went round.
+
+"Her steering gear has been injured," said Webster, with a groan.
+
+Out of the raffle, forward by the conning-tower, a man appeared, and
+with a perceptible stagger reeled aft to the wheel, which had escaped
+uninjured.
+
+"'Tis the Quartermaster," whispered the men.
+
+From the cruiser's deck men fired at him, but he reached the wheel, and
+threw his strength into it.
+
+Then on the shattered portion of the bridge there stood the figure of
+the Captain.  A moment he looked around him, then above his head to the
+summit of a single bare pole on board there mounted a black ball, and
+there streamed out the red and blue of the Union Jack!
+
+Both ships came round, the _Swift_ stem on, and the cruiser with her
+broadside.
+
+The six guns flashed together in one thunderous roar, the _Swift_ seemed
+to shrink at the shock, her decks were swept, the bridge torn to
+fragments; then she leapt forward and buried her ram in the body of her
+great enemy.  Through iron and wood the spur of steel forced its way,
+and the splinters and crash could be heard above the fierce lashings of
+the screws and the wild cries of the crew.
+
+For a breathless pause the catcher battered at the wound she had made;
+then she was swept round against the side of the cruiser, and sunk stern
+foremost.  Into the whirlpool made the cruiser dipped her wounded side,
+her decks came over at first slowly to the weight of rushing water;
+then, with a mighty smash her masts struck the sea and she turned bottom
+up; there was a flash of shining copper, and then the waves above her
+closed, with a rush, and there was nothing but tossing foam to mark
+where the two antagonists had gone down, almost locked together in their
+last deadly embrace.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+"TAKE ME WITH YOU."
+
+The terrible swiftness of the tragedy following upon the fierce combat
+had left the spectators on the _Irene_ stupefied.  They gazed at the
+tossing waters with startled eyes, and when they withdrew their gaze,
+and would look at each other, there came between them the vision of
+falling spars, of people precipitated headlong into the sea, and of a
+great ship rolling over on them.
+
+Then some of the men sobbed, and some swore.
+
+Webster whispered the name of his sister, and Miss Anstrade seemed to
+shrink within herself.
+
+Their comrades, those brave hearts, gone, gone in a few minutes, and to
+save them!
+
+They put about, steamed slowly over the waste of waters, where floated a
+litter of wreckage, and rescued half a dozen Brazilian sailors.  Of
+Captain Pardoe, or any of his gallant band, there was no trace, and the
+_Irene_ moved up and down among the wreckage, while those on board
+searched in vain for a familiar form.
+
+Then Lieutenant Webster steered for the east.
+
+The venture was over.  The _Irene_, battered as she was, could not dare
+to risk another meeting with a cruiser, and so, sick at heart and
+indifferent, Webster accepted Hume's advice and steamed away from
+Brazil.
+
+As for Miss Anstrade, she went, feeling her way, like one blinded, to
+the cabin that had been prepared for her, and there sat white and
+silent, while her dark eyes, glaring with an unnatural light, moved
+restlessly from object to object.  In the afternoon she rushed on deck
+in a raging fever, and, calling on her brother and Captain Pardoe, would
+have leapt overboard had not Hume caught her as her hand was on the
+rigging.  He and Webster carried her down, struggling pitifully, and in
+turns the two of them watched through the night by her side, their
+sorrow tinged with awe and bitterness, because of their helplessness, at
+the pathetic ravings of a mind in delirium.
+
+Through the next dreary day they continued their vigil, and the sailors,
+gathering in groups, added to the gloom of the ship by their distressed
+air and dark forebodings.
+
+"They knew it," said they one to another.  "No job of that sort, led by
+a woman, could succeed.  It was against Nature, and the ways of the sea.
+The ship was doomed, and they were doomed, and they wished to God they
+had gone to their death bravely on the _Swift_."
+
+These were not brave words; but superstition has not been driven from
+the high seas by steam, and once the natural buoyancy of a sailor is
+steeped in the gloom of ill-luck, there is no brightness in his horizon.
+The heroism of Captain Pardoe and their comrades, who had courted
+destruction in the _Swift_, filled them, moreover, with a bitter feeling
+of irritation that they themselves should have been spared, and mingled
+with the dark prevailing tinge of superstition was an impulse of
+recklessness which, in the absence of any emergency, could find
+expression only in breaches of discipline.  They lolled about in the
+shadow, seeking relief from the intolerable heat.
+
+The man at the wheel gave a listless eye to the binnacle, and the
+_Irene_, battered, dirty, with fires ill-kept, ploughed slowly on, as
+melancholy, almost, as though she were still a derelict.
+
+Webster took the sun at noon, and, utterly worn out, fell asleep over
+his reckonings, and so he was found in the afternoon by Hume, who came
+on deck from a long watch.
+
+"Have I been asleep?  There's a heaviness in the air and a strange
+weight about my eyelids.  How is she, Hume?"
+
+"Quiet now, with the Captain's boy at the door.  Was it a month ago the
+_Swift_ went down?"
+
+"Only yesterday, Frank.  My God! what a difference!  The sea is not the
+same, nor the sky, nor the air we breathe, nor the look of anyone."
+
+"What an old tub this is, and do you note how the men hang about?  I
+feel as though I cannot breathe freely.  I have been thinking of your
+sister; it is a sad end to her waiting."
+
+"Ah! poor Loo," murmured Webster.  "Frank, I dare not go home with this
+story.  I cannot.  She will say I should have taken the risk myself."
+
+"Yet his death was worth living for."  Hume moved backward and forward
+by the chart house, while Webster gloomily looked at his figures.
+"Webster," he said earnestly, "do you think there is any hope?"
+
+"For Miss Anstrade?  It is terrible that she should have fallen ill--
+terrible.  I could have borne anything almost but that.  Without a
+doctor, without a nurse, left to the bungling of two rough men.  It will
+be worse still when she comes to an understanding of her helplessness."
+
+"You think she will recover?  As I watched her this afternoon there came
+a transparency into her cheeks, and the crease between her brows melted,
+leaving a face of great calm, scarcely ruffled by a breath."
+
+"Sorrow kills slowly, Frank.  She will overcome this weakness.  Do you
+remember how she stood on the bridge, scorning danger, when we danced
+down the river and the Captain was alive?"
+
+"And now!"
+
+"Did you hear her call on her brother in the night?  So, I thought,
+would a spirit call upon its partner sent into the outer darkness.  Each
+cry has taken a year off my life, and my heart is weak now from the pain
+of it.  Do you think that my sister also will call like that?  I have
+been thinking that if a storm laid the ship on her beam ends, and
+whipped the masts from her, and called on us to fight for our lives, it
+would be a relief."
+
+Frank laid his hand gently on the Lieutenant's shoulder.
+
+"Let us pluck up spirit and face the storm that is in us.  I, too, had a
+spell of despair last night till I thought of Captain Pardoe and Mr
+Dixon.  Then I was ashamed of myself.  I can see Dixon's face now as he
+smiled before he stepped down to his living tomb.  What do you think
+they would say to us if they saw us making so poor a return for their
+lives?"
+
+"You are right, my lad," said Webster slowly.  "We must remember our
+duty to them."
+
+"And to our Commodore."
+
+"Ay; God bless her!"
+
+"That's right," continued Hume, with assumed cheerfulness.  "Now do you
+make your reckonings, and we'll stand away for the nearest port."
+
+"That will be Ascension," said Webster, after a pause.
+
+They arrived at Ascension on a blazing hot day, and dropped anchor in
+the blue waters of the little bay, enclosed, not like Funchal, in a
+setting of green, but by an arid shore, with a waste of sands stretching
+back to a lofty, sun-baked hill, on which glowed one solitary spot of
+green.  There was the Convent of Sisters, and thither was Miss Anstrade
+taken in a slow-moving cart.
+
+Hume and Webster returned to the dirty little town, flanked on the
+inland side by a series of pits sunk in the sand for the habitation of
+pigs.  Here they sadly arranged for the salvage of the _Irene_, and her
+crew shipped home on board a Cape steamer, they themselves remaining
+till Miss Anstrade was pronounced well enough, when they determined to
+take her passage on the first homeward-bound passenger boat.
+
+Within the patio of the white-walled convent, where the hot air was
+cooled by swinging mats and the spray of a fountain, Miss Anstrade,
+within a week of her arrival, was reclining in a long wickerwork chair,
+with two young men at her side.  She had quickly recovered under the
+tender hands of the sisters, and was now listening to the plans made for
+her departure for England.  She was dressed in white, with a rich red
+rose for her only ornament, and a deep pallor in her cheeks from her
+recent illness, her figure, by contrast with the sun-browned men at her
+side, looking altogether slight and delicate.
+
+"I understand you are not returning to England; what, then, if I may
+ask, are your intentions?  You surely do not mean to remain on this
+cinder?"
+
+"Do you remember," said Hume, "what I told you of the Golden Rock?"
+
+"A long time since, was it not? but I remember it well, and the strange
+feeling of second sight that came upon me, so that it seemed to me I saw
+the flash and sparkle of the Rock in a savage land.  I weaved a romance
+about it in that time before--before the world changed to me."
+
+The two men looked inquiringly at each other, for they had found no
+romance in the thought of the Rock, only a thought of money.
+
+"Everyone," she continued, in a dreamy voice, "has a Golden Rock
+somewhere within the sweep of his horizon--a gleaming spot of brightness
+that fills them in times of depression with hope of better things.  But
+you have not told me."
+
+"We have talked it over, and Webster has promised to throw in his lot
+with me, though I am afraid it will be a fearful loss of time to him."
+
+"This man has no imagination, Miss Anstrade," said Webster, with a faint
+smile; "but as for me, I thoroughly believe in this mountain of gold
+that awaits us, and look upon my fortune as already made."
+
+"Ah! yes, it is there; and how happy you will be seeking for it, strong
+in your friendship and confident in your strength, while I--I must go
+back to the old life, a prey to my thoughts."  She brought her brows
+together in a frown, and then leant back in her chair with an air of
+depression.
+
+"I am afraid," said Frank slowly, "there's little romance awaiting us,
+and little pleasure, for the difficulties are great."
+
+"Still, you will be together, and the joy of companionship compensates.
+When do you go?"
+
+"By the first opportunity after you sail, Miss Anstrade."
+
+"So," she said, with a sob, "you abandon me--leave me to go back alone
+among strangers, with my memory!"
+
+"We will return with you, madam, if you wish it; but we could be of no
+further assistance to you, else, be sure, we would not have thought of
+our plans."
+
+"But I have money yet, and could equip another ship."
+
+"Yes, madam; but the war in Brazil is near its end.  The news was
+brought yesterday.  The Government has triumphed."
+
+"Ah!"  She let her hands drop in her lap, and looked straight before
+her.  "And what of my father?"
+
+"Colonel de Anstrade lost his life in the attack upon the Castle, whilst
+gallantly leading a sortie on the Government troops.  He died like a
+soldier."
+
+There was a long silence.  She made a sign of the Cross, but gave way to
+no storm of weeping, being dulled by the force of grief.  Presently a
+sister stole to her side, and they withdrew, going back to the little
+town to await the arrival of the steamer from Cape Town, which was
+reported due within two days.
+
+Before that time, while they thought of returning for the last time to
+the convent, a cart drew up before the small hotel, and out of it
+stepped Miss Anstrade herself.
+
+"You see," she said, with a wan smile, "I have recovered, and since you
+have not been to call on me, I have come to you."
+
+"We were just about setting off, having waited for certain information
+of the steamer.  If the good sisters had allowed it, we would have
+remained near you all the time."
+
+"Ay, kept watch and watch without the walls; and every night we strolled
+to the fort to see the distant light on the Convent Tower.  If there was
+anything amiss with you, the sister agreed to show two lights, when we'd
+have posted off."
+
+"So you did not forget me, then?" she said, with one of her old radiant
+smiles.
+
+"No more than the sailor could forget the lone star by which he steers
+in the dark night."
+
+"We have your luggage ready, Miss Anstrade," said Hume, after handing
+her to a seat on the balcony, "and we are ready to go with you to
+England."
+
+"And the Golden Rock?"
+
+"That can wait a few more months."
+
+"There may be others in search of it.  No, you must lose no time, for
+success will not wait upon your leisure.  Remember," she said, with a
+despairing gesture, "how delay marred my plan, leaving me without a
+comfort or a friend in the world."
+
+"Are not we your friends?" they said, looking earnestly at her.
+
+"Friends of a day--gone to-morrow--forgotten, and forgetting in a week."
+
+"You may forget," murmured Frank; "but we will never."
+
+She looked at them a moment steadily.
+
+"Women do not forget.  Their lives are confined by convention, narrowed
+often by small duties--the memories they have of things outside their
+usual limit remain with them always.  I will not forget--ah! would to
+Heaven I could rub out the events of the last month!"
+
+"Would you blot us out also?"
+
+"Why not?  I cannot--but if I could, why not?  You are passing away into
+fresh scenes and excitements, where your regrets will vanish and your
+memories be blurred.  But what is then left for me?"
+
+"You are young, Miss Anstrade, and it is not meant that youth should
+suffer."
+
+"When do you sail?"
+
+"We sail with you to-morrow."
+
+"I am not going."
+
+"What!"
+
+"Yes; I will remain here.  There is work in the convent yonder for such
+as would forget."
+
+"Good God!" said Webster, staring aghast at the face of the beautiful
+girl who so calmly talked of throwing her life away.
+
+"You cannot mean it," said Hume, looking at her steadily.  "No; it is
+impossible.  It would be cruel."
+
+"I astonish you, my friends; and yet, if you consider, it is very
+reasonable, this step of mine.  I have talked with the gentle sisters,
+and found them steeped in a loving patience that knows no fear of the
+past and allows no dread of the future.  Yet some of them gave up more
+than I do--brothers, sisters, even lovers."
+
+"It is horrible!  And this island, of all places, with a copper heaven
+above and an earth of iron below."
+
+"We can't allow it," said Webster gruffly.
+
+"Then take me with you," she said softly, as she bent forward, with a
+flush in her cheeks; "take me with you--for you have suffered with me;
+men have sacrificed their lives for you as for me.  Ah! take me too; I
+could not live alone with these memories."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+A QUARREL.
+
+So it came that they left behind them the arid rock of Ascension, the
+murmur of the sea, and all that it spoke to them of tragedy and defeated
+hopes.  They had set out in quest of the Golden Rock, had passed from
+under the granite walls of Table Mountain, through the vine-clad valleys
+of the Paarl, up on to the melancholy plateau of the Karroo, crossed the
+Orange River in the night, sped for a day through the treeless flats of
+the Free State, and had arrived at Pretoria--a town of strange
+contrasts, where the low-walled house of the old days stood in the
+shadow of the lofty modern building, where the slow-moving Boer looked
+askance at the restless uitlanders--unwelcome visitors from the crowded
+haunts of Europe.
+
+Before them was the Golden Rock--the "fairy spot," already glorified by
+a halo of mystery--the goal of their endeavours, whose brightness lured
+them on, though they secretly feared it would always elude their grasp;
+and behind, like a dream vividly remembered, was a vision of a calm sea,
+and brave men rushing to their death.  For them there was no interest in
+the people around them; but they were observed and discussed with a
+freedom that did not stick at coarseness.
+
+In the veranda of the principal hotel, after dinner, when the men were
+smoking over their coffee, and there was no other lady but Miss
+Anstrade, drinking in the cool of the evening, the conversation grew
+both free and loud, especially at one corner, where a party of three
+leant with their backs to a balustrade, and laughed boisterously at each
+other's jokes.
+
+"She is an actress," said one; "I can see that, from the way she
+manoeuvres her fan."
+
+"You are wrong, for a fiver.  Why, she wears no jewellery!"
+
+"Done with you.  I say, Coetzee, step up and ask who she is."
+
+"Coetzee daren't do it.  Another fiver he does not ask."
+
+"Stuff, man; you should know better than to dare Coetzee after dinner.
+Eh, Piet?"
+
+"What is it you say?" asked the third of the noisy group--a tall,
+powerfully-built young Dutchman.  "She looked at me a minute ago, and if
+it was not an invitation, I'm mistaken in woman."
+
+"And you know them so well, don't you?" said the first man, with a
+sneer.
+
+"None better, although the little barmaid did throw him over for five
+feet ten of starched collar and eyeglass."
+
+"You laugh, you skeppsels, but you know well I could take the two of
+you, one in either hand, and drop you into the street."
+
+"Oh, yes, you are strong, Piet, as one of your own trek oxen; but all
+the same, you daren't speak to that lady."
+
+"Soh!  Look, now!"  And Piet, placing his soft hat rakishly on one side,
+swaggered down the veranda until he faced the group of three, who were
+calmly oblivious to all around.
+
+"Wie ben u, as ik maj vraa?" said Piet, falling back on his native
+tongue, as the task revealed unforeseen difficulties under the calm gaze
+of a pair of magnificent black eyes.
+
+There was a sound of stifled laughter from the corner; but the three
+people looked past Piet, as though he had not been there, and this
+disturbed him more than the laughter.  He stood shuffling on his big
+feet a moment, then turned and went back, this time without any swagger,
+received by an outburst of mocking laughter, which brought a glitter
+into the eyes of Hume and a flush to Webster's cheeks, though they both
+appeared oblivious.
+
+It was not long before Miss Anstrade retired, and then the two friends,
+rising, went up to the other group.
+
+"Are you men drunk?" said Hume bitterly, "that you behave like
+blackguards, or is it because you know no better?"
+
+"We are not drunk, sir; but it was a stupid business."
+
+"Yes, we are sorry."
+
+"Speak for yourselves!" shouted Piet, "and let me deal with these
+verdomde uitlanders."  He laid his big hand on Hume's shoulder, and the
+next instant there was the sound of a heavy blow, and he was stretched
+on his back, shaking the veranda, while Hume stood with frowning brows
+and clenched fist.
+
+"By Jove! that was a clean blow," said one of Piet's friends, "and he
+deserved it."
+
+"Ay, and so do you," said Webster sternly.
+
+The two men flushed, then they helped the Dutchman to his feet, and went
+off with him.
+
+"Frank, shake!"
+
+The two friends shook hands.
+
+"The next time it will be my quarrel.  You were too quick for me then."
+
+"You have to be quick," said Frank quietly, "when a man like that is
+about to strike or shoot.  Remember that well."
+
+"I did not think you had it in you to strike such a blow.  Do you think
+there'll be more trouble?"
+
+"If we remain here there will; but we must get away to-morrow, and place
+it beyond the power of anyone to annoy Miss Anstrade."
+
+"Ay, her position is trying.  Don't you think, Frank, we have made a
+mistake?"
+
+"We have, by all social rules; but surely there can be no harm in
+friendship."
+
+"Hang convention and social rules!  We have just seen the result of them
+in the behaviour of these men, who felt themselves at liberty to be
+impertinent, because she was not the wife or sister of either of us."
+
+"Even out here in this new land we cannot escape the touch of suspicion,
+and she feels it deeply.  Have you noticed?"
+
+"I have marked a change in her manner lately, as though she had just
+awakened to the difficulties before her.  Shall we ask her to go back?"
+
+"She is very proud, and if we did so she would be deeply humiliated--"
+
+"Well, Frank?"
+
+"I could not bear to lose her."
+
+"Nor could I."
+
+They remained for some time silent, looking at the starry heavens, when
+Hume spoke again.
+
+"We are friends, you and I.  When she is with us day by day in the
+lonely veld we may both of us grow to love her, and how, then, will our
+friendship bear the strain of rivalry?"
+
+Webster leant forward with a sigh.
+
+"It is best to face the danger," said Hume, in a low voice.
+
+"I love her already, my lad;" and the sailor threw his head up, with a
+deep flush in his cheeks.  "How could I help it?"
+
+Hume drew in his breath and turned his head away.
+
+"Is that why you came?" he said, with his face still averted.
+
+"Hume, look at me!  Ah! you love her also?"
+
+Hume bowed his head.
+
+"And has your love already darkened your heart to me?  Lad, you are
+wrong.  God knows I would let nothing come between you and me, still
+less because of your love for her; but if you are suspicious of me, you
+have the remedy."
+
+"And what is that?" asked Hume quickly, suspecting that Webster would
+offer to draw out.
+
+"Why, marry her now.  It is your opportunity.  She is distressed, and
+would see in marriage a way out of the difficulty."
+
+Hume's brows cleared; he smiled, and stretched forth his hand.
+
+"No, no," he said, "that would be taking a mean advantage of her.  We
+know each other's secret, and let us forget, treating her as our dearest
+friend, and beloved sister; then when all is done, and she is once more
+settled, let each do his best to win her."
+
+"That is fair, Frank; but she is not for me, and I never dreamt she was.
+You will let nothing come between us."
+
+"I will try, Jim; but I hope she will leave her fan behind, for the play
+of it fires my heart."
+
+"Trust me, I'll burn it.  And she goes with us?"
+
+"Of course; for if she does not, we will never find the Golden Rock,
+because then neither you nor I would set out to find it."
+
+The next morning they overhauled their outfit, consisting of a tent
+waggon, provisions for two months, span of eighteen oxen, and two Kaffir
+boys--one to drive, the other to lead and look after the oxen.
+
+While engaged packing the provisions in the bed of the waggon to make a
+level ground for Miss Anstrade's bed, for this was to be her room, Piet
+Coetzee, the big Dutchman, with two or three companions, lounged up and
+criticised the preparations.
+
+"Pay no attention," whispered Hume; "they want to pick a quarrel, and we
+would then be locked up to a certainty."
+
+They went on with their work regardless of the pointed remarks intended
+for them, and presently Piet and his friends moved off.
+
+"You'll hear from me again," said Piet, shaking his fist.
+
+"Did you notice the little dark fellow, Webster?"
+
+"No; but I took the measurement of that mountain of flesh, and by this
+and that, I'll put a hitch in his jaw-tackle if ever we meet."
+
+"Oh, he's top-heavy--the little fellow is more to be feared.  Do you
+remember the Lieutenant at Madeira?--he was among that group."
+
+"What!  Lieutenant Gobo?"
+
+"The same; and I heard this morning that a party of Portuguese had
+arrived in Pretoria last week on a political mission.  They are in
+favour with the Government here, and if that little beggar has
+recognised us, he may play us a trick."
+
+"Well, then, let us get under way."
+
+"All right; you remain here by the waggon while I go for Miss Anstrade."
+
+Before noon the oxen were inspanned, and the waggon moved off.  After a
+"scoff" of ten miles they outspanned, and while they were having their
+meal under the shade of a canvas awning, or "scherm," stretched from the
+top of the tent, two horsemen rode slowly by.
+
+They were Piet Coetzee and Lieutenant Gobo.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+SUSPICIONS.
+
+As the two horsemen passed over a ridge one of the blacks rose from the
+fire, stretched himself, and walked off slowly towards the oxen hidden
+by a cluster of sugar bushes, whose sweet perfume filled the air.
+
+A little folding-table was placed under the canvas "scherm," tea was
+made, and the two men waited for Miss Anstrade to appear from the
+waggon, whither she had retired to change her gown for a
+travelling-dress.  This dress had been on her mind for several days
+past, in fact, ever since they arrived in Cape Town, and she had
+suffered extremely because she had not been able to discuss its shape
+and design with a qualified critic.  The sail, falling over the back of
+the waggon, was drawn aside, a neat boot appeared, then a gaitered leg,
+and, with a laugh and a jump, she stood before them challenging their
+opinions.
+
+The two men, not knowing, in their stupidity, what was expected of them,
+rose stolidly, and made way for her to reach her seat.
+
+"Well," she said, "what do you think of it?"
+
+Hume took a swift look, which embraced short skirts, a neat waist, and
+then looked away startled, as though a pair of shapely legs were
+something quite new.
+
+Webster had no such qualms of mistaken modesty.
+
+"A very sensible dress," he said, with a broadening smile.
+
+"Sensible, is that all?" and she turned round.
+
+"Yes, sensible and pretty, of course.  It gives you freedom to move, and
+will keep your skirts from getting wet when the dew is on the grass."
+
+"Will you take a suggestion?" asked Hume.
+
+"Hum," she said, "I presume you wish me to lengthen the dress?"
+
+"Heaven forbid!  No; but I think it would be well if you placed a band
+of leather round the skirt."
+
+"Leather; good gracious, why?"
+
+"To prevent the thorns from ripping the dress into rags.  The
+`wacht-en-beetje' thorn will be always calling you to `wait a bit.'
+Now, come and preside at our first meal in the veld."
+
+When they were half through, the boy returned to the fire, sat down with
+his feet to it, and his hands spread out to keep the heat from his face.
+
+Hume rose and touched him on his shoulder.
+
+"Where have you been?"
+
+The boy shrugged his shoulders, and said in Dutch to his companion:
+"What says the Englishman?"
+
+Hitherto, Hume had not spoken in Dutch, and the Kaffirs were off their
+guard.
+
+"Get up," he said sternly, and as the boy did not move at once he jerked
+him to his feet.
+
+"Yoh!" he exclaimed, with a look of astonishment.
+
+"Now walk;" and Frank pointed to the clump of bushes; and the Kaffir,
+understanding from the gesture, sullenly went forward.
+
+"What is it?" asked Webster, coming out of the shelter with Miss
+Anstrade.
+
+"I'm about to teach this fellow a lesson, which he needs, as he is
+evidently under the impression that we are greenhorns."
+
+The whole party continued, the black suspicious and sullen, Miss
+Anstrade and Webster curious, and Hume with his brows knitted.  On
+reaching the bush the Kaffir stopped and pointed to the oxen, which were
+grazing contentedly.
+
+Hume glanced back to the waggon, took in the direction taken by the two
+horsemen, then rounded the bush, and walked straight across to a point
+beyond the ridge which intercepted the road.  There he stopped, and
+catching the black by his arm, directed his attention to hoof-marks in
+the dust, and the spoor of an in-toed native foot.
+
+"What did you say to the baas?" he asked.
+
+The Kaffir put on an innocent look, covering his mouth with his hand.
+
+"Measure his foot, Jim!"
+
+Webster, who now grasped the situation, lifted the boy's foot, which was
+small, though broad at the root of the toes, took the measurement, then
+passed the string over the spoor on the dust.
+
+"It is his.  What does it mean?"
+
+"It means that he has some understanding with those two men, and that he
+left the waggon to meet them here."
+
+He then sent the boy for the oxen with orders to bring them in at once,
+and returned with the others to the waggon to prepare for the next trek,
+the night trek and the longest, since the oxen worked better than in the
+heat of the sun.
+
+The waggon driver, Klaas, was still seated at the fire when they got
+back, and looked at them with a smile, which scarcely succeeded in
+disguising his anxiety.
+
+"Klaas, get ready to inspan."
+
+"Inspan, baas, and the night is near by!  Better stay here, baas, till
+sun up.  Plenty better stay."
+
+"It will be better for you to do what I tell you.  Here come the oxen;
+now, look alive!"
+
+Klaas reached out for a coal, cradled it in the palm of his hand, and
+then deftly fixed it in the bowl of his long native pipe.  He then rose
+and straightened out the trek-tow, the long chain with the eight yokes.
+
+The eighteen oxen were driven up and formed up in a line on the left,
+when the loops of the rheims were passed over the wide horns, and the
+couples, in their proper order, pulled over to the other side, when they
+faced round, each couple to its own yoke.  The pole was then fixed on
+over the necks, the throat-straps being passed round from "skei" notch
+to "skei" notch.  When all were yoked the oxen were standing on the
+right, sideways, and at the word "Hambaka"--trek--the left ox of each
+couple had to bear the scraping of the chain as it was pulled over his
+back.
+
+Miss Anstrade watched the scene with great interest, being particularly
+impressed with the confident way in which the two Kaffirs handled the
+big horned oxen.
+
+There is a certain charm about waggon travelling at night, and Miss
+Anstrade, seated later on inside upon some soft karosses, felt her
+spirits returning.  The place which was to be her bedroom and boudoir
+for some weeks was not comfortless by any means.  Its length was about
+fifteen feet, the breadth across the canvas roof nearly six feet and the
+length from the level of the bedding about four feet six inches.  From
+one of the laths there was suspended a lamp; on one side there were
+numerous canvas pockets for toilet necessaries, etcetera; and on the
+other a battery of three guns was lashed to the rafters.  At the head of
+the tent the opening was closed by a heavy canvas flap, buttoned down,
+and kept in place at the bottom by the driver's box, and at the end
+there was another flap, which could be rolled up at will.
+
+Hume and Webster were seated at the back with their feet dangling.
+
+"What do you think was the object of those men," asked Webster, "in
+speaking to our boy?"
+
+"That is what puzzles me.  They may be merely curious about our venture,
+especially as our presence here would be inexplicable to Lieutenant
+Gobo, who last saw us hot-bound for Brazil, or they may suspect that we
+are in search of gold, as prospecting parties are continually setting
+out.  Any way, I do not anticipate trouble from them."
+
+"You are mistaken," said Miss Anstrade slowly; "the men of the South do
+not forget an insult, and you deeply wounded the vanity of the little
+man at Madeira.  You may be sure he has the will to injure you, and if
+the opportunity is provided he will do so.  Why not make the servants
+confess?"
+
+"At the proper time," said Frank, who, since the journey had commenced,
+unconsciously adopted an air of authority.  "At present they have a
+contempt for us, and may betray themselves out of carelessness, if, of
+course, there is any understanding between them and our friends.  And
+how do you like this slow mode of travelling?"
+
+"I like it well; there is a restfulness in the slow swing of the waggon,
+and in the stillness of the night, that soothes one.  Will the journey
+be like this all the way?"
+
+"Ah, no, we are in the beaten track now, in a quiet country.  The
+dangers and the difficulties lie beyond the range of the ordinary
+traveller when we enter the wilderness.  Then the loneliness of the
+slowly passing days and the brooding silence of the nights, broken only
+by the sudden clamour of wild beasts, will try your patience and fill
+you with regrets that you should have ventured away from the crowded
+cities."
+
+"Sometimes there is pleasure in melancholy, and the wilderness has no
+terrors for me, no more than it has for the stricken deer that seek the
+deepest solitudes."
+
+She took out her violin and played, while the men smoked, and the two
+Kaffirs, letting the oxen keep on in their way undirected, fell behind,
+drinking in the music with delight.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+MISSING.
+
+It seemed as though the suspicions about the designs of Groot Piet and
+Lieutenant Gobo were groundless, as for two weeks they trekked on
+without an obstacle, though Frank found it necessary to check the
+growing impertinence of the Kaffirs by knocking Klaas down out of hand
+one morning, and by flogging the leader with a doubled rheim--a hint
+which brought about the proper degree of respect due by a native to a
+white man.  They reached the rolling bush country without further
+incident, and found greater objects of interest in the diversity of
+animal life.
+
+One evening they drew up on a gentle rise above a river, and found
+themselves in the neighbourhood of a Boer trek.  About thirty tent
+waggons, gleaming white in the dark, were drawn up in ranks of ten,
+their desselbooms all pointing to the north, and the space around
+thronged with troops of cattle and herds of goats and sheep.  This was a
+party of "Doppers," shifting ground to get away from the vain delights
+and irritating chatter of the uitlanders, who had invaded the South in
+the wake of the gold miners.  Their austere piety had risen in arms, and
+they were now in search of a remote spot where their eyes would not be
+offended by the spectacle of ungodly merriment.  Their thin nasal notes
+as they chanted an evening hymn cut through the air fraught with a
+spirit of hopeless despondency at the wickedness of all things human;
+but when the singing was over they allowed their morbid curiosity to
+draw them to the solitary waggon where one lovely woman, in outlandish
+costume, sat laughing with two of the despised uitlanders.  The men,
+with their dark sombre faces, drew near to offer the accustomed
+hand-shake, but the women stood aloof, the younger ones giggling under
+their linen kapjes, and the elder standing stolidly, their hands folded
+in their aprons.
+
+"Who are you, and whence do you come, if I may be bold enough to ask?"
+was the first question of the male spokesman; and when Hume had
+courteously responded, there was one word spoken, and that was "tabak."
+A roll of tobacco was produced, plugs cut off, and shaved against the
+balls of big thumbs, all scarred with knife cuts and blackened with
+tobacco.  The fragments were solemnly rolled between the broad palms,
+the pipes filled, and lit with coals from the fire; and the best flavour
+can only be drawn from tobacco by a wood coal.
+
+Then they squatted down on their heels and stared solemnly, making
+observations enough to supply them with slow conversations for a week on
+the frivolous manners of the strangers.
+
+Hume answered all the questions, and then asked for information himself,
+from which he learnt that they had arrived at a good place for a halt,
+grass being good and water plentiful, with game in fair numbers a few
+miles distant from the road.  They were told of a vlei five miles off,
+where some of the large antelopes gathered at sunrise, and getting the
+direction from the stars, Frank and Webster determined to walk there
+that night, so as to lose no time.
+
+After leaving a note with Klaas, now her humble slave, for Miss
+Anstrade, who had retired some time previously to her tent, and after
+seeing the oxen tied up to the trek-tow, they set off with their guns,
+guided by the stars.  Frank, with his old hunter's instinct fully
+revived, walked along through the deepening gloom without a tumble, but
+Webster damaged his clothing and his skin by repeatedly running into
+thorn-bushes, whose long, white thorns, curved like the talons of an
+eagle, laid fast hold of him.
+
+Now and then a startled antelope would bound away, or a porcupine or
+ant-bear roll grunting across their track, while the notes of plovers
+and ducks flying overhead broke complainingly on the quiet air, and the
+far-off barking of dogs at the "Doppers'" camp accentuated the silence.
+Before morning they saw the faint, ghostly gleam of water below them,
+and lay down to wait for the first break of day, when they rose to take
+their bearings, so that they should not miss the route on their return,
+a catastrophe very likely to happen even to experienced hunters in the
+bush country.  Separating, they each selected a hiding-place by the
+water, and before long the cracks of their rifles rang out sharply, Hume
+securing a fine sable antelope, while Webster, over-estimating the size
+of a buck, which loomed large in the mist, had no luck.  After shifting
+ground, and walking for an hour, they each met with success.  Some time
+was spent in gralloching the quarry, after which a fire was lit; they
+had a bathe, and then roasted a steak of venison on the glowing coals.
+Then they covered the bodies with bushes, and picking up their course,
+returned to the outspan, which they reached at noon.
+
+They stood at the border of the bush struck with dismay and surprise.
+The open space so crowded the night before was now deserted.  A few thin
+streaks of smoke rose from a number of white ash-heaps, two or three
+ringed crows croaked and gabbled hoarsely from a withered thorn, but
+there was no other sign of life.
+
+"Why," said Webster, tilting his broad hat back, "you've made the wrong
+port."
+
+Hume walked out into the open, and stood by a heap of ashes.
+
+"This is the spot," he said; "here are the marks of our scherm poles;
+and there," pointing to the dent of a small heel, "is her spoor."
+
+"Then, where is she?"
+
+Hume pointed to the broad tracks of the waggon-wheels leading north.
+
+"What the devil! then she has moved away.  Those swabs of niggers have
+mutinied and cleared.  And we were fools enough to trust them.  Thank
+God, they can't be far."
+
+"No, they can't be far."
+
+"Then come on, man; with a trail like those wheel-marks before us we can
+overtake them before dark;" and without more words, Webster strode
+rapidly on, soon to disappear into the waggon road, which struck into
+the bush beyond.
+
+Hume, however, stood by the dead fire, resting on his gun as though
+stupefied, but his keen eyes, ranging over every inch of ground, belied
+this.  So far from being dazed, his faculties were fully alert, and
+presently he began quartering the ground in widening circles until he
+reached the edge of the bush, when he stopped under a spreading mimosa
+and keenly examined the ground beneath.  Stooping, he picked up a
+half-consumed cigarette, and then went at a trot after Webster, whom he
+met returning in a state of white fury.
+
+"You take it very coolly," growled Webster, "lingering like this, when
+every minute is precious.  The trail has been blotted out by a thousand
+hoof-marks, and there is no more sign than a ship makes on the water.
+Why the devil don't you suggest something?"
+
+"Look here," said Hume, holding out the fragment of cigarette.
+
+"This is no time to trifle," said Webster, eyeing the thing impatiently.
+
+"No Boer smokes cigarettes."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Portuguese do."
+
+"What!  Good heavens!  Has Gobo taken her off?"
+
+Hume ground his teeth.
+
+"I knew it," he said; "I knew when those fellows took the trouble to
+speak to our boys on the sly that there was some devilment afoot, but I
+thought they had missed their chance of playing some spiteful trick on
+us and had gone back.  They must have had us in view all along until the
+opportunity offered.  Last night their chance came, and they have gone
+off under cover of the `Dopper' trail."
+
+"If they are with the `Doppers' we can easily overtake them."
+
+"No; they would keep ahead of the trek for a mile or so to hide their
+spoor, then they would fall behind and make off by some side-path or
+through the veld.  Now, you skirt along the left side of the road,
+keeping watch for any waggon-track turning aside, while I go along the
+right."
+
+They went on rapidly, in complete silence, with bent brows, and a fierce
+eagerness at the thought of soon meting out punishment.  The task was
+not difficult.  For the greater part the road passed through thickets of
+mimosas near enough together to prevent a lumbering waggon from passing;
+at other parts there were small banks where the ground had been cut into
+by the heavy wheels, and these would at once have shown signs where a
+waggon turned off; and, at long intervals only, were stretches of hard,
+sun-baked ground, on which the track of wheels could only be faintly
+seen.
+
+Mile after mile they went, kicking up the dust, which stained their
+clothing red and caked on their hands and faces, until their eyes glared
+as if from masks.  Sometimes they would pause to straighten themselves
+and to rub their eyes because of the strain upon them, and once Webster
+gave a shout; but Hume, after one glance at wheel-tracks a week old,
+went swiftly on, and gradually their shadows lengthened out before them
+as the sun stood lower and the great heat was tempered by cool breezes.
+
+At last Hume made a sign to Webster, and turned sharply off to the
+right, along the track of a solitary waggon, and just at dusk they saw
+the gleam of white, amid a cluster of thorns.  Forgetting their
+weariness, they started off at a run, which did not slacken until they
+came within a hundred yards, when Hume, with a gasp, drew up.
+
+The waggon was theirs truly; but there was an unusual silence about.  No
+fire shed its welcome light, the sails were down, the oxen were away,
+and there were no signs of life.
+
+Slowly they went up, with a nameless fear at their hearts, to find the
+tent empty, and the contents tumbled about and rifled.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+THE GAIKA.
+
+The two friends stood a moment gazing blankly at the empty waggon; then
+Webster clambered in to see if by any chance Miss Anstrade had left a
+message, while Hume, in the fading light, hunted slowly around for spoor
+of hoof-marks.  Darkness, however, soon closed, and they sat down with
+their faces in their hands.
+
+"The infernal scoundrels!" muttered Webster, springing up in a moment;
+"the cowardly hounds!  If they had a grudge against us, why could they
+not have wreaked their spite on us?  Is it some mad freak, do you think,
+of that crack-brained Dutchman?"
+
+Hume was silent.
+
+"Come, Frank," said Webster, stepping up to his friend, "have you no
+idea?  I am at a loss in the veld; but you, who have been here before,
+should have some confidence."
+
+"I made certain she would be with the waggon," said Hume drearily.
+
+"Let us get a fire alight, and when we have had some food we may hit
+upon something."
+
+In a few minutes a bright fire was burning, with a kettle in position.
+Food was brought out from the locker, and once more they sat down,
+looking silently at the crackling flames.  Gradually the fire burnt away
+and they were left in darkness.
+
+"Well," said Webster.
+
+"We have overrun the spoor," said Hume gloomily.
+
+"Why, here stands the waggon!"
+
+"She never came as far as this.  The waggon was brought on here to lead
+us astray.  They met the waggon in the road, and have gone off in a
+direction opposite to this.  They may have circled round, struck the
+road below the old `outspan,' and returned towards Pretoria."
+
+"Good heavens! then they may be fifty miles away?"
+
+"Ay, and we are on foot."
+
+Webster groaned.  "What next?"
+
+"There is one hope.  It is possible the Dutchman has a house somewhere
+in these parts, and, if so, we may find her before it is too late."
+
+"Then let us start.  With a lantern it is possible to distinguish
+hoof-marks in the dust."
+
+"Come, then," said Hume, after a quick look round.
+
+The lantern was secured, and they strode off rapidly, Hume whistling.
+
+"For God's sake, stop that!" growled Webster.
+
+Hume whistled the louder.
+
+Webster gave one fierce look towards his companion, then strode ahead,
+but presently faced round.
+
+"Look here, Hume," he cried, "what is the meaning of this?"
+
+"Go on," said Hume, catching his friend by the arm.  "When I went to get
+the lantern I fancied I saw the figure of a man disappear from the far
+side of the waggon.  It is probably one of our boys returning for more
+loot; light the lantern now, and keep on down the road, making as much
+noise as you can, while I lie in wait for him."
+
+"Don't let him escape," said Webster, with great excitement.  "Wouldn't
+it be better if we both went after him?"
+
+"No; leave him to me."
+
+Webster went away down the road, swinging his lantern, and making vain
+attempts to sing, while Hume crouched down to the ground for some
+minutes before beginning his stealthy advance towards the waggon, whose
+position he guessed.  When at last he caught the faint gleam of the
+white canvas he slowly circled round, and then stopped to listen.  To
+his great relief he heard someone at work in the waggon, turning over
+the goods, and carefully he crept forward till he reached the
+desselboom, where he could hear the exclamations of the man inside as he
+groped among the packages.  The echo of Webster's song--which had come
+fitfully--ceased, and the man, clicking his tongue, jumped to the
+ground, stood listening a moment, then went round to the fire, where he
+could be heard blowing at a coal.  Hume slipped round the waggon, saw a
+dark figure crouching at the fire, the glow of the coal as he blew on it
+throwing out his round head, noiselessly stepped forward, then flung
+himself on the Kaffir, burying his face in the pile of ashes.  There was
+a smothered cry, a fierce struggle, and Hume dragged the man to the
+desselboom and bound him fast with a rheim.
+
+Then he hollowed his hands and sent a shout ringing through the night to
+recall Webster, having first satisfied himself that his prisoner was
+Klaas the driver.
+
+Webster did not delay his return, and it was not long before he ran up,
+guided by the fire, which Hume had restarted.
+
+"Have you got him?"
+
+"Yes; lashed to the waggon."
+
+"Thank God for that!  Let's look at him.  Ah, you black devil, what have
+you done with the lady?"
+
+Klaas blinked at the lantern, then sullenly looked away.
+
+Webster drew a sjambok from the side of the waggon, a formidable weapon
+made from rhinoceros' hide, and made it whistle through the air.
+
+"Now I'll make you speak.  Where's the lady?"
+
+Klaas looked at the sjambok, and clicked with his tongue in token of
+defiance.
+
+"Leave him to me," interposed Hume quietly.  "Of what people are you,"
+he asked the native; "a Makatese?"
+
+Klaas gave a click.
+
+"A Fingo?"
+
+"Yoh!" he exclaimed, with a flash from his small black eyes.
+
+"Well, then, of what people?"
+
+"A Gaika of the house of Kreli!"
+
+Frank looked at the man steadily, then suddenly spoke in Kaffir.
+
+"You a Gaika; and you come like a dog of a Fingo in the night to rob
+those who have served you well, after playing the part of a jackal to
+the men who carried off the lady!"
+
+The Kaffir made a sharp exclamation when he heard Hume speak his own
+tongue, gave him a swift, startled look, then hung his head.
+
+"Well, Gaika, what do you say before this baas cuts the marks of
+disgrace upon you with the sjambok?"
+
+The Kaffir lifted his head.
+
+"What did the master say about the lady--the Inkosikasi?"
+
+"I said she had been carried away; but why repeat it, when you helped?"
+
+"It is true, baas, I would have taken one of the things from the
+waggon--the thing that plays; but I did not know that the lady had been
+taken."
+
+"You lie!"
+
+"Yoh!"
+
+"Why did you steal away when we came?  Was it not because your heart was
+black?"
+
+"Because the things had been disturbed by that Makatese boy.  Let me
+speak.  When the baas went to shoot there came a white man, with
+writing, saying we were to inspan and trek, so that the waggon would be
+near where the baas was shooting.  We inspanned, and one white man came
+along.  He said this was the place to outspan.  In the morning another
+white man came with a cart, which drew up over there beyond the thick
+bush.  They said the lady would go with them until you came back.  Then
+I went off with the oxen to the water, and when I came back the cart was
+gone, and the lady and the white men, also the leader, and the things in
+the waggon were disturbed.  So my heart was afraid, and I went back to
+the oxen."
+
+"Is this story true?"
+
+"Eweh, Inkose, it is true."
+
+Hume took the lantern and went over to the bush, beyond which he found
+the tracks of a cart.
+
+Returning, he released the Kaffir, and told him to prepare food for
+himself.  He then related to Webster what he had just heard.
+
+Webster was for tying Klaas to the wheel all night, but Hume opposed
+this.
+
+They snatched a few hours' needful sleep, and were roused before
+daybreak by Klaas, whom they had left seated by the fire.
+
+"Ah!" said Webster, as his eye fell upon the Kaffir, "I confess I
+expected he would have slipped off in the night, and his presence here
+is hopeful."
+
+"A Gaika, like us, is a stranger in this country.  We have talked to him
+in his language, and he will stick to us like a burr.  We must leave the
+waggon to its own fate, I suppose?"
+
+"Ay, I could not stay behind.  Nor could you."
+
+"We must trust the Kaffir, then.  Klaas!"
+
+"Baas!"
+
+"Bring the oxen near the waggon, and keep watch while we follow the
+cart."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+FOUND!
+
+They were about to start, when the Kaffir suddenly gave vent to an
+exclamation, at the same time inclining his head in a listening
+attitude.
+
+"What is it?" asked Webster.
+
+"Hush!" muttered Hume.
+
+The Kaffir slipped away into the bush on the left, and Hume, with a word
+to Webster, ran off to the right.
+
+A moment later Webster heard the gallop of a horse, and rushed forward
+with his rifle cocked, expecting he knew not what.  Rapidly the
+hoof-beats struck sharper through the air, there was a crash of
+branches, a cry from the Kaffir, and a white horse cleared a bush and
+drew up.  His rider lurched forward, and would have fallen had not
+Webster leapt forward in time.  It was a slight boyish form he took in
+his arms, but as he was stooping with his burden to the ground he saw
+the face.
+
+"Laura--Miss Anstrade!" he cried, trembling as he laid her head on his
+knee.
+
+"Have you stopped the horse?" cried Hume, as he darted up.
+
+Webster held up a hand warningly, and Hume went down on his knees, and
+the two of them, with white faces, gazed at the insensible figure.
+
+Her short riding-habit was torn to shreds, her hands were scratched and
+bleeding, and across her white forehead there was an angry red weal.
+Her hat was gone, and the heavy plaits of her black hair had broken
+loose from their bindings.
+
+Presently, as they leant over her, half-paralysed by conflicting
+emotions of joy, fear, and surprise, she opened her eyes, struggled to
+her feet, and sprang to the side of the horse.
+
+"Laura!" they cried.
+
+"Ah, heavens, it is you.  I thought--" She looked round wildly, then
+fainted dead away.
+
+"Look at her hands, how they have been torn," and Hume gently pressed
+his lips to the fingers he held.
+
+"Some water!" cried Webster.
+
+"Yes, you run for the water;" and Hume passed his arm under the graceful
+head.
+
+Webster looked fiercely across at his friend.  "I can support her; you
+go for the water."
+
+"Klaas," cried Hume, "water, quick!"
+
+Klaas, who had been standing near, hurried up with a tin of water, which
+both young men attempted to take, the result being that the contents
+were spilled.
+
+"It appears you wish to quarrel," said Hume.
+
+"No, sir; but it is my right to support her."
+
+"You are the first to break the contract which you yourself suggested,"
+said Hume bitterly; then quickly rising, he went to the waggon, to
+return with a drop of brandy.  A little water was scattered on the white
+brow, and when presently the dark eyes opened again, the cup was held to
+her lips.
+
+She rose up slowly, and looked long at them.
+
+"Ah," she said, "you must not leave me again."
+
+"Take my arm to the waggon," said Hume tenderly.
+
+"Let me carry you," whispered Webster as gently.
+
+She looked at her wounded hands and smiled, but when she saw the forlorn
+condition of her dress her feminine instincts rose in alarm.  "Gracious
+heavens," she murmured, "what a fright!" and vanished into the shelter
+of the waggon tent without support from either.
+
+The two friends regarded each other with cold looks, then fell apart
+without a word.
+
+"Baas," said Klaas in Kaffir, "here come more horses."
+
+Hume picked up his double express and ran forward into the bush, while
+Webster, with gloomy and lowering brow, mounted guard at the waggon.
+
+"Halt!" rang out Hume's voice.
+
+"Verdomde," came a startled reply, "what say you?"
+
+"Drop that gun, drop it."  There was the dull sound of the gun falling.
+"Now, come on slowly."
+
+Horse and rider advanced into the open space, and Piet Coetzee sat in
+the saddle, casting uneasy glances about him.
+
+"Dismount," said Hume sternly.
+
+Slowly the young giant swung himself to the ground, and stood sullenly
+regarding his enemies under his straight brows.
+
+"Take the horse, Klaas, find the baas's gun, and keep watch beyond the
+bush."
+
+The Kaffir obeyed with a grin.
+
+"Now, Piet Coetzee," said Hume, with a hard look in his keen blue eyes,
+and a tightening of his lips, "if you have anything to say why you
+should not be tied to the waggon-wheel and flogged, say it."
+
+Coetzee flushed to his eyes, then folded his arms.  "I am not a black
+man, that you should speak of flogging."
+
+"It is a question of crime, and not of colour."
+
+"Beware what you do or say," said Piet threateningly; "if you flog a
+Boer you will be a dead man before the sun has risen again."
+
+"Come--have you anything to say?"
+
+"What have I done?"
+
+Hume picked up a rheim, made a running noose, and stepped up to the
+young Boer.
+
+"I will kill you first!" hissed Piet, doubling his great fist.
+
+"Be quiet," said Webster; "or I will shoot."
+
+"Oh, yes; you are two to one, and I am unarmed.  Cowards!"
+
+"And you were two to one when you took away the young lady," said Hume,
+and he slipped the noose over the broad shoulders and tightened it.
+
+"My God! you will not flog me?"
+
+"I will."
+
+"But it is a dog's punishment.  It will disgrace me for ever.  Shoot
+me."
+
+Hume pulled the end of the rheim through the spokes, and pulled on it,
+then made a hitch.  The young Boer placed his foot against the rim,
+exerted his strength, and snapped the strong hide.
+
+"Now," he shouted furiously, "I will make you shoot," and with a bound
+he seized the pole of the scherm and whirled it round his head.
+
+"What is this?" said a fresh voice, and Miss Anstrade, looking her old
+self, except for the angry red mark above her forehead, and the wounds
+on her white hands, stepped forward.
+
+"This is one of the men who carried you away," said Hume, "and I
+threatened to flog him unless he could explain."
+
+"It is not so," said Piet furiously; "you threatened me first and asked
+me nothing."
+
+"Put your guns down," said Miss Anstrade.
+
+The two friends obeyed.
+
+She walked quietly up to Piet, and took the pole from his hand.
+
+"You are angry," she said quietly.
+
+"They threatened to flog me--me--a Boer in my own country.  Verdomde,
+when my people hear of it they will whip every uitlander in the place."
+
+"Perhaps they will ask your forgiveness; and what has brought you here?"
+
+"I followed you," he said.
+
+"Yes, true, you followed me, and why?"
+
+"Because--because--" He dropped his eyes.
+
+"Because I rode away?"
+
+"Yes, on my horse."
+
+"It was your horse you wanted, then?"
+
+"Yes--no--it was you, and my horse which had run away with you."
+
+She laughed.  "I see, it was the horse that ran away with me; it was the
+horse that caused my hands to be torn, it was the horse that came in the
+night when my friends were away, and carried me off by force."  The
+smile was on her lips still, but there was such a look of scorn from her
+eyes that he trembled.
+
+"I do not understand," he said humbly.
+
+"You know that I was taken from my friends at night, and you must
+understand, surely, that that was the act of robbers."
+
+"But he said you wished to escape."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"That Portuguese Gobo.  He told me you were of his country, and that
+these men were carrying you off into the desert, so that they could
+benefit from your death without being detected."
+
+"Is this the truth?"
+
+"I am a Boer," replied the young Dutchman with some dignity, "and I do
+not work harm to women.  If the Portuguese has made a fool of me I will
+wring his neck."
+
+"He is a bad man.  These are my friends who have helped me in great
+danger, and you caused them great suffering in taking me away.  You have
+acted like a child; but it is because I see you have been misled I
+forgive you."
+
+She held out her hand, which he took in his, while a flush of manly
+shame spread over his face.
+
+"Now, my brothers," she said, with a brilliant smile, "all shake hands."
+
+Webster held out his hand frankly, but Hume refused.
+
+"What," she said, "you will not forgive him?"
+
+"No, madam.  If he has been the tool of a man more cunning than himself,
+he has been a willing tool.  That mark across your forehead--how did it
+come there?"
+
+"From the lash of a rebounding branch, as I galloped through the bush."
+
+"I am very sorry," said Piet.
+
+"Then go," shouted Hume, "and thank this lady that you have not got what
+you deserved."
+
+"I will remember you," growled Piet, as he moved off, "and maybe the
+sjambok you promised me will fall on your own shoulders."
+
+Hume, with his rifle in his hand, followed the young Boer, and saw him
+mount and ride away, leading the other horse.  On reaching a ridge Piet
+turned and shook his fist, then suddenly dropping his reins he took a
+deliberate aim at Hume.  A full half-minute he kept the deadly weapon at
+his shoulder, then, with a laugh, let it drop to the saddle, and
+disappeared.  Hume, who had stood the ordeal with a bitter smile on his
+mouth, turned back to the camp and met Webster.
+
+"Your friend has gone," he said.
+
+"Yes," said Webster, whose face was deadly pale; "I saw his gun drop,
+and thought he had meant to shoot you."
+
+"I was wishing he would fire."
+
+"Frank!" exclaimed Webster.
+
+They looked at each other straight in the eyes, clasped hands, and then
+walked back together.
+
+Miss Anstrade went to meet them with a smile on her lips and a question
+in her eyes.
+
+"My poor friends," she murmured softly, "you have suffered a lot.  I see
+it by your faces."
+
+"And you?" they said.
+
+"I was confident you would find me if I could not escape."
+
+"We were just starting off," said Webster, "after Frank had found the
+waggon and learnt from Klaas that you had been taken off in a cart."
+
+"Yes; they managed that very well.  They told me there was a young woman
+lying ill at a farmhouse near, and asked me if I would not go, and they
+explained that, anticipating my consent, they had brought the waggon to
+a spot which would be convenient to you and to them.  I saw no reason
+why I should not do a kindness, and after writing a note for you, which
+they promised to deliver, I was driven off to a cottage some eight or
+nine miles away.  On alighting, I saw for the first time that one of the
+two men was a Portuguese, and from his mocking air of courtesy my
+suspicions were aroused.  Of course there was no woman in the house, and
+on being shown into a room I locked the door.  They left me there all
+the morning, but in the afternoon they begged me to come out.  The
+Dutchman then went away, and through a small window I saw him mount a
+horse and ride away with a number of dogs.  The Portuguese then began to
+threaten, and next to batter at the door.  Then he promised me in his
+generosity much wealth if I would tell him where you were going, and
+whether it was to find a hidden treasure."
+
+"The little yellow brute!" growled Webster.
+
+"How terrified you must have been!"
+
+"On the contrary, I was quite cool, and when the door showed signs of
+giving way I opened it and asked him to enter.  He did, with a sudden
+change to humility, and as he stepped in with his hat in his hand, I--
+well--I am afraid I knocked him down with a heavy stick."
+
+"Bravo!" said Webster, laughing, while Hume flashed a swift look at her
+and saw how rigid were the muscles about her mouth.
+
+"I would have escaped then, but on reaching the door I saw there were
+some black men seated about a fire.  Returning to the room, I bound the
+man up with some ropes that were in the room, and waited.  At night the
+Dutchman returned and knocked at the door.  I said it was all right,
+whereupon--whereupon he laughed.  After a time he slept, but the black
+men sat round the fire till the grey of dawn.  Then I stole out, saddled
+one of the horses, and was silently moving off when one of the dogs
+barked; the natives shouted, and I was seized with a mortal terror and
+fled, and my guardian saint led me to you.  That is all."
+
+The two friends looked at her for some moments in silence, and they
+recalled the figure of a girl standing on the bridge in the driving
+spume, unmoved by the shrieking of shells overhead.
+
+They then told her how they had passed the time, and when they had
+finished, the waggon was inspanned and the journey resumed.  As the oxen
+had well rested, they made this time a long "skoff," trekking till
+sundown, when the waggon was drawn up under a wild fig-tree, whose vast
+branches afforded plenty of shade.  Klaas hunted about for some leaves,
+which he brought to Miss Anstrade to place on her hands.  A fire was
+built, the violin was brought out, and the men sat dreamily as the music
+floated on the soft air.
+
+The next morning Miss Anstrade stepped from the waggon, holding in her
+hand a small sporting Martini.
+
+"I wish to learn how to shoot," she said gravely.
+
+"Good!" said Hume.  "It will be as well."
+
+He showed her the action, and made her snap it from the shoulder.  Then
+she inserted a cartridge.
+
+"Press the butt tightly to the shoulder, bring the left elbow well down,
+and press with your thumb as you pull the trigger."
+
+She fired, and then practised at a mark.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+A MYSTERIOUS CRY.
+
+For the next fortnight they struggled with the difficulties of the road,
+and Hume had to call to his aid all his resources in navigating his ship
+of the desert over boulder-strewn streams, up almost impracticable
+heights, and down dangerous slopes, wherever the road zig-zagged above
+yawning precipices.  His bared arms grew black under the sun, and by the
+time the Limpopo was reached he resembled in appearance one of the
+scattered Boer farmers whom they occasionally surprised in their
+journey--a man tanned to the colour of his own well-worn corduroys, with
+a face lined by the drying of the skin, the eyes narrowed through the
+constant effort to shut out the over-powerful light, and hands bruised,
+knotted and grimed.  In this toilsome trek Webster had to squire Miss
+Anstrade, and since she dreaded the sight of the oxen straining under
+the yoke, and would get away from the sharp crack of the long whip, he
+was thrown much into her company as they walked on ahead for the next
+outspan.  In the loneliness of the slow marches Hume soured rather, and
+in the evening by the fire it was some time before his silent fit would
+thaw to the needs of companionship, and the others, having exhausted
+every topic during the day's _tete-a-tete_, made little effort to dispel
+the gloom.  In the veld there are few topics that can outlast a week,
+and then there is little to fall back upon but the eternal subject of
+religion, or the ways of nature.  Wherever nature is uninteresting and
+the population is scattered, the mind of man fastens like a limpet on
+the rock of some verity of the Scriptures, or to the decaying trunk of
+superstition, and holds on to the end.  The Boers in the Transvaal have
+quarrelled among themselves over their belief, and President Kruger has
+taken up his rifle in defence of a verse in the Psalms.  Our friends had
+played about on the outskirts of religious controversy about the camp
+fire; but the men had been firmly checked by Miss Anstrade, who
+possessed a woman's unquestioning faith, and latterly they had become
+abstracted and dull, while Klaas, the Gaika, crooned to himself the
+legends that hung about the dark kloofs of his own far-distant Amatolas.
+
+"Thank God!" said Hume, as he threw down his whip on the far side of the
+great river, "we have at last got out of the Transvaal."
+
+"It seemed to me," said Miss Anstrade, "that we were going on for ever
+until the waggon fell to pieces, and we grew too old to see.  I have
+never been so dull in all my life, and am convinced there is a growth of
+fungus on my brain."
+
+"And I," said Webster, looking at his travel-stained clothes, "feel that
+I am turning into a second Rip Van Winkle."
+
+"We are like a party of disreputable gipsies," said Miss Anstrade, with
+a look at Hume, whose boots were torn, and whose outward appearance was
+scarcely an improvement on the many-patched garments of Klaas.  "Let us
+get into a new outfit, and do you men act the barber to each other."
+
+"Before recovering our respectability," said Hume, "we must overhaul the
+waggon, grease the axles, repack, mend, and patch up."
+
+They made a stay there, and the next evening, after several hours of
+hard work, the camp presented a trim appearance, and the three sat down,
+quite smartened up, and in good spirits once again, to dine off wild
+ducks and sand grouse.  The map of Old Hume the Hunter was brought out
+and studied now on the very ground over which he had passed on his
+adventurous journey, and they found themselves, in their growing
+excitement, looking away to the south-east, to where the shadowy
+outlines of lofty mountains showed dark against the sky.  Somewhere
+within that rugged casket lay the treasure that throughout the centuries
+had remained for them alone, and the flickering light shining upon their
+faces showed the flush in their cheeks as the thoughts of what its
+possession would mean flamed in their brains; revealed also the stern
+look shot from one man at the other, at the second thought that, bound
+up with that treasure of gold, was that other treasure of a beautiful
+woman.
+
+"Beyond that mountain," she said dreamily, in her rich voice, "lies
+Europe, ambition, power, pleasure, love.  I wonder which of these you
+will follow when the mountains have given up their secret."
+
+"Give me a house by the sea," said Webster, "and a wife I love, and who
+loves me."
+
+"And the sound of the sea would stir the sailor in you, and one day your
+wife would be looking at a white speck in the horizon, and you would be
+walking the bridge again."
+
+"And she would not grudge me that if she loved me," he said quietly.
+
+Hume cast a swift look at Webster, whose face had turned white, and he
+had reached out his hand, for to both of them there came, at that
+moment, the thought of Captain Pardoe and his betrothed.
+
+"What is it?" she asked, noting the action.
+
+Hume looked at Webster, and then told the story of the lovers who had
+waited so long.
+
+"But how," she said, in low tones, "did you know each other's thoughts?"
+
+The two looked at each other.
+
+"We also are waiting," said Hume, with a sad smile; but from that moment
+the shadow of distrust that was coming between them melted before the
+sympathy revealed by that one chance word.
+
+They talked then, as they had often done before, of Captain Pardoe and
+the gallant men who went down on the _Swift_, and planned how they would
+help the widows and children out of the Golden Rock.  And as they talked
+there came through the darkness a startling cry as of a human soul in
+agony--so wild, so sudden, that they leant towards each other, and Klaas
+bolted under the waggon with a cry of "Amapakati!"--"Wizard!"
+
+Again it was repeated, a long quivering cry.
+
+Hume took his rifle from where it stood against the waggon, and, bidding
+Webster stay, slipped into the darkness.  The minutes passed by slowly
+to those two, standing with bated breath, listening for any cry or token
+that would break the spell.  Ten minutes, twenty minutes, half an hour,
+went wearily by, and still there was no sign; then Webster shouted, but
+without response, then fired his rifle.
+
+"I must go after him," he said.
+
+"And I will go, too.  We should not have let him face that terrible
+darkness alone."
+
+"I will go alone."
+
+"No, no, I cannot stay behind.  Let me get the lantern," she said
+feverishly, and quickly unhitched the lantern from its hook under the
+canvas "scherm," at the same time picking up her rifle.
+
+"This way," said Webster, and they descended rapidly the slope leading
+to the river, from which there came a rippling noise strangely
+mysterious in the dark.  The shaft of light swept around from left to
+right over rocks and ant-hills, and nodding bushes, and at every dark
+object they strained their eyes.  Then there came a sound that chilled
+their blood: the noise of a body falling in the water, followed by a
+deep groan.
+
+"Frank," she cried; "Frank, where are you?"
+
+The reply was unexpected and startling.
+
+"He is dead," said a voice, hollow and unnatural; "and so will perish
+all who try to find his secret."
+
+Miss Anstrade shuddered with horror, and clutched Webster by the arm.
+
+"What is it?" she asked, in a thrilling tone.
+
+With an answering shudder, Webster threw up his gun and fired in the
+direction of the voice.  After the brilliant flash, the darkness closed
+in blacker than before, and when the echoes of the report had rolled
+away in the sullen mutterings down the valley the silence was the
+deeper.  They waited long, then went on quickly to the river, where they
+stood above the rushes, looking at the gleam upon the dark water, and
+listening with pale faces and beating hearts to faint whisperings and
+gurgling noises.  Webster put his hand to his mouth and called, but his
+voice broke in a hoarse whisper, and he called again.  There was no
+answer but the wail of a jackal, and after that the far-off booming of a
+lion's roar.
+
+"It is horrible," she whispered, looking round over her shoulder, and
+pressing closer.
+
+"Let me take you back."
+
+"No, this way; let us go along the river."
+
+Again there came a splash from the river, and then, within the shaft of
+light flashing on the water, there glowed two glittering green specks.
+
+"Look!" she said, with a gasp.
+
+"Hold the lantern," he said quickly.  The rifle rang out, and then the
+water was lashed into foam, and a dark body showed for a moment in the
+light.
+
+"A crocodile," he said, with a nervous laugh.
+
+"A crocodile!  Can it--oh, merciful heavens--do you remember when we saw
+the _Irene_--the shark?"
+
+"Don't," he said, laying his hand on her shoulder.
+
+A deep sigh came to their straining ears, followed by a confused noise.
+
+"Oh," she cried, "if I could only see what forms there are about I would
+not be afraid."
+
+"I think that noise is from the oxen," he said.
+
+"Baas," came a warning shout, "pass op de leeuw!"
+
+"That is Klaas--what does he cry?  The leeuw--the lion--is it not?  Ah,
+that is better.  Give me the lantern again."
+
+She took the lantern, while Webster, with his rifle ready, kept by her
+shoulder, and they slowly advanced, following the shaft of light for the
+reflection of the lion's eyes.  Presently an ox moaned, there was a
+sound of horns clashing as the oxen bunched together, then the ground
+trembled to the roar of a lion, followed by the wild rush and crashing
+of branches.  When they reached the waggon there was not an ox
+remaining.  The Gaika, who loved his cattle, was raging about with a
+lighted brand in one hand and an assegai in the other, hurling insults
+at the lion.
+
+"Mij ossa," he said; "mij mooi swaart-bonte; oh! verdomde leeuw!"
+
+"Where is the baas?" asked Webster, at his wits' end.
+
+"The baas is dead," cried the Gaika; "mij ossa es dood, und ek is dood."
+
+Webster took the Kaffir by the arm and shook him.  "Stop this noise and
+build up the fire."
+
+Klaas obeyed, piling dead brushwood on the coals till the flames mounted
+up, and shone on the white canvas and on the pale faces of Miss Anstrade
+and Webster, who stood looking out into the darkness for their missing
+friend.  From far there sounded the wild bellow of an ox, followed
+presently by the complaining, wailing cry of a jackal and the devilish
+laugh of a hyaena.
+
+"The lion eats," muttered the Kaffir.
+
+They longed for the light of day to reveal the dark mystery that hedged
+them in, and, above all, the meaning of that voice and its warning.
+
+"Klaas, did you hear someone calling before I fired the first time?"
+
+"Neh, sieur, I heard the lady call, and then the voice of the jackal,
+who led the lion here."
+
+"Can we have been mistaken?" she whispered; "and yet I heard it plainly:
+`He is dead, and so will perish all who seek his secret.'"
+
+"He cannot be dead," said Webster fiercely; "I will search again."
+
+This time Miss Anstrade remained by the fire, her rifle across her
+knees, and her eyes following the Will-o'-the-Wisp-like flashings of the
+lantern, while out of the blackness there rang the voice of Webster
+calling for his friend, a mournful cry that drew no response but the
+murmur of the river, and the still more plaintive call of a plover
+overhead.  And sitting by the fire, with the light shining in her eyes,
+and her face resting on her hands, she still heard the voice calling out
+that Hume was dead, and she was sitting so when, after a long search,
+Webster came wearily and hopelessly back.
+
+Before the morning, completely worn out, they dozed at their posts, and
+when there was light enough to show the ground the Gaika slipped away
+like a shadow towards the river, quartering the ground as he went, with
+his body bent, and his thin wide nostrils quivering.  Reaching the
+river, he dwelt awhile over the spoor made by Webster, picking up an
+empty cartridge, then went up to the right, and presently, with a
+startled look, darted forward to where there projected the butt of a
+rifle from the rushes.  It was Hume's, and as he lifted it his quick
+glances roamed over the ground, noting the bruised grass, and then with
+a "Yoh" he jumped back, for a man stood beneath a tree looking at him
+with feverish eyes.
+
+"Yinny," said Klaas, fingering his assegai, and stooping his head to get
+a clearer view of the figure which was in the shade, then he rushed to
+the tree with a cry, "Baas, baas!"
+
+It was indeed Frank Hume, gagged and fast bound to a mimosa-tree.
+
+As the sun streamed over the valley the two sleepers by the dying fire
+awakened, and their haggard faces told how real had been the nightmare
+of the long night.  The morning mist lay in a thick blanket over the
+river, and they shuddered to think what tragedy lay concealed under that
+winding-sheet, then started up to the sound of muffled voices, and the
+next minute advanced to meet two forms that loomed up vast.
+
+"Halloa!" came a hail in a well-known voice.
+
+"Thank God!" cried Webster, springing forward; but Miss Anstrade stood
+with her hand to her heart, looking wildly at this apparition.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+THE UNKNOWN.
+
+"Thank Heaven you are alive!" cried Miss Anstrade, taking his hand in
+both of hers, and looking with tear-dimmed eyes into his face.  "It
+seemed I was not free here from the curse that falls on those who are
+dear to me."
+
+She drew him to a seat, still holding his hand, and Webster, busily
+engaged in making hot coffee, stopped at times to place his hand
+affectionately on Frank's shoulder.
+
+"And where have you been all this fearful night?"
+
+"Tied to a tree.  Three times the light from your lantern fell upon me,
+and twice a hyaena came and stared at me.  Ugh, the brute!"
+
+"Tied to a tree?  How did it happen, and that voice, did you hear it
+calling?"
+
+Frank shuddered slightly.
+
+"I heard it," he said, "and I would have thought it supernatural, so
+like my uncle's voice it was, had it been possible for a spirit to knock
+me down and bind me."
+
+"Strange," she murmured.  "I also thought it was your uncle calling,
+though I had never seen or heard him."
+
+"It struck me to the marrow," said Webster, "and I fired at the sound
+out of sheer terror."
+
+They all sat silent for some time pondering over the mystery.
+
+"It is beyond me," said Hume wearily.  "When I left you last night I
+expected to find some black, perhaps a woman, from the terror in the
+sound of her cry, fallen into the river, or caught by a crocodile, and I
+ran down to the bank, making noise enough to inform anyone of my
+whereabouts.  On reaching the river I stood still, and without the
+slightest warning was felled to the ground.  On recovering consciousness
+I found myself bound to a tree and gagged.  It all happened within the
+space of ten minutes after leaving the waggon."
+
+"The cry was a decoy, then?"
+
+"It must have been."
+
+"You saw no one?"
+
+"No, nor heard the step of my assailant, though at the time I was
+listening intently."
+
+"His feet must have been naked, then?"
+
+"Not necessarily, for he may have worn veldschoens, which give no sound.
+I examined the ground with Klaas before coming up, and we could see no
+spoor beyond that made by our party."
+
+"What possible object could he have had," mused Webster, "since it was
+not your death he sought?  Do you think he mistook you for someone
+else?"
+
+"Impossible!  Whoever did it must have watched us, and he could only
+have mistaken me for you.  No one has a grudge against you."
+
+"I see it!" cried Miss Anstrade, who had been looking with knitted brows
+into the fire.  "Just before dusk we were talking of the Golden Rock.
+It was possible for an enemy to creep up undetected and to listen to our
+talk."
+
+"Yes," said Hume, and he felt for the pocket-book that contained the
+map.
+
+"That is it," she cried; "they have taken your secret."
+
+Frank opened the book with trembling fingers, while the others gazed
+anxiously, leaning forward.
+
+"It is gone," he said, starting up.
+
+While they looked at each other, with pale faces, Klaas came up.
+
+"Baas," he said in a low voice.  "Baas," he repeated.
+
+"Well?" said Hume sharply.
+
+"De ossa is gone."
+
+"What!" shouted Hume, glad for some excuse to give vent to the anger and
+bitter disappointment that filled him.
+
+"They were stampeded by lions," said Webster.
+
+"Didn't I tell you to have them properly tied?"
+
+"Yoh, my baas!  But the rheims; someone cut them in the night.  Come,
+see!"
+
+"Good heavens!  Can this be true?"
+
+They ran to the trek-tow, and there saw that the tough rheims which
+secured each ox to the chain had been severed by a sharp instrument.
+
+Hume laughed bitterly.
+
+"Upon my soul," he said, "you must think me a nice leader."
+
+"We can walk," said Miss Anstrade, looking to the distant mountains.
+
+"We could make a raft from the waggon timber, and float down the river,"
+said Webster.
+
+"It is not the loss of the oxen I fear.  We will recover enough of them
+to continue; it is the ease with which these unknown enemies have
+succeeded in their plans that troubles me.  Now that I have lost the map
+I believe there does exist a Golden Rock, and their cunning and superior
+woodcraft will enable them to win it."
+
+"Nonsense," she said; "they succeeded because we were off our guard.
+Now we know what we have to expect, we will oppose our wits to their
+cunning."
+
+"It is too late--they have the map--and will have a long start."
+
+"There was nothing in the map," said Webster, "that I could not describe
+with a stick on this patch of sand."
+
+"Besides," she said, with spirit, "do you suppose I am going to give up
+the search after coming all this way?"
+
+"You are right," replied Hume; "but it does not improve one's spirit to
+be fast bound to a tree all night with a handkerchief in your mouth.
+Map or no map, we must find the Golden Rock."
+
+"That is better," she said, with a smile.  "Now, then, let us do
+something."
+
+Klaas set the example by starting off on the spoor of the oxen, armed
+with assegai and kerrie.  Miss Anstrade sat down to draw, from memory, a
+facsimile of the lost map; Hume walked on to a small kopje to plan out
+the route, for there was no trace of road here; while Webster went down
+to the river to see whether he could decipher any explanation of the
+night's mystery on its broad and shining surface.  Long he listened to
+the murmur and ripple of the shallow river against huge round and jagged
+boulders strewn across its bed, and gazed into the dark beds of shade
+cast by the wild palmiet, but nowhere was there any trace of human
+life--not so much even as a piece of driftwood fashioned by man, or a
+broken beer-bottle, sign throughout the world of the passage of roaming
+Englishmen.  Overhead passed a flight of cranes, their long legs
+trailing behind like rudders to steer them in their heavy flight, and
+from their long bills emitting, at intervals, the harsh cry with
+Nature's melancholy note, while flocks of "sprews," the white-bellied
+African starlings, flew, with noisy clatter, from side to side, and grey
+monkeys, their black faces rimmed in white, grimaced from waving
+branches.  As he went down the bank, in and out among the thick bushes
+and clinging thorns, he started a troop of wild buffalo, which crashed
+off with many an angry snort, and a minute later was brought to a sudden
+stand by a moaning sound of no great volume, but conveying an undoubted
+warning.  It proceeded from a cluster of rushes, and he moved his head
+from side to side in an endeavour to see what caused it, succeeding
+presently in detecting a slight movement made apparently by a small
+creature like a rat.  Smiling at his doubts, he stepped forward, when
+once again the moaning was repeated, and he stooped down to peer more
+narrowly into the thicket.  Then he saw that the small object was the
+tuft of a tail, and following the direction, he made the indistinct
+outline of a large animal crouching flat, and then, with a start, he met
+the full, fierce gaze of the yellow eyes.  Cautiously he stepped back
+foot by foot until he reached the shelter of a tree, when the rushes
+shook, and out sprung a full-grown lion, which, after one look at him,
+trotted off after the buffalo which he had evidently been stalking.
+
+"Phew!" said Webster, his heart thumping, "I suppose Frank would have
+shot the beggar, but hang me if I wasn't pleased to see him cut."
+
+He waited for some time till his heart beat more regularly, then
+advanced with greater caution, examining each cluster of rushes and dark
+patch of bushes very carefully before passing.  Half a mile further on
+the river took a bend and swept against a rampart of huge rocks flanked
+by a krantz, the home of a pair of white-headed eagles, whose harsh
+screams wakened weird echoes.  Attracted to the wild spot, Webster
+stepped on one of the rocks, which jutted into the swirling water, to
+examine the krantz, and, noticing that caverns had been worn into the
+base by the water, he sprang from rock to rock till his way was barred
+by a smooth wall of slaty rock, which rose considerably above his head.
+Slinging his rifle over his back, he made use of his seamanship and
+quickly scaled the slope, slipped down on the other side, manoeuvred a
+narrow ledge, and stood in the first of a row of caves.  There was
+nothing in this but a half-eaten fish, left evidently, from the signs,
+by an otter, but on rounding a slippery corner he entered a roomier
+cave.  To his intense surprise, he saw that it had been occupied, and
+that recently.  The walls and roof were blackened with smoke; on the
+smooth floor was a pile of ash, with the burnt ends of driftwood around,
+and on a ledge at the back was a mass of dried grass which had evidently
+served as a couch.  He disturbed this with his gun, and dislodged a skin
+bag made of the entire skin of a monkey, the neck serving as an opening.
+Stepping to the mouth of the cave, he emptied its contents.  These
+consisted of a copper cylinder, such as Kaffirs use to keep their
+"passes" clean, a necklet of crocodile teeth, a bracelet of solid ivory,
+stained with tobacco, and a lump of quartz, rounded at the edges from
+much friction.  There was nothing in the cylinder, and Webster after a
+curious inspection of the quartz, which was heavy as lead almost,
+replaced the articles, and returned the bag to the ledge.  He entered
+two other caves without finding anything fresh, and returned to the
+waggon, where he reported his discovery.
+
+"You saw nothing to indicate whether the occupant was a European?" asked
+Hume.
+
+"No; and I took it for granted he must be a black."
+
+"Natives don't, as a rule, lead solitary lives, and still less could one
+of them dwell in loneliness by the side of a river, though the place may
+be the secret retreat of a witch-doctor."
+
+"Perhaps," suggested Miss Anstrade, "the unknown visitor of last night
+and this hermit may be one and the same."
+
+"Well," said Hume, "it is worth looking into; but in the absence of
+Klaas it would not be wise to leave the waggon."
+
+"I'll run down and get the bag," said Webster; "for there is nothing
+else in the cave from which you could draw conclusions."
+
+He started off, and in half an hour returned with the bag.
+
+"This is Kaffir work, certainly," said Hume; "but," putting it to his
+nose, "it has not the native flavour, strong and pungent.  This string
+of teeth threaded on a gut is native, and so is this bracelet.  Humph!
+Quartz.  What a weight!"  He opened his knife and scraped the surface.
+"Why, look here; it is half gold."
+
+A streak of shining yellow showed on one side, between two white veins
+of crystal.
+
+"It's as rich as that piece which my uncle broke from the Golden Rock.
+I wonder where he found it?"
+
+"There's something more in the bag," said Miss Anstrade.
+
+"It's the empty cylinder," said Webster.
+
+She slipped her hand in, drew out the little tube and opened it, at the
+same time uttering a cry of surprise.
+
+"Look here!" she said, drawing out a roll of paper.
+
+"I swear," said Webster, with excitement, "it was empty when I found it,
+for I placed my finger in."
+
+She flattened the paper out, and looked at them with eyes wide-opened,
+and a flush on her cheek.
+
+There, in her hand, lay the missing copy of the map!
+
+Each in turn took it, turned it over and over with a blank look.
+
+"Well, I'm hanged," muttered Webster, under his breath.  "That fellow
+must have placed that paper in the tube after I left the cave, and
+probably watched me the whole time, yet I never caught a glimpse of
+him."
+
+"He is some half-witted native," said Hume, after a long pause.
+
+"You forget the cry, after your disappearance.  That was the voice of a
+white man who knew you or your uncle, and had learnt the object of our
+journey."
+
+"True, I had forgotten that.  Still, one of my uncle's men, escaping
+from the attack made upon his camp, may have taken up his home in the
+cave, and have lost his mind in the solitude.  Such a man might have
+learnt about the Golden Rock, and he would have picked up a few words of
+English."
+
+They now heard the lowing of oxen, and presently Klaas appeared with the
+runaways.  Hume quickly counted fifteen.
+
+"Well, Klaas, did you search far?"
+
+The Gaika stretched his naked arm out and swept it round.  "They stood
+all about, some in one place, some in others, but I whistled to them,
+and they were joyful to see a man.  Three I could not find, but the body
+of one."
+
+"You have done well, Klaas.  What are these things?" and Hume handed
+over the bag and contents.
+
+"Yoh!  Kaffir man made these, but a white man uses them."
+
+"A white man?"
+
+"Yah, sieur, it is so.  It smell white man."
+
+The three looked at each other with uplifted eyebrows, while Klaas
+turned the necklet over in his hand.
+
+"That settles it," said Hume.  "Let us search for the stranger.  But, as
+he may be on the look-out, I will make a circuit to the top of the
+krantz, while you go towards the base, and leave the bag on some rock
+that can be seen from above."
+
+This was done.  Webster placed the bag on a rock well out in the river,
+and then retired towards the camp, while Hume watched behind an aloe.
+For an hour he waited without seeing aught, then descended to the
+bottom, and himself examined the cave, without, however, finding any
+fresh evidence.  He then returned to the camp.
+
+"It is no use," he said; "we should be wasting valuable time in
+searching for this mysterious being.  If he had some design in taking
+that map we should be serving his purpose by lingering here.  Inspan,
+Klaas."
+
+The oxen were yoked, and the waggon moved on slowly, Hume going ahead to
+mark out the road, and Webster, taking the "trek-tow," or looped rheim
+to guide the leaders.
+
+Before dusk they outspanned on a grassy knoll, and set to work at once
+with axes to build a fence round.  The oxen were driven to the water,
+allowed to graze a short time, then driven into the enclosure and tied
+up.  Fuel was stacked up in preparation for fires, supper was made and
+eaten, and then they sat talking about the man of the krantz until the
+clamorous howling of jackals warned them to be on watch.  Miss Anstrade
+retired to the waggon, the sail was drawn down and two huge fires lit,
+one on either side of the oxen.  Hume crept under, the waggon, and was
+soon in a deep sleep, while Webster and Klaas, on either side the
+waggon, kept watch.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+A STARTLING VISIT.
+
+To Webster there was nothing unfamiliar in the lonely watches of the
+night, and the first long silent stretch recalled to him many a fleeting
+memory of hours spent upon the bridge amid the dark waters, when the
+mystery of night would close down upon the ship, bringing with it all
+manner of fancies and haunting superstitions.  There was here, in this
+unpeopled land, the same brooding stillness, the same murmur in the air;
+and the deep darkness, too, was instinct and alive with the same sense
+of things unreal.  It seemed as though, beyond the flickering circle of
+ruddy light cast by the crackling fires, there were forms peering in,
+under cover of the shadows which concealed them, at those within the
+light, and now and again he would strain his eyes and finger the rifle
+that rested across his knees.
+
+The minutes slipped by quietly, with an occasional sigh from a contented
+ox; then the long, wailing cry of a jackal rose and fell, to be
+followed, as though it were a signal, by the deep, hollow growl of a
+lion.  The oxen stirred uneasily, and Klaas came softly up with his red
+blanket wrapped about him.
+
+"Seen anything, Klaas?"
+
+"Nix, sieur; but I hear de leeuw."
+
+"Will he jump the fence?"
+
+"Ek dink so.  The wind blows across, and he will come from that side."
+
+"We will hear him when he springs?"
+
+"Neh, baas, he will come over where it is dark, and lie still against
+the ground, so that we could walk up to him without seeing, though he
+sees us."
+
+Webster picked up a bull's-eye lantern, pushed back the slide, and shot
+a vivid fan-like shaft into the gloom.
+
+"Come, then, you hold this, and I will shoot."
+
+They piled fresh wood on the fires, then mounted to the waggon-box, and
+tried the range of the light over the oxen.  At the radiance they turned
+their heads, and their large eyes shone reflected.  Webster pushed back
+the slide, and they sat waiting--the one with his finger on the trigger
+of his Express, and the other with the lantern, which sent up a steaming
+vapour into his face, and a faint reflection shining upon his gleaming
+eyes.
+
+Presently, just beyond the fence on the right, there broke out a booming
+roar that made the air vibrate, and brought the oxen to their feet.  It
+died away in a hollow growl, and was repeated again and again from
+different quarters.  The oxen bunched together, and Miss Anstrade
+knocked against the tent, while Hume called out from his lair beneath
+the waggon.
+
+"It's all right," said Webster, "the fires are burning, and we are
+prepared."
+
+Hume crept out, and finding that the back of the waggon was unprotected,
+he hung a lantern there, and then went back to his couch, with the
+muzzle of his rifle pointing into the light thus thrown.
+
+Klaas called out to his oxen by name to soothe them, and at the sound of
+his voice the two great red-and-white wheelers laid down with a grunt.
+
+For a time there was a spell of stillness, more disquieting than the
+terrific chorus that had awakened far-off echoes from every roving troop
+of jackals.
+
+"De leeuw talk now," whispered Klaas.
+
+"Talk--what about?"
+
+"They tell what they do.  The young ones wait over there and shout; the
+old man creep round on this side, say nothing, and jump over."
+
+"And you think they are settling that plan now?"
+
+"Yoh, sieur; they make plan, bymby begin work.  See, there!"
+
+A second burst of roaring made the ground tremble, and the movement and
+the vibration in the air seemed to communicate more quickly the terror
+in the sound.  It swelled and fell, and rose again, and at each pause
+the after-growl came in more threatening and ferocious.
+
+"There, baas," said the Gaika, in a thrilling whisper, dropping his long
+hand in a fierce grasp on Webster's arm.
+
+"What?" asked Webster, raising his rifle, and looking eagerly to the
+left.
+
+"He jumped just now.  Is the baas ready?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+The slide was opened, and the brilliant light, released, shot out into
+the darkness beyond the fires, and, under the steady hand of the Gaika,
+swept along the fence, throwing out the white scars on the broken
+branches.  It crept back again, and the two men, with eager eyes and
+every nerve alert, followed the beam for sign of the fierce visitor.
+Three times the light swept over the ground, and Webster levelled his
+rifle; but just then the lamp was held still and the Kaffir made a
+slight noise, while his breathing became quicker.
+
+Webster followed the light in vain.
+
+"What is it?" he whispered.
+
+"Skit, baas, skit!" said the Kaffir.
+
+"I can see nothing."
+
+"There, there, sieur!" pointing with his assegai.
+
+Suddenly out of the path of the light, near the ground, and apparently
+detached from any object, glared two balls of yellow fire, and at the
+same time came a low growl.
+
+Guided now by these two luminous orbs, Webster saw a faint outline on
+the yellow ground.
+
+The Kaffir clicked with his tongue impatiently.
+
+Webster sighted between the eyes and fired.
+
+Upon the report there followed a savage roar, and the next moment the
+waggon shook to the thud of some great body hurled against it.
+
+There was a shriek from the waggon, then a muffled report.
+
+"What is it?" shouted Hume, as he crept out from under the waggon.  He
+caught the lantern and rushed round, just as Webster had slipped another
+cartridge into his rifle.  The uproar was terrific.  The oxen bellowed
+as they strained at their rheims, the lions beyond the fence roared, and
+from beside the waggon there rose a series of blood-curdling growls and
+coughs.  Both guns flashed out together and the assailant laid stretched
+out.  It was a huge yellow-maned lion, still gasping.  The Kaffir drove
+his assegai into the heaving body, and then both Hume and Webster rushed
+to the waggon.
+
+"Are you all right?" they cried.
+
+She drew the canvas flap on one side and looked out, with her hair
+falling forward in heavy coils.
+
+"What was it?" she asked.
+
+"A wounded lion sprang upon the waggon tent."
+
+"Is anyone hurt?"
+
+"No; but the lion is dead."
+
+"I thought something dreadful had happened, and fired as much from
+terror as anything."
+
+Hume rolled the great body over and examined it.
+
+"Your bullet went home, at any rate, Miss Laura, and you have killed
+your first lion."
+
+"Let me see."  She drew her wraps about her, and was about to descend,
+when, with a shudder and a nervous laugh, she crept back, dismayed by
+the darkness.
+
+The three men now walked round the enclosure, fired a couple of chance
+shots, restarted the fires, and returned to their posts.  The uproar had
+subsided, and was succeeded by another spell of oppressive silence,
+broken at lessening intervals by a vague sound, which grew in volume,
+but not in distinctness, and before which the other sounds did not
+revive.  As it grew louder it took on a rhythmical beat not unpleasant.
+
+"It sounds like a human voice," said Webster.
+
+"Yes, it is a black man chanting, eh, Klaas?"
+
+"Eweh, inkose, he sings as he walks;" and so speaking, the Kaffir
+stretched himself by the fire and drew his blanket over his head.
+
+"He evidently fears no danger," remarked Webster.
+
+"I don't know," said Hume, and stirred the Gaika; "what manner of man
+can this be who walks abroad in the night, making sign of his presence
+to the lions?"
+
+"It is the wizard," replied the Gaika solemnly, "and it is not well to
+look on him.  Even the beasts quit his path;" and once again he pulled
+the blanket over his head.
+
+The man approached rapidly, and now the deep chest notes rolling forth
+in a rough melody took shape from the mighty volume of sound, and now he
+was at the fence; and now, with a cry of "Layate," he leaped the
+thorns--a wonderful bound--and still chanting, he came up to the waggon,
+paused a moment at the body of the lion, then stepped to the fire, and
+stood there with the glow upon his tall form and in his smouldering
+eyes.  A black man he was, of gigantic mould, with a tiger skin knotted
+by the fore-paws round his neck, and with a mass of bone necklets that
+clattered at every movement.  On his forehead was a large ball of hair,
+behind which rose two eagle's feathers, and he carried a bundle of
+sticks and assegais, while from his shoulder hung a large skin bag.
+
+"Who are you, and what is your business?" asked Hume, after looking
+intently at the stranger.
+
+The man shook his head, and his wild, roving eyes, shifting uneasily
+like those of an animal, glanced from object to object, dwelling at last
+upon the rolled-up figure of Klaas.  Him, presently, he prodded with the
+butt of an assegai, and grinned till his white teeth gleamed.
+
+"Stand up, Klaas," said Hume sternly, and the Gaika, with a sullen look,
+rose, and gradually raised his eyes from the feet to the dreaded face.
+Then, like two fierce and strange dogs meeting, they stood fronting each
+other--the one with a commanding look, the other with lowering frown and
+quivering nostrils.
+
+The stranger spoke, but the Gaika shook his head in turn.
+
+"What does he say?" asked Hume.
+
+"He speaks strangely, sieur."
+
+"Is he a witch-doctor?"
+
+"He is not of my people, nor of the Zulus, and his toes turn out."
+
+"I wonder if this is our hermit?" said Webster.
+
+"Ay, the same thought occurred to me; and the man who could leap over
+that fence as he did could have no difficulty in knocking me down."
+
+While they were talking the stranger looked at them furtively.
+
+Hume cut a piece off a twist of Boer tobacco, and handed it to the man,
+who took it with a gleam of satisfaction, cut a fragment off with his
+assegai and put it into his mouth.  The Gaika stalked away and crept
+under the waggon, the stranger stopping his jaws to watch him, until he
+heard the sigh of a man who lies down to sleep, when he appeared more at
+ease.  Presently he squatted by the fire, spreading his hands before
+him, and, in a guttural voice, said, "Brandy."
+
+"His vocabulary may be limited," said Webster dryly; "but it is useful,"
+and he went to the waggon-box for the stone demijohn in which they
+carried the Dop brandy.
+
+Hume had his eye on the man and saw him shift an assegai to his right
+hand, whereupon he pulled back the hammer of his rifle with a click that
+drew a swift, furtive glance upon him.
+
+The brandy was poured out and drunk with a resounding smack, and in
+jubilation he shouted out, after the Kaffir fashion, a few words of
+praise, and at the noise the oxen stirred.
+
+"Yoh!" came a sharp exclamation.
+
+"Is that you, Klaas?"
+
+"The bush, sieur--the bush; it moves!"
+
+"What the devil--Look after that fellow, Jim, while I see into this,"
+and Hume bolted round the waggon.
+
+"Well, Klaas?"
+
+The Gaika was not there, but Hume heard him talking to the oxen, and ran
+forward.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Men come in to cut rheims again, and take away the bush fence."
+
+"Where are they?" said Hume, throwing up his rifle.
+
+"They run when they see me.  That man by the fire no good.  So I went by
+the waggon and watch--bymby, when he drink and cry out one word, he
+shout in Zulu, _baleka_ (quick).  So I leave the waggon."
+
+"Hold that fellow!" shouted Hume, but there came a stifled cry from
+Webster, and when he got round the man had gone, and Jim was rubbing his
+eyes.
+
+"Hang the swab," he said; "he threw a handful of dust in my eyes when I
+attempted to seize him, and bounded away.  What new devilment's afoot?"
+
+"That fellow was in league with someone, and another attempt has been
+made to stampede the oxen.  They beat us at every turn."
+
+"You are very noisy out there," said a voice from the waggon.
+
+"We have been entertaining a guest, and he has just left us," said Hume,
+with a wry face.
+
+"A guest in this place, and at such an hour!  You should have given me
+an opportunity of sharing the pleasure."
+
+"We did not wish to disturb you."
+
+A close inspection was made of the fence, and three large branches,
+which had been removed, were replaced.  Then the three men, each taking
+up a different post, kept watch again until the dawn.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+A DUEL.
+
+They agreed to keep back from Laura the alarming incident of the night,
+and when she stepped out in the morning, full of curiosity, they made
+light of their strange visitor, and drew her attention instead to the
+huge body of the old lion.  But though they would give her no cause for
+fresh anxiety, their minds were troubled and their glances continually
+roaming over the country for sign of the danger they were sure was
+preparing for them.
+
+"It is not right," said Hume, "that we should expose her to these
+terrors and risks."
+
+"True, my lad; and there is a look in her eyes already which I do not
+like."
+
+"What are you talking about so gloomily?" she asked.
+
+"The fact is," said Frank gravely, "we have made a mistake in bringing
+you into this wilderness, and we think we should take you back to
+Pretoria, or, at any rate, to some farm where you could stay safely
+while we returned from the search."
+
+"Then something did occur last night," she said, looking from one to the
+other.
+
+"The lion occurred," said Webster, with the ghost of a smile.
+
+"There is nothing very terrible in a dead lion.  You are keeping back
+something from me."
+
+"We are just entering upon the most dangerous part of our journey, and
+the risks we have encountered are nothing compared to those we must
+expect, but they have been bad enough to alarm us on your account.  We
+feel that we cannot expose you to the dangers and strain of constant
+alarms."
+
+"You should know by this time," she said slowly, "that I am prepared to
+encounter danger, and we have already discussed and faced this very
+matter when we reckoned up the difficulties and hardships of the
+enterprise.  I am resolved to continue unless my presence tires you."
+
+"Heaven forbid!" they muttered.
+
+"Then be satisfied," she said, with a sad smile; "you are relieved of
+the responsibility which you think due to me because I am a woman, for
+if I knew death were awaiting me over there among those grim mountains I
+would not draw back."
+
+They shuddered.
+
+"Come," she said, "I have put into words what was in your thoughts.
+Tell me now what happened last night, and let me judge whether the
+danger be the greater."
+
+So they told her.
+
+"Now, see, if you had not told me I should have magnified horrors out of
+the unknown; but now the incident sinks into the plot of a cunning
+native to steal our oxen.  These people can have no designs on your
+lives."
+
+They sat down to their little camp table, and then for an hour
+afterwards they cut bundles of long grass for their oxen that night, as
+Hume was determined to make long treks until they reached the vlei or
+lake.
+
+The oxen were then inspanned, and they started, Hume going on ahead,
+Miss Anstrade sitting in the back of the waggon with her little rifle,
+while Webster handled the long whip, and Klaas led the oxen.  They
+passed along a ridge, whose wooded slopes sank to the river, disturbing
+many troops of big game as the waggon creaked and rumbled slowly on
+between huge ant-hills, and in and out among aloes standing like
+sentinels.  At noon they reached the lip of the plateau, and below them
+stretched a wide plain, where gleamed a large sheet of water, with
+moving troops of game around.  Here they outspanned for the mid-day
+rest, and with the map before them traced the route taken by Old Hume,
+away to the right, across the river, through a wide belt of reeds, which
+shone in the sun like a white streak, then up the far-distant range of
+rugged mountains.
+
+"I feel within me the glow of the explorer who sees the mists veiling
+the bed of a mighty and unknown river," said Miss Anstrade, as she
+looked with kindling eyes over the low-lying country.  "But the way
+seems so easy that a horrible doubt arises.  Surely someone must have
+been before us."
+
+"What do you think, Webster?"
+
+"It seems to me to be plain sailing; but no doubt a nearer view would
+open up reefs and difficulties."
+
+"Yes, difficulties enough.  Now, see that belt of reeds looking like a
+ribbon for thickness: it must be three miles in width and saturated with
+water.  It will need a struggle to get through.  Then there is the
+mountain to climb, and a particular spot in it to find, and beyond that
+the dangers from those who are said to protect the Rock; but before we
+enter upon any of those tasks we have to reach that sheet of water,
+which must be some twenty miles off, and there we may be forced to
+abandon our waggon."
+
+"Why should we?--the country looks quiet enough."
+
+"Well, our party is too small to divide, and in anything we attempt we
+must keep together.  As for the country being quiet, I can see smoke
+rising from three different kraals, and depend upon it, as soon as the
+people see us they will swarm round, ready to beg, steal, or fight."
+
+The day was sultry, with a hot steam rising from the marshy lowlands,
+and they soon sought the welcome shade of the baobab, whose
+wide-spreading branches sent down roots to the ground.  The ground
+beneath, in a wide circle, had been trampled bare of grass by buffalo
+and wild beast, which had here resorted to rub their tough hides against
+the rough stems; there were the remains, too, of old fires, and on the
+parent trunk, high up, where the bark was smooth, the handiwork of some
+roving white man, who had deeply scored his initials.
+
+"It is quite a fresh scar," said Webster, noticing the marks.
+
+"By Jove, yes! and made within the day; for, see, here are parts of the
+old bark on the ground.  What is it?  D.H.--the initials of my uncle."
+
+"Baas," said Klaas warningly; "here come men."
+
+They started round, snatched up their rifles, and looked about to see a
+small body of natives hesitating whether to advance or not.
+
+"Advance," said Hume in Zulu.
+
+The leading man at once stepped forward, the others following, and in a
+few moments six stalwart natives, armed with assegais and shields, were
+looking curiously at the small party of whites.
+
+"Greeting, inkose," said the leader in deep tones, looking out of the
+corner of his eye at Miss Anstrade.
+
+"To you also," said Hume quietly.
+
+The men stood silent for a full minute; but their quick glances took in
+every detail, coming back always to the slender form of the white lady.
+
+"I come from the great chief, Gungunhama, the strong one," said the
+leader, "and demand a present from the stranger."
+
+"Demand?" said Hume.
+
+"Oh, ay, the country is his, the game in it, and the people.  Inkose
+must pay, or take the path he has travelled."
+
+"You have flown fast if you come from Gungunhama, for his kraal is six
+suns away."
+
+"My chief is not one who sends a word to each white man who enters his
+country.  He moves himself only when he wishes to strike, and his word
+is spoken to little people through his Indunas."
+
+"So," said Hume, swallowing his wrath, "I have a present for the chief;
+but I must know that the man I give it to is the one authorised to
+receive."
+
+"You are few, and one of you is a woman," said the Zulu, coolly taking a
+pinch of snuff.  "So I brought only these men.  If your present is large
+I can bring a regiment, that of Incornati, to-night, and my young men
+are quick to anger."
+
+This was a veiled threat that checked Hume, who had been disposed to
+carry matters with a high hand.
+
+"Sit!" he said, "and eat.  Klaas, give these men meat."
+
+Klaas did as he was ordered, and the Zulus eyed him disdainfully at
+first, then subjected him to a running fire of stinging criticism.
+Presently he answered back, and one of the younger men struck at his
+shins with a kerrie.
+
+The Gaika's blood was up, and flinging the venison down in the ashes, he
+ran for his sticks, while the young Zulu, with a jeering laugh, rose to
+his feet.
+
+"Drop those sticks, Klaas," shouted Hume angrily.
+
+Klaas hesitated, then sullenly replaced his kerries and turned away,
+whereat the Zulus laughed again.
+
+"It is not fitting that we should serve ourselves," said the Induna;
+"let this servant wait on us."
+
+Hume called to the Gaika to attend to the guests, but he clicked his
+tongue and would not move.
+
+"Come," said Miss Anstrade gently; "do as you are told, Klaas."
+
+Thereupon Klaas moved slowly to the fire, placed the kettle on to boil,
+and made coffee, while all the time a running fire of chaff was turned
+on him.
+
+"It seems they want to provoke him," muttered Webster, with an
+unfriendly glance at the arrogant natives.
+
+"Yes," said Hume, "and it is contrary to their custom, for Zulus are
+aristocrats."
+
+When the visitors had fed, Hume brought out from the waggon a roll of
+coloured print, a railway rug, and a few knives, which he laid on the
+ground.
+
+The Induna regarded them contemptuously, and, after a long argument,
+Hume added a couple of blankets and a roll of brass wire to the
+articles.  At a shout from the Induna, four other men appeared, gathered
+up the presents, and departed.  Then the Induna demanded something for
+himself, and receiving a quarter of what he asked, presently rose,
+whereupon the young Zulu, a tall and powerful savage, deliberately
+emptied the steaming contents of his pannikin over Klaas' bare feet.
+With a bound Klaas reached his sticks, and this time Hume did not
+interfere.
+
+"You will not let them fight," implored Miss Anstrade.
+
+"Yes," said Hume; "Klaas comes of a tribe who have no equals in the use
+of sticks, and he will teach this young brute a lesson.  Now," he
+continued, turning to the Induna, "you wish these men to fight.  Let
+them; but if one of you raises a hand to help I will shoot him."
+
+The Induna smiled contemptuously.
+
+"A Zulu is better than three slaves and sons of slaves.  My man will
+beat him; but you must not help either.  Let them battle in the open,
+and we will stand here."
+
+Miss Anstrade cast one shuddering look at the two men; then, suddenly
+running forward, she dipped her handkerchief in the water, bade Klaas
+lift his foot, and made a bandage round the inflamed ankle.  Then she
+climbed into the waggon and stopped her ears to the fierce sound of the
+strife.
+
+Klaas threw his head back and shouted the Gaika war-cry, then rolled a
+blanket about his left arm, and moved forward with his long iron-wood
+kerrie outstretched.  He was an older man than the Zulu, shorter, and
+thinner, and his much-patched clothes made his movements appear awkward
+when compared with the agile grace of the almost naked Zulu, whose
+smooth skin shone like satin.  In his left hand the Zulu held a long
+shield, while he twirled in his left hand a short but heavily-knobbed
+kerrie.
+
+"They are not fairly matched," growled Webster; "and that fellow has a
+further advantage in his shield and heavy stick."
+
+"The Gaika does not think so.  Look at his face."
+
+The small eyes of the Kaffir glistened like those of an animal, and he
+followed every movement of the Zulu, who was going through a performance
+by which he meant to strike his opponent with terror at his prowess.  He
+leaped into the air, bounded from side to side, danced on his toes,
+twisted, turned, struck at the ground--all the time accompanying these
+antics with shouts and deep grunts.
+
+"Enough," said the Gaika; "these are for children.  Stand still and
+fight."
+
+The Zulu paused, astonished, then, with his shield before him, he
+advanced, crouching to the attack, and springing suddenly into the air
+struck swiftly a blow that would have settled the fate of Klaas had he
+not been prepared, but springing lightly to one side, he rapped his
+enemy across his broad back.
+
+The Zulu bounded forward out of reach, turned, and again advanced
+impetuously, his glaring eyeballs showing above the feathered tuft at
+the end of his shield.
+
+This time Klaas did not wait, but swinging his five feet of tough
+kerrie, he delivered, in rapid succession, three sweeping blows, one at
+the head, the next at the body, and the last at the bare toes, and then
+sprang back to keep the proper distance for a telling blow.  The Zulu
+rushed in again, to be again beaten back by blows delivered with
+lightning rapidity, one of which drew the blood from his forehead; then
+he sprang from side to side, advanced, retreated, and feinted, until his
+movements were almost too rapid to follow, and at last bounded forward
+with stick uplifted.
+
+"By Jove!" muttered Webster, "he will kill him."
+
+The Gaika had his kerrie trailing from his side, and as the Zulu bounded
+through the air he made a sweeping blow upwards, which, falling full on
+the Zulu's elbow, made him drop his stick.  As it fell, Klaas knocked it
+away with a backhanded blow, and sprang between it and his foe.
+
+There was a fierce cry from the Induna, a triumphant shout from the two
+white men, and the tall Zulu, standing with his arm at his side, looked
+with bloodshot eyes and curling lips at the despised Kaffir.  A minute
+he stood panting heavily, then his hand stole behind his shield, and he
+drew forth a short-hafted, long-bladed stabbing assegai.
+
+"Stop!" thundered Hume.
+
+"It is a fight," said the Induna, sullenly fingering his assegai.
+
+"All right, my baas," said Klaas, and, with his left arm across his
+body, he shook his stick.
+
+The Zulu threw forward his shield at full length, and walked forward
+warily, determined to get in one stab, his right arm held back out of
+reach of that whirling stick.
+
+"It is murder," said Webster hoarsely.
+
+Twice the long blade darted out like the tongue of a snake, and the
+second time it pierced the Gaika's thigh; but the Gaika was not idle,
+and the air whistled to his rushing blows, and the drumming on the hard
+shield was continuous.  Still the Zulu pressed relentlessly, though the
+blood trickled over his face, and his shoulders showed the marks of
+angry blows.  At last he gave his war-cry, "Zu-tu," and throwing his
+shield above his head, made one fierce thrust.  The blade was caught,
+however, in the folds of the blanket, and the kerrie came with a
+sounding crack across the unprotected shins, bringing the Zulu to the
+ground.  Klaas picked up the assegai, and threw his hand back to stab,
+but Hume, expecting this, reached his side and seized his wrist.  Then
+the prostrate Zulu bounded to his feet, and ran to his friends for
+another assegai.
+
+"Enough!" cried Hume sternly.  "Go!"
+
+In five minutes the little party were left alone, the Induna and his
+followers having moved off without a word.
+
+"Are you hurt, Klaas?" said Hume, while Webster shook the Kaffir by his
+bruised and bleeding hand.
+
+"Neh, baas; the Zulu is no good with kerrie.  Will baas give me supje
+brandy?"
+
+The baas gave him two, which Klaas drank with a smack of his lips, then
+with his eyes still glowing, he swelled out his chest and sang his song
+of victory.
+
+An hour afterwards, when his wounds had been looked to, the order was
+given to inspan.
+
+The oxen were grazing near the waggon when the Zulus appeared; but now
+they were missing.  A few minutes' search showed them far down the
+plain, being driven away, while the sun shone on the spears of a large
+number of blacks seated in a circle behind them.
+
+Hume brought out the glass and examined the group.
+
+"There is the Induna," he said, shutting the glass and turning with a
+set face to Webster and Miss Anstrade.
+
+"Well," said Webster, "of course he is there; but you have paid him, and
+he will send the oxen back."
+
+"No, they mean trouble.  They came here prepared to kill Klaas, and they
+have stolen our oxen so that they can attack us at their leisure.  What
+do you say, Klaas?"
+
+"Yah, sieur.  They think Kaffir too quick, and they want to kill him
+first, then kill masters after.  Chief tell his people now that we hurt
+one of his men.  That is enough."
+
+"It is pretext enough," said Hume bitterly; "and I should not have
+allowed the fight."
+
+"We have four guns," said Webster, "and plenty of ammunition and
+provisions if they attack us."
+
+"And if they don't," said Miss Anstrade quietly, "we must leave the
+waggon and walk."
+
+"We have first to think of defence," said Hume gloomily, eyeing the
+waggon and the great tree.  "We shall want time to talk over our plans
+and get together the articles we want.  They may attack to-night."  He
+paced off the width of the tree, then did the same to the waggon.  "That
+is it, we must draw the waggon up parallel with the trunk, leaving a
+space of twelve feet between, then build a turf wall with an outer fence
+of thorns."
+
+This was done.  After strenuous efforts the heavy waggon was drawn up,
+and with pick, shovel, and axe they set to work in feverish haste.
+
+"They are moving," said Miss Anstrade, who was keeping watch, "and
+coming this way."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+THE ATTACK.
+
+"They are coming this way," said Miss Anstrade.
+
+"Open fire at them," said Hume, "when they come within range," and he
+stooped his back to widen the trench around the little camp.
+
+Webster drove in his pick, and looked sidelong at Laura, who stood with
+her rifle in her hand, staring blankly at Hume.
+
+"I may hit them," she said falteringly.
+
+"So much the better," was the grim response.
+
+The sod wall rose higher against the outside wheels of the waggon, and
+the Gaika had already lopped off a large number of branches from the
+mimosa-trees, together with some stunted wacht-en-beetje bushes.
+
+"We must close up the ends with bags and boxes.  Let us have them out."
+
+"I can see the colour of their shields now, and some of the men are
+springing into the air."
+
+"They mean to attack, then," said Hume, pausing a moment to glance down
+the hill.  "Put up the five hundred yards' sight."
+
+"Hark, I hear them shouting."
+
+Klaas heard, too, and as he swung the axe, he answered with a
+deep-chested war-cry.
+
+A moment later there was a dull report, and a bullet whistled overhead.
+
+"By Jove, they have rifles, and there can be no mistake about their
+intention.  Shoot, Laura."
+
+The little rifle came to the shoulder, and her white cheek was pressed
+to the butt, but the barrel shook, and she lowered it.  She looked round
+at the two men, and seeing the look of anxiety on their faces as they
+hurried on with their work, she threw the rifle up again and pressed the
+trigger.
+
+A deep, booming shout replied.
+
+"I hope I have not hit anyone," she said anxiously.
+
+Webster laughed; but Klaas, in his excitement at the first shot, bounded
+forward, swinging his axe and hurling insults at the foe.
+
+"Come back, you fool!" shouted Hume hoarsely.
+
+The Gaika danced back on his toes, and at his curious antics Miss
+Anstrade laughed; but at the sight of the passion in his face the laugh
+ended hysterically.
+
+"Come behind the boxes, Laura," cried Webster.
+
+"I would rather stand here until you are ready," she said proudly, while
+with trembling fingers she extracted the empty cartridge and inserted
+another.  The sharp crack of her rifle rang out again, and then she
+began to fire rapidly.
+
+At last the barricade was finished, and the little laager was complete,
+flanked on one side by the huge tree, on the left by the waggon and bank
+of turf, at the ends by boxes and bags.
+
+"Now for the outer fence," said Hume; and climbing over the boxes they
+began quickly to draw the thorn branches, with the stems in.  This outer
+fence left a clear space of about fifteen feet.
+
+"Pass up, sieur," cried Klaas, as Hume walked out to cut down another
+tree; "there are men creeping round."
+
+"Get my gun!"
+
+Klaas sprang for the heavy weapon; and Hume stood on an ant-hill to take
+a look at the foe.  They appeared halting about three hundred yards off,
+with their shields before them, and their waving plumes nodding above,
+while their assegai blades threw off the sunlight in sparks.
+
+"They have not moved," said Miss Anstrade, "since I fired."
+
+But Klaas knew differently, and his keen eyes had seen a few men glide
+into the long grass, to show themselves momentarily at lessening
+intervals, and when he judged they were too near to be pleasant he cried
+out:
+
+"There, baas! there, my good baas, by the round bush!" indicating a spot
+about one hundred yards away.
+
+As Hume raised his Express a bullet struck the ant-hill beneath him,
+while a cloud of smoke drifted away from a rock to the right of the
+bush.  At this there was a shout from the main body, and the enemy
+dashed forward.
+
+The Express covered the bush, and as the leaves shook it cracked, then,
+swinging his gun round, he covered one of the advancing troop and fired
+again.
+
+"Hit!" said Webster.
+
+"To the laager!" shouted Hume; and the little party clambered into the
+enclosure.
+
+"Lie down, Laura, there, under the waggon."
+
+"Will they get in?" she asked.
+
+Hume fired twice.
+
+"Too high, Jim; aim at their feet.  No, they won't come within sixty
+yards;" and he fired again.
+
+The shouts of the Zulus rose hoarse and terrible, mingled with shrill
+whistling.  On they rushed, right up to the outer barricade, and then,
+as they were brought up, and the terrible Express bullets tore through
+them, they hurled their throwing assegais, then scattered and fled for
+shelter.  Some of the assegais entered the little fort and were embedded
+in the earth, their hafts quivering; others glanced along the branches,
+and many stuck into the waggon.
+
+"That was a warm rush," said Webster; "and if it had not been for the
+mercy of that fence we would have been speared to a certainty."
+
+Hume was passing a cleaner through the barrels of his Express, and
+looking over the box barricade at the enemy, or, rather, for a sign of
+them, for they had apparently sunk into the earth.  He did not reply,
+but turned presently and looked at Miss Anstrade.
+
+"Well?" she questioned.
+
+"If they make another rush, having now warmed to it, two rifles will not
+keep them back, and then--"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"There can only be one end," he looked at her with sad eyes, and then
+added, "for us."
+
+"And for me?" she asked.
+
+He turned away.
+
+She came from under the waggon.
+
+"I understand," she said firmly; "and if they come again there will be
+three rifles."
+
+No sooner had she stood up, than an assegai, hurled from the rear,
+whizzed by her head and plunged into the tree.  Before they could turn,
+Klaas with one bound sprang over the barricade, and, throwing his hand
+back, launched an assegai at a small bush beyond the fence, then quickly
+darted another; and, as the second spear rattled through the leaves, a
+tall Zulu sprang up.  Springing over the bushes he leapt towards the
+fence, and, with one terrific bound cleared its bristling height, the
+tufted armlets and long feathers streaming behind, and as he reached the
+ground he thundered his war-cry.  Before this magnificent rush the Gaika
+held his ground, his body stooping, the slender assegai quivering in his
+fingers as he poised it, and, as the Zulu struck the ground the weapon
+sped from his hand.  Swift it flew, and straight, so that it seemed
+there could be no escape from its thirsting blade; but the Zulu's shield
+met it, and with a sure turn of the wrist, sent it whirring harmlessly
+through the thorns.
+
+Then the Gaika, weaponless, tore the shirt from his body, baring his
+naked breast, and stood with folded arms.  The Zulu caught the Kaffir by
+his arm, and, towering up a full head taller, glared down into his eyes,
+and raised his stabbing assegai.
+
+At the sight, the three spectators in the little fort stood horrified,
+while from behind numerous ant-hills there rose up men to watch the
+scene.
+
+"Klaas," said a quiet, authoritative voice, "fall down, and I will
+shoot."
+
+At the voice the Zulu fixed his fierce and bloodshot eyes upon the
+group, dwelt for a moment on the white face of the lady, then rested
+with a questioning look.
+
+"Eh, Hu-em," he cried, then drew the point of his spear across the
+muscular breast of the Kaffir, leaving a lone red line.  His hand
+relaxed, and Klaas, turning, was inside the laager in a moment, where he
+picked up another assegai.
+
+The Zulu stood between the fence and the barricade, calmly looking at
+the white men, and presenting, as he stood there, the very picture of
+war, with courage expressed in the poise of his head, command in the
+fearless glance of his eye, character and will in the clear sweep of his
+clean-cut jaws, strength in the broad shoulders, and activity in the
+straight limbs, all bone and muscle.
+
+"Do not shoot him," answered Miss Anstrade.
+
+"Shoot him!  Good heavens, no!  Is it Sirayo?"
+
+"Yebo!"
+
+Hume sprang over the boxes, and ran with outstretched hands to the great
+warrior, who had led the last charge at the battle of Ulundi, and had
+distinguished himself in a hundred desperate fights.
+
+"Why are you fighting against us, Sirayo, my friend?"
+
+"I was told you were bad people.  So I came here to kill or die.  What
+matters it?  Sirayo is no longer a chief, his assegai is at anyone's
+command."
+
+"Come in, my friend.  We are not bad; these people have three times
+tried to steal our cattle, now they would take our lives.  We are but
+four, and one is a woman."
+
+"Tell me the story," said the Zulu, "and I will listen."
+
+Hume told him all that had occurred, and when he had finished Sirayo
+turned once more, dragged a thorn-bush away, and stepping through,
+advanced into the open.
+
+Hume stood anxiously waiting, and Webster, coming to his side, asked if
+he should shoot.
+
+"Wait; I know this man well.  There is no treachery in him, and he may
+prove our friend."  Still he waited breathlessly.
+
+Sirayo stopped when he was near the enemy, and then, striking his
+assegai against his shield, he told them they had lied.
+
+"You brought me against these people with false stories; I find they are
+my friends, and my shield is their shield, my assegai is their assegai.
+But, inasmuch as you came here thinking you had the help of Sirayo, I
+stand here to meet any of you hand to hand, lest you say I fled from you
+when there was danger."
+
+No one took up the challenge, which was received with a howl of rage,
+but presently man called to man until the news was carried to the
+Induna, who directed the attack from afar, and at his command there was
+a general movement towards that end of the laager where Sirayo stood.
+
+At this the chief, not carrying defiance to the point of foolishness,
+returned into the camp, closing up the fence after him, and entered the
+laager.  There was no time for talk, for the enemy appeared to be
+gathering for another rush, and fire was opened to check them, but when
+they altered their minds and drew off, Hume asked the chief the
+paramount question, whether the laager was strong enough to resist a
+determined attack.
+
+Sirayo stretched his arms.
+
+"You are in a hole; good if you can keep them out, but a death-trap if
+they enter, and when the night comes they will pull away the thorns.
+See this tree?  I already had marked it, and meant in the dark to send
+six young men.  They would have climbed secretly into its branches and
+dropped among you.  No; if you would live you must steal away."
+
+"They will be on the watch."
+
+"No.  They know you cannot attack them, and before the dawn, after they
+have drawn away the thorns, they will come.  By that time you must be
+away."
+
+Hume interpreted, and it was resolved to take the chief's advice.  It
+was necessary, however, to get together as many necessaries as they
+could carry, and while Hume busied himself with this work, the others
+went out beyond the laager, for, as Sirayo advised, it was better to
+show they were not afraid.  They paced round and round, longing, yet
+fearing, for the night to come, and frequently the glances of Miss
+Anstrade and Webster stole to the tall figure of the chief, half
+doubtful still of his intentions, while the Gaika regarded him sullenly
+in the light of an interloper.
+
+Presently the two natives stood silently regarding some object on the
+plain, and, attracted by their attention, Miss Anstrade asked what it
+was they saw.
+
+"White men," said Klaas.
+
+"White men!  Oh, then, we need not fly from our waggon, our home."
+
+Klaas shook his head.
+
+"Bad men, they."
+
+"How can you tell, when they are so far that I cannot even see them?"
+
+"They bad men," said Klaas, shaking his head, with the Kaffir's
+reluctance or incapacity to explain the reasons that led up to his firm
+opinion.
+
+White men they certainly were, and presently they were met by a native.
+Were they friends or not?  Anxiously they were watched as the men
+leisurely approached, and when they were close enough to be distinctly
+seen even by the untrained eyes of the Europeans, Miss Anstrade waved
+her handkerchief.
+
+"Pass op," shouted Klaas, "he will skit," and at the cry four men sprang
+before Laura, while a tiny puff of smoke rolled up above the strangers,
+and a bullet whizzed unpleasantly near.  That was the reply to the
+salute!
+
+Hume, who had come out at the news of the strangers, flung up his rifle
+and fired, but the heavy Express carried wide at a long range.
+
+"They are preparing," said Sirayo quietly, and took a pinch of snuff,
+while as he held the powder to his nostrils he pointed with his assegai
+to where the gleam of shields showed thick among the bushes.
+
+Hume took from Miss Anstrade her light and beautifully finished rifle.
+Then, throwing a handful of dust into the air to get the direction of
+the wind, he put up the 500 yards sight.
+
+"If I can pick that brute off I may stop the rush," and he nodded at one
+of the two whites who stood upon an ant-hill.
+
+"Three hundred yards, I think," said Webster, measuring the distance
+with his eye.
+
+"No; the clear air takes off from the distance.  Now, Klaas, see where
+the bullet strikes.  I will shoot better beyond the fence;" and pulling
+away a thorn, he walked out to an ant-hill.
+
+"They come," cried Miss Anstrade, as the nodding plumes of the Zulus
+moved forward.
+
+Hume knelt down, and resting the barrel on the conical top of the
+ant-mound, aimed long--so long, that Webster felt tempted to rush out
+and pull him in.  At last came the crack.
+
+"Missed, by heavens!" shouted Webster, and he emptied his two barrels at
+the dark mass which was now moving on the left in a direction parallel
+to the camp.
+
+"Baas shoot too strong," cried Klaas, and Hume put up 450 yards, and
+inserted another cartridge.
+
+"Come in, man, come in; they are running."
+
+Sirayo moved out of the fence with the Express, after motioning Miss
+Anstrade to the laager.
+
+Hume aimed again--longer than before--and the beat of the bare feet over
+the grass rose louder and louder, like the rush of a river in flood.  At
+last!
+
+"Oh, ay," shouted Klaas, "he is dead," and the man on the ant-hill,
+throwing up his arms, fell forward.
+
+Then Hume, rising, took the Express from Sirayo, and, whipping round,
+dropped a warrior to each barrel, and, Webster firing rapidly too,
+caused a check, most of the men dropping to the grass to advance with
+more safety.  But a dozen warriors, tempted by the chance of catching
+Hume outside the fence, leapt on, swallowing the ground with enormous
+strides, and twisting whenever the deadly rifle covered one of them.  On
+they came in silence, their shields before them, and the short assegais
+that won victory for the Zulus held in readiness, and now the gleam of
+their eyes could be seen, and now a low moan breaks from their lips as
+they feel their prey.
+
+Webster gradually slipped nearer to the fence with Klaas at his side,
+and as the Zulus came together in the last rush, the four barrels were
+emptied and the revolvers drawn.
+
+Now Sirayo's terrible war-cry was raised as he suddenly bounded forward;
+in a few strides the lean Gaika was by his side with his sheaf of
+assegais.  There was a shock of shield striking shield, and the foremost
+Zulu fell with a groan, while, in the same breath almost, the tough
+shield of the chief met the thrust of the next man, and his red blade
+plunged deep beneath the arm.  "Eh, Zu-tu!" he shouted, springing back
+from another blow, while his third assailant ate the assegai of the
+Gaika.  Then came the sharp crack-crack of heavy navy revolvers, and the
+five surviving Zulus turned and ran.
+
+Then they retired into the laager, having taught the enemy a terrible
+lesson, and then the chief offered snuff with his red hand to the Gaika,
+who took this pledge of friendship.
+
+"You are a great warrior," said Hume to Sirayo, "and you, Klaas, have
+fought like a lion."
+
+"It is nought," said the Zulu.  "I have killed ten men of the
+Nkobomokase in a feud when first I got my ring as a married man, and
+they were warriors every one--not men of the swamps like these, who are
+feeble.  But it is well.  They will not attack again to-night, and when
+the jackal calls we may go safely."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+THE ESCAPE.
+
+When the night swiftly settled down, a ring of fires sprang up about the
+little camp, and the warriors seated round chanted their battle songs
+with many a burst of merriment.  But in the camp thus hemmed in there
+was silence--the silence of despair.  Though they had beaten their foes
+off the victory would not lay with them, as they had to abandon their
+waggon, the home of many happy days; their possessions, which became
+more valuable with each day's move from civilisation; and had to face
+the hardships and dangers of progress through savage country on foot,
+themselves their own porters.
+
+"Is there no hope of holding out?" asked Webster.
+
+Hume glanced significantly at Miss Anstrade, who, with head averted, was
+listening, with evident nervousness, to the ominous chants of the Zulus.
+
+"We must escape," he muttered.
+
+"At least, let us scuttle the ship before we leave her, lay a train to
+the powder-room, and blow her up."
+
+"And so tell them that we have left the camp.  No; I'm afraid we must
+leave everything standing.  I have made four large bundles, and we can
+take away enough to last."
+
+Blankets and rugs, rolled up and tied at their ends, were slung like
+horse-collars over their shoulders and across their breasts, rifles were
+picked up, bundles tied on with the ox rheims; and so prepared they
+waited the return of Sirayo, who had gone off scouting into the night.
+And as they waited their first regret at leaving gave place to a nervous
+anxiety to be off, for the darkness brought to them a thorough sense of
+the insecurity of their position.  A rustle in the leaves of the huge
+tree rising above them like a dome made them look up apprehensively,
+lest some daring savage was already in lurking amid the branches, and
+when at last Klaas signalled the approach of Sirayo, they stepped
+forward eagerly to meet him.
+
+"Is the way open, chief?" whispered Hume.
+
+"They watch like jackals when the lion has killed," he said gloomily.
+"The order has gone round."
+
+"What! do they fear we will attempt to escape?"
+
+"They know.  Their white chief has told them."
+
+"Could we not get through while they are singing?" asked Hume, looking
+moodily into the darkness.
+
+"Those who sing are not those who watch; they are nearer, and will close
+in until they are a fence right round."
+
+Hume turned despondently to explain, and all tightened their grasp on
+their weapons, and listened for any sign of this living and deadly ring,
+narrowing its coil for the final crush.
+
+"Baas, I have a plan," said the Gaika suddenly.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Which way would the baas go?"
+
+"Towards the river," said Hume impatiently.
+
+"My plan is this.  I will creep out on the other side and cry out that
+you have escaped there.  The men will then run up and you may then
+quickly move for the river."
+
+"It is a good plan," growled Sirayo.  "I also will go, and when we meet
+those in the way we will fight and at the sound all will rush up."
+
+"And you would be killed," said Hume, after weighing it over, "and they
+would follow on after us.  No, no, if we cannot escape together we will
+fight here and die together."
+
+"Let it be so," said Sirayo, squatting by the fire and proceeding to
+eat.
+
+The others looked at him for some time, then Miss Anstrade, with a
+sudden start, laid her hand on Hume's shoulder.
+
+"I have it," she said breathlessly.  "Those rockets; you remember you
+bought some at Pretoria in case we wished to signal from the camp to any
+lagger.  Let us fire them off, and perchance these strange fiery stars
+will terrify the natives."
+
+"By Jove!" exclaimed Hume, "there's something in that," and he dived
+into the waggon to emerge presently with a bundle of fireworks.
+
+"You'll get the full effect in this darkness," remarked Webster dryly,
+"and the blacks should be greatly pleased."
+
+"The idea may seem to you childish," said Hume, fixing a couple of
+rockets, "but try and imagine your sensations if for the first time you
+saw a rocket streaming into the night."
+
+The experiment was tried.  Into the darkness rushed the rockets,
+exploded high up, and sent down a shower of coloured sparks, which,
+slowly fading as they sank, left a blacker darkness than before.
+
+From the two Kaffirs in the camp there rung exclamations of surprise,
+and Sirayo strove hard to conceal his astonishment; but from beyond
+there was no response, either in fear or admiration.
+
+"Fire the next just close to the ground," suggested Webster; and they
+gathered behind Hume, peering into the dark, their faces coming and
+going out of the shadow as the light from the match fell on them.  There
+was a flash, a long stream of light darted out, hissing, and as the
+light swiftly flashed, they say a row of shields, the glint of assegais:
+then there was a yell, as the warriors, who had been arrested in their
+stealthy advance by the mysterious fire, now broke and fled.
+
+"They run!" said Sirayo loudly; "they say it is witchcraft, that you
+talk with the stars.  Come!"
+
+Quickly they slipped out, Hume remaining a moment to fix two other
+rockets with slow fuses, and then, after closing up the opening in the
+fence, he overtook the others.  With Sirayo ahead, Webster and Hume on
+either side of Laura, and Klaas behind, they felt their way cautiously
+over the rough ground, and, as they went, there streamed out towards the
+sky the other two rockets.  A deep murmur arose from the awestruck
+natives, who would, no doubt, remain fixedly gazing towards the camp for
+more portents; and the little party, taking advantage of their
+opportunity, pushed on rapidly till they reached the long slope
+stretching down to the thick bush on the banks of the river.  Now they
+could advance with less caution and more speed, and their spirits rose
+as the hope of safety increased, for they had not time yet to realise
+this disaster that had overwhelmed them.  At last the outlying mimosas
+of the thick woods arrested their progress, and, for the first time,
+they halted to readjust their burdens.
+
+"Which way does your path lie?" asked Sirayo.
+
+"Down the river, and then up into the mountains."
+
+"Yoh!" exclaimed the chief, astonished, "the safe path is back on the
+way you came, and into the white man's country."
+
+"We undertook this journey for a purpose, and it is not now we will turn
+back.  You will come with us?"
+
+"When Sirayo sets forth on a journey, he knows beforehand whither he
+goes and why.  You are not hunting, and your lives are dearer to you
+than the sight of the mountain."
+
+"We have heard a tale of a yellow rock that lies beyond the mountain,
+and we would see whether the tale is true."
+
+"Soh!  I have heard that tale from the people we have left.  They have
+talked much about it, and of a strange man who knows of it.  Many, they
+say, have set out to find that rock, but never one came back."
+
+"Then it is there?" said Hume.
+
+"Oh, ay; yet if it has not been found it may not exist.  A tale grows
+easily out of nothing, and lives long on the tongues of old men.  This
+rock has been polished by the gossips till it shines like a flame, but
+the man who set the tale going may have seen only the sun striking on a
+girl's armlet."
+
+"Well, we will search for it, and with your aid."
+
+The chief took a pinch of snuff, as could be judged from the loud sniff.
+"We must cover up the spoor.  Let your friend come with me so that we
+may lay a new spoor away from this, and do you keep on the river."
+
+This was done.  Webster remained with Sirayo, while the others went on
+slowly and with many pauses till they heard the river flowing, when they
+waited for the dawn, wrapping themselves up in their blankets to keep
+off the night chill.  At dawn they continued their flight for several
+miles along the bank of the river until they reached a place where the
+bed narrowed between granite banks, where a halt was cried and they
+waited for the other two, who came up close on noon, having smothered
+the trail and laid a false track up stream.  Preparations were made to
+cross, for it was feared the Zulus might lay dogs upon the spoor, and
+Webster, in a marvellously short time, made a small raft out of
+driftwood.  It was large enough to hold Laura, the rifles and goods, and
+the men, stripped to the waist, swam at the sides, splashing vigorously
+to frighten the crocodiles.  Without accident they reached the further
+shore, landing amid a confused mass of boulders, over which they
+struggled to the shelter of the woods.  As before, Webster and the chief
+remained behind, this time to watch if the enemy discovered their
+crossing, while the others pushed on wearily down wide game tracks into
+a patch of forest trees, where they rested, at last, under a wild
+fig-tree, whose light-coloured branches stretched wide and high.  Here,
+with the driest of wood, a fire was made, and carefully nursed so that
+it should not give forth thick smoke; a tin hold-all was produced from
+one of the bundles, the kettle set to boil, the blankets spread on the
+branches, and a small leafy shelter made for Laura.  This work occupied
+them until they were joined by the others, who reported that they had
+heard only the distant shouts of the Zulus, but had seen no one.
+
+"They are content," said Sirayo; "they have got what they wanted--your
+waggon, your oxen, your goods, and if they have lost a few men there are
+less to share the spoil."
+
+"But the white men who were with them will not give up the pursuit so
+readily."
+
+"Oh, ay; the white man's hate, like his bullet, reaches far, and strikes
+when you are out of sight and have forgotten, but those were not of your
+race; they are yellow men from the coast, and maybe they, too, are in
+search of the flaming stone."
+
+"Portuguese!"
+
+"I know not, but they chatter much, make much trouble with the women,
+and show their teeth when they are angry; moreover, they are idle and of
+little stature."
+
+"They are certainly Portuguese," said Hume, with a sly glance at Laura,
+as he interpreted.
+
+"You may depend," she said, "that Lieutenant Gobo is still following us,
+though surely he must have some other motive than that of revenge.  His
+persistence would be out of all proportion to the injury he has
+received.  And you remember the offer he made to me if I disclosed the
+object of our mission."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
+
+ON THE MARCH.
+
+They had passed their first night in safety, disturbed only at intervals
+by the snorting of buffalo, and in the morning they were seated round
+the fire, eating rather unpalatable "cookies" of meal baked under the
+coals, and drinking black coffee, steaming hot, from tin pannikins, Hume
+having made a good selection of stores.
+
+Suddenly Webster planted his tin in the soft ground, threw his head
+back, and laughed long and hearty.
+
+"Well?" questioned Laura, parting her lips in a smile.
+
+"Excuse me," said Webster helplessly; "but, upon my word, of all
+going-a-fishing, this is the funniest," and he laughed again.
+
+"I don't see the joke," growled Hume, as he looked through the steam of
+his coffee.
+
+"Exactly; that's what makes it so absurd.  Lord, just think of it; we've
+been to great expense and enormous trouble, and have taken a year or a
+month--I don't know for the life of me which--to get here, and now here
+we are adrift with about two weeks' provisions."
+
+"I see no fun in that."
+
+"Man, it's brimful of fun, if you only look at it in a proper light,"
+and carefully lifting up his tin, he began to sip his coffee, the light
+of laughter still gleaming pleasantly in his eyes.
+
+"The most dreadful part, to my mind," said Laura, "is the ease with
+which we adapt ourselves to the most sudden changes.  Look at my hands;
+how coarse they are!"
+
+It was now Hume's turn to laugh.  "That is an extraordinary ground for
+complaint," he said, "when you have so many greater grievances at hand."
+
+"What greater grievance can a woman have than that of diminishing
+charms?  I believe my face is freckling.  Give me that tin plate.  Thank
+you."
+
+She took the plate from Webster, polished the bottom of it, and then
+calmly studied her reflection.
+
+"I am sorry I did not think of a looking-glass," said Hume, "but I must
+confess I was not in a state to pick and choose carefully."
+
+"You did well," said Webster heartily; "though it was a pity you forgot
+my razor, both for me and yourself.  By-the-way, why did you burden
+yourself with that small crowbar?"
+
+Hume looked a little confused.  "Well," he said, after a pause, "I
+thought that if we did find this--this infernal rock--the crowbar would
+be of use."
+
+"Of course," replied Webster gravely; "of course.  Let me see, what
+would be the value of fifty pounds of raw gold?"
+
+"Close on 3,000 pounds."
+
+"Is that all.  Lord love you! and has it not struck you that we could
+never get away with fifty pounds weight of dead metal about each of us?
+So that if there is a ton of gold it would not be worth to us more than
+the little we could carry away."
+
+They looked at each other blankly.
+
+"We could hide a great quantity away, to be recovered on another
+journey."
+
+"Gentlemen, may I remind you of Mrs Glass's advice to catch your hare
+before you cook him?"
+
+"Now we've lost our bearings again," said Webster, "and just, too, when
+we'd almost put into port and got the precious cargo on board, though by
+the same token the breadth of our backs is the only space at the
+disposal of our supercargo."
+
+"By Jove, you are right! we have lost our bearings," growled Hume.  "If
+you'll believe me, I never thought of retrieving the gold, a work of
+uncommon difficulty, since we cannot possibly coax the metal from its
+matrix and will have to load ourselves with a worthless weight of
+quartz.  If the rock is as rich as the specimen implies, we would have
+to carry away half of quartz, giving twenty-five pounds of gold to each,
+or only 1,500 pounds.  Now, is it worth while advancing for such a
+little?"
+
+"Nonsense," said Miss Anstrade, with a frown.
+
+"I am merely looking at the matter from a common-sense point, and Jim
+has just considered the humorous side.  We both apparently come into the
+same `blind alley,' and see the absurdity of running against a stone
+wall.  We have lost everything, we have narrowly escaped with our lives,
+and now, even if, when not properly equipped for continuing the
+enterprise, we do succeed, the reward sinks to insignificant
+proportions--insignificant, that is, compared to the boundless wealth we
+originally contemplated."
+
+"Nonsense," she repeated; "you originally had the very slightest faith
+in the existence of this rock, and the value of the reward is not the
+consideration you would prize.  We have risked all and braved all to
+find it.  Let us find it, and the pride of discovery after so many
+dangers and disappointments will be our reward.  You mean to continue
+the search?"
+
+"Of course," said Hume.
+
+"How about a canoe?" said Webster, getting up, and jobbing his hunting
+knife into the fig-tree.
+
+"We don't want a canoe, for the distance to the belt of reeds must be
+about nineteen miles, and we can walk that before you would finish your
+vessel.  Afterwards we will ask you to build us a raft, which I think
+would be better, as there are many rocks in the channel."
+
+"A raft," she said, with a smile; "then what would there be to prevent
+your making two or three trips to load your raft with as much of the
+metal as you like?"
+
+"Good," said Hume, laughing; "but, as you observed, we must first catch
+our hare, and he appears to be vanishing while we talk.  Opstan--Klaas--
+we march."
+
+In half an hour they struck out of the forest into the glare of the sun,
+slightly tempered by the feathery mimosa, whose little fluffy buds of
+yellow bloom scented the heavy air.  From the river banks there rose in
+thick masses the lustrous green foliage of the wild palmiet, rising from
+out of a ring of golden yellow, where the old leaves drooping had faded,
+and above the river, defining its winding course, rested a slight
+vapour, while beyond was the wide plain of rolling grass out of which
+had come their enemies.
+
+They stood long with fixed gaze bent upon the wide expanse for sign, but
+could see nothing but herds of game, with a fine group on the opposite
+bank of gemsbok, whose long horns, when the game looked up, rested
+lightly on the striped haunches.  Flocks of blue starlings, their wings
+glittering with a metallic lustre, flew across the river, and the birds
+alighted on the bucks to hunt for parasites.
+
+"I can see no one," said Hume, "but, nevertheless, we must proceed with
+caution, and before we advance into this blaze we must take the glint
+off our weapons.  A gleaming spark, even from the point of an assegai,
+would be seen when the sharpest eyes could not detect us."
+
+"It is well," said Sirayo, when the necessity was explained; "but of
+what use to dim your weapons when you have white about your clothes?"
+
+Hume and Webster wore only shirts of grey flannel, the sleeves turned up
+to the elbows, leaving bare the brawny arms, bronzed almost to the
+colour of old oak, but their wide-brimmed hats were of a light blue, and
+Miss Anstrade wore a white puggaree.
+
+"Have you some red clay, Klaas?"
+
+The Gaika produced a small lump which he had himself used that morning
+to paint his face, and Hume deliberately stained all those articles of
+clothing which showed white.
+
+"Why do you smear that red over your face, Klaas?"
+
+"Make the skin soft, missy."
+
+"Oh, vanity of vanities, and I have seen you men smile when I have used
+a powder-puff.  Does it really make the skin soft?"
+
+"Oh, yes, the sun does not burn through the red clay; all mooi Kaffir
+girls put on red clay when the sun is hot."
+
+"That decides it; give me the clay!"
+
+"Surely--" expostulated Hume.
+
+"Give it to me; now Klaas, come."
+
+With an imbecile grin, Klaas followed the lady to a little stream of
+water, and performed the necessary toilet duties.
+
+"Merciful heavens!" gasped Webster, when the two returned, while Hume
+tried gallantly to preserve a look of stoical indifference.
+
+The beautiful white skin was covered by a hideous mask of red, out of
+which blazed the black eyes with a challenge that dared them to laugh at
+their peril.
+
+"Forward," said Hume, and off they went in single file; and as they
+went, their eyes would ever and again seek the great mountain before
+them, no longer blue and shadowy, but grey and rugged, with a cloud
+coming and going about its highest peak.  They went on now among a
+litter of stones, now in and out among ant-hills standing above their
+heads, now struggling through some intervening kloof, or breasting the
+far side of a steep valley, whose tributary stream crept slowly on
+through thick rushes to the great river.  In one of these valleys, where
+the water opened up into a shallow lagoon, a large reed buck, standing
+up to its belly, regarded them unmoved, and at another spot a long tree
+snake of vivid green whipped across their path at incredible speed and
+streamed up a small bush, above which its head appeared as though
+carved; locusts of strange form and brilliant colours flew from their
+path, while a brace of hawks accompanied their march for some distance.
+Their shadows from the right dwindled down to little round patches at
+their feet, then gradually lengthened out on their left, and the shrill
+cry of the cicada pulsating through the air beat upon their brains.
+
+"Is it time we came to our moorings?" said Webster.
+
+"A little further," said Hume, looking at the mountain; and they went on
+over a ridge and down into a rounded valley, where a small vlei shone
+like a jewel.  They were leaving this sheet of water on their left, when
+Hume suddenly halted.
+
+"What a sight!" he whispered.  "Look there!"
+
+Out of the centre of the vlei rose the clear-cut head of a lioness, with
+her eyes gleaming green as emeralds.  She was lying there in the shallow
+water for coolness.
+
+"She cannot see us," said Hume; "the sun is shining in her eyes.  See
+how they glow like bits of glass."
+
+They stood absorbed in the spectacle; but the lioness hearing, though
+she could not see, began to move her head, then sat up like a dog, with
+the water streaming from her yellow shoulders, and her eyes still
+sparkling with green fire.  She thrust her head forward, then, detecting
+some taint in the air, gave a low growl, whereupon, from out the
+withered grass on the further side, rose a huge lion, who, being out of
+the direct rays of the sun, saw the silent group, and fetched a deep
+growl.  Thereupon, the lioness walked towards him, and, after one long
+stare over her shoulder, she lay on the grass and rolled over like a big
+dog, and the lion crouched down with his shaggy head on his outstretched
+paws.
+
+With many a backward glance, the party moved on, glad that they had seen
+such a spectacle without being compelled to fire in defence.  They
+rested at noon for lunch, then pushed on steadily, gradually edging
+along to the higher watershed, away for miles within easy view.
+Presently there came to them a low, tremulous murmur, which grew as they
+advanced, until it sounded at last like the sweep of the outermost
+fringe of the waves swinging to and fro over loose shells.
+
+"It is the voice of the reeds swayed by the wind," said Hume; "and when
+we reach the ridge above we shall be above this leafy sea."
+
+"Oh, how beautiful!" murmured Laura, a few minutes later, as they looked
+over a vast sea of feathered green; now shining with a silver reflection
+as the sun struck upon the leaves all bent in one direction by the wind;
+now with a ripple of dark shadows as the light tops sprang back
+together; now mottled all over with specks and splashes of black and
+white, and yellow.  And all the time there rose the sweet, soft murmur
+and sibilant swishing, low and melancholy.  As far as the eye could see
+stretched this moving mass, and it widened out to a dense fringe of bush
+on the right, beyond which, again, rose the buttresses of the mountain,
+springing to where, in one straight mass of frowning granite, seamed and
+scarred into a thousand fissures, towered the precipitous sides of the
+mountain itself.
+
+Resting on their weapons, they stood gazing from the restless level of
+green to the grim sentinel of rock, its brow among the clouds, and its
+front overlooking the lowlands; and as they looked it was borne in upon
+them by the melancholy in the voice of the reeds and by the impassive
+face of the mountain that there might well be some dark mystery of
+Nature hidden away in this desolate place, but there could be no hope,
+or joy, or sound of laughter.  Here was Nature of vast unpeopled places,
+of voiceless rivers languishing through thirsty sands, of rock-strewn
+uplands, and arid flats--Nature gloomy, mournful, and yet majestic too.
+
+They sat down and, while there was still light, studied once more the
+well-thumbed map, with its vague outlines, and no longer simple when
+compared with the tossed and broken zigzag of mountain kloof and gorge.
+
+"It would seem easier," said Webster, "to flank the mountain from the
+spot where we now stand, rather than attempt to scale its front in
+search of that profile of a face, whose likeness may have appeared plain
+to your uncle, but which very likely will offer to us no resemblance."
+
+"I think so also," said Laura, "for, see, when we get round the mountain
+through the forest here marked, we enter apparently a wide valley where
+we should have no difficulty in finding the ruins said to exist, and the
+rock bears to the north-west, distant about ten miles."
+
+"I should prefer to follow the old hunter's directions," said Hume; "but
+if we cannot find the face in the mountain, then we could adopt your
+suggestion."
+
+"Very well," said Webster, "but it will be more difficult to scale that
+wall than to strike through the forest."
+
+"Perhaps, but I have a desire to stand where he stood in the place of
+the eye at sunrise and see the flaming signal as he saw it, or fail to
+see, for now I have lost faith."
+
+"No, my friend, you have not," said Laura; "for then you would have no
+wish to follow your uncle's wanderings.  He must have been a man of rare
+courage to have struggled alone as he did, and as we are five, if we
+have but a part of his determination we must succeed.  How desolate, how
+melancholy, the place is, with scarce a sign of life, except for that
+eagle soaring there."
+
+"Yet those reeds must shelter herds of buffalo, and sea-cow, and we know
+not what else."
+
+"We are seen," broke in Sirayo's deep tones.
+
+"Seen!  By whom?"
+
+Sirayo pointed with an assegai to the nearest peak, distant about two
+miles, and shading their eyes, for they stood in the light, while the
+slopes running towards them were in shadow, they looked anxiously up.
+
+"I see nothing," said Laura.
+
+"There is a man standing on a rock," said Klaas.
+
+"It may be a bush or stone," muttered Webster.
+
+"Neh, sieur, it is a man."
+
+"They are right," said Hume; "look!" and he pointed to where a column of
+smoke rose straight into the air from a spur which ran to the forest
+behind them.
+
+As they watched, another column shot into the air behind; then a third,
+from the summit of the mountain; then a fourth, faintly descried still
+more distant; and as they looked, the darkness swept over the scene, and
+in place of the smoke there gleamed out a spot of red on the peak.
+
+"They speak to one another of our coming," said Sirayo.
+
+"There you see Kaffir telegraphy, Miss Laura; in five minutes the
+villages within ten miles have warning.  The way through the forest you
+suggested is guarded; we must seek the shelter of the reeds and push on
+under their cover.  There must be no fires to-night.  Forward!"
+
+Slowly they picked their way over loose stones, through dongas deep and
+slippery, through thorns and bushes, until the reeds closed upon them.
+Then, with their heavy hunting knives, they cut out an open space,
+stacked the fallen reeds in a wall, made beds with the leaves of others,
+and passed the night.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
+
+A NIGHT IN THE REEDS.
+
+The day's long march had tired them, and wanting the sociable aid of a
+fire, they soon fell asleep, each one on his own bed of reeds, lulled by
+the continuous ripple and murmur of the waving mass.  The two blacks
+slept with their blankets completely drawn over their heads, so that no
+sound disturbed them, but the other three in turn would start, and with
+lifted head peer vainly into the blackness round them, and twice Laura
+reached out a hand on either side to feel if her protectors were there,
+and each time the hand instinctively was grasped in a strong palm.
+
+At a deep, low growl of some prowling animal, perchance the lion seen on
+the march, Hume sat up gently and cradled his gun on his knees, giving
+ear to the soft, mysterious creeping noises, as though a legion of elves
+were whispering in the reeds, and eyeing the stars for comfort.  As he
+listened he heard the beast outside move off, uttering a deep-drawn
+sigh, and he was about to lie down again, when he fancied he heard the
+sound of another animal sniffing.  The noise, however, was not repeated,
+or the heavy breathing of the sleepers prevented him from tracing it,
+but he was on his guard again, with every sense on the alert.  He could
+feel that something was stealing in upon them, and the slight path they
+could not avoid making when they entered was no doubt being used.  He
+had fixed his couch opposite the entrance, and held his rifle with the
+muzzle towards it; but if his suspicions were correct, and something was
+approaching, the movement was more stealthy than the advance of a
+footless serpent.  Presently, however, raising his glance until he dimly
+outlined the waving heads of the reeds against the stars, he saw a reed
+bend slowly away, and then another, each one disappearing as though
+gently drawn down.
+
+There could only be one solution to that mystery.  The reeds must have
+been cut at their base, and then gently lowered, and whose work could
+this be but that of a human foe, patient and cunning?  At once he cocked
+the trigger, and the sharp click woke Webster with a start.
+
+"Ssh!"  Hume hissed, while still keeping his eyes fixed on the reed
+tops.
+
+The click of the gun and the noise of the waking man had been heard, for
+the movement stopped.  The moments went slowly by, and for the one who
+was in ignorance the suspense was keen.
+
+"What is it?" whispered Webster at last.
+
+Hume bent over to reply.  "I think we have been tracked.  Waken Sirayo."
+
+Webster laid his hand on the chief's blanket, and slowly drew it from
+his face.
+
+He saw the gleam of the fierce eyes as the cold night air at once
+awakened the sleeper; then there was a deep-drawn sniff, and without a
+sound, the Zulu was sitting up.
+
+Hume still kept his eyes fixed on the reeds, but noting no further
+movement, he rose gently to his feet, and slipping over the bundle of
+reeds, sank to the ground, and with his rifle held before him, with one
+hand crawled slowly to the edge without hint to anyone.  On returning,
+however, he felt on either side, and found reeds carefully laid after
+being cut.
+
+He had made noise enough, and on his return to the enclosure he found
+all the party astir.
+
+"There is no doubt of it," he said; "we have been followed."
+
+"Yes," said Sirayo; "there are people afoot."
+
+"How do you know, chief, since you slept when this man stole in on us?
+and how he came, and when he went, is to me a mystery.  He cut the reeds
+as he advanced, and lowered each one to the ground.  Before he came I
+heard the sigh of a lion."
+
+"Mawoh!" exclaimed the Gaika.
+
+"Well, Klaas, what is it?"
+
+"It is the wizard; the same who came to the kraal after the lion sprang
+over.  They go in couples."
+
+"It may be the same," muttered Hume; "what do you say, Sirayo?"
+
+"I know not," said the Zulu gloomily, "for the ways of those men are
+dark; but there are people afoot; I can hear them now."
+
+There was a long spell of silence after this, as they listened, with a
+feeling at their hearts that if there were people moving it was in
+search of them.
+
+"Eweh! it is true!" broke in Klaas; "they are men on the war-trail, and
+they sing of battles."
+
+"I hear nothing," said Laura, trembling.
+
+"Nor I," growled Webster.
+
+"Neither do I," said Hume; "but these men do.  If they sing, however,
+they must be halting round their fires, and if they are after us there
+is nothing to fear now; but we must shift our quarters before we are
+trapped.  What do you say, Sirayo?"
+
+"Yebo, we must fly to the mountain and hide.  No man can live long in
+these reeds, and a woman would be quickly struck down by the sickness."
+
+"Yes, we must reach the mountains."
+
+"What!" said Webster; "at first we fly to the reeds, to escape the
+people on the hills--people we cannot see; and now you ask us to fly to
+the mountains to escape people we cannot hear.  It seems to me we are
+dodging shadows."
+
+"You are right," said Hume wearily; "for what but a shadow could have
+stolen in like this man did just now while I watched and listened?  For
+all we know he may have returned."
+
+"Don't!" gasped Laura; "when I look round I see eyes staring at me, and
+in every noise I hear a footstep.  It is horrible, this place, and the
+air seems heavy."
+
+"Let us get out, then," said Webster; "but it is a mystery to me why we
+should have entered a place which is now considered to be a trap."
+
+"It is no use discussing the matter; let us quickly get our traps
+together;" and suiting the action to the word, Hume rolled up his
+blanket.  Luckily the bundles containing the kits were still intact.
+
+Soon they were all ready, and then they followed Hume deeper into the
+reeds, until one of the numerous game tracks was crossed, upon which
+they followed it to the edge, coming out about two hundred yards below
+the spot where they entered.  Then, treading softly to leave no spoor,
+they advanced for a considerable distance, when the pace was quickened
+up the rising and rock-strewn ground.  And now they were out in the open
+they heard, unmistakably, the murmur of many voices, and caught, afar
+off, on the edge of the reeds, the reflection of fires.  Their fears at
+once saw enemies seated about those fires, and gave them energy to
+pursue their way.  Gradually the ground grew rougher, the incline more
+steep; but Sirayo unerringly kept to a ridge that wound tortuously up
+among valleys whose growing depth could only be felt.  Up and up they
+went doggedly, with bodies bent forward to the incline, and the two
+friends took Laura each by an arm, and always spurring them on came the
+faint echo of that deep-throated war-chant.
+
+"I can go no further," said Laura presently, with her hand to her side.
+
+"Rest awhile," said Hume gently; and she sank to the ground, while the
+men stood near drawing deep breaths.
+
+"The sun is soon up," said Sirayo, "and the watchers on the mountain
+will see us."
+
+Webster thrust his gun into Hume's hands, and, picking her up, went
+staggering on a few ineffectual yards.
+
+"Thank you," she said, as she sank to the ground, and at the words Hume
+recalled the stinging rebuff he had received when he had lifted her in
+his arms on the _Swift_.  Time and the alarms of many dangers had since
+then tamed her spirit to indifference as to the degree of respect due to
+her, and she would not have revolted had the Gaika carried her; but Hume
+read in her thanks a deeper meaning.
+
+"The horizon on the east is brightening, and in an hour there will be
+light.  Let us find shelter, and rest the day," he said.
+
+"Go on," she said; "but as for me, I will stay here."
+
+"And I, too," said Webster.
+
+"Stay, Klaas," said Hume quietly; then went off with Sirayo up the
+ridge.
+
+"He has left you to me," murmured Webster.
+
+"I am content," she said; "his energy tires me."
+
+"I care not, if we are together."
+
+"The baas has gone to find a hiding-place; he will return," said Klaas.
+
+"Of course," said Webster bitterly; "it is of our safety he is thinking,
+and the mischief is that I am completely helpless in my ignorance."
+
+"I am too tired to talk," she muttered; and he sat looking out over the
+dark expanse to a light in the eastern sky.
+
+In a few minutes Hume and Sirayo were back again.
+
+"There is a place above here where we can halt against the shelter of a
+precipice, which will screen us from any people above.  It is but a
+short distance."
+
+"It is so restful here," she said.
+
+"Persuade her," he said, turning to Webster.
+
+"I have not the will, even if I had the privilege," he replied; "she is
+tired."
+
+"Come," said Hume harshly; "this is no time to be nice.  We can take no
+risks, and must reach the shelter."
+
+She rose up, and disdaining any offer of help, walked on; and so, in
+silence, they continued until the precipice was reached.  Here among
+some huge boulders they spread their blankets, and in a minute Laura and
+the two blacks were in deep slumber.
+
+"Sleep, Frank," said Webster; "you will wear yourself out."
+
+"So much the better for you," he said.
+
+"Look here, Frank, you are the leader, and I follow you with my eyes
+shut; but heavens above, man, my helplessness breeds in me a feeling of
+desperation, which finds vent now and again in bad humour.  You must
+bear with me."
+
+"Ay, and what of myself?  I have brought you all here, and am answerable
+for your safety.  That is anxiety enough without the additional weight
+of your ill humour and her dislike."
+
+"It will be all right when the morning breaks; now sleep, my lad."
+
+Frank stretched himself out and Webster remained on guard till the dawn
+broke in a red glory, and the heavy mists began to roll up from the
+river.  Then Sirayo and Klaas arose and went away to a fountain, which
+gurgled from the rock, to wash the sleep from their eyes, and to polish
+their white teeth with bits of stick.  Then one of them made a fire with
+dry sticks, trusting to the curling wraiths of mist to hide the slight
+smoke, and the other filled the kettle.  They built up a screen of rocks
+to hide the blaze, then sat down to warm their hands and feet.  Then
+Hume woke, and when the coffee was ready Laura stirred under her blanket
+and lifted her head to look around.
+
+"For heaven's sake, Laura," said Webster, "do go and wash that hideous
+mask from your face!  It is a nightmare."
+
+"Thank you," she said stiffly, but, nevertheless, was prompt to take the
+hint, Webster leading her to the fountain, while Hume looked after them
+with a sigh.  His face had a worn and anxious look, and his cheeks
+seemed to have suddenly hollowed.
+
+"Laura," said Webster gravely; "we did not behave well to Frank last
+night, and he feels it deeply.  Be kind to him."
+
+She looked at him with a flash in her eyes.  "You presume too much," she
+said coldly; but, nevertheless, on returning to the fire, she took her
+place next to Hume, and treated him with a winning deference that soon
+smoothed the lines from his face.
+
+Then they sat and watched the mist fade and the country below appear
+suddenly fresh and brilliant in the soft light, and presently, as they
+looked, they saw a band of warriors move quickly along the edge of the
+reeds.  In the clear light they were plainly seen even to the colour of
+their shields, and it was noticed that at intervals small bodies broke
+away to enter the reeds, while the rest followed the lead of a solitary
+warrior who went ahead.
+
+"They are hunting," said Hume.
+
+"Yebo--they hunt us; and the men who enter the reeds are stationed in
+game tracks.  It is good; they think we are still there."
+
+"And if we had remained," said Laura, "could we not have hidden?"
+
+"No, Inkosikasi; those men who continue will presently enter in the rear
+of our retreat.  They will then spread out and advance.  If we were
+there we should be driven ahead like game, and those stationed in the
+paths would see us sooner or later.  Oh, ay, it is a good plan they have
+made, but we have made a better."
+
+She put her hand on Hume's shoulder.
+
+"You were right, Frank."
+
+They watched in breathless interest, and it followed as Sirayo had said.
+When the main body of warriors reached the spot they entered the reeds,
+leaving half a dozen men on the outside, who turned and followed the
+line of beaters.
+
+"Two of those are white men," said Klaas; "they carry guns."
+
+"The devils," growled Webster; "there is some mystery in the hate with
+which they pursue us."
+
+"No mystery," answered Laura; "they have the key to the Golden Rock, and
+know we are in search of it."
+
+"I'm afraid it is so," said Hume.  "They do not shout as they would if
+they were after game; and, see, a buffalo has broken cover, and the men
+on the outside do not fire."
+
+For an hour the man hunt went on, and from time to time game of all
+kinds broke out, circled round unnoticed, and re-entered the reeds.  At
+last a gun was fired as a signal, and the men straggled out in twos and
+threes till the whole body had re-assembled about a mile below the point
+they had entered.  They remained for some time, after which they lit
+fires, while half a dozen men again advanced, quartering the ground
+along the reeds, searching evidently for spoor.
+
+"It is well we were careful to leave no spoor when quitting the reeds,"
+muttered Hume, as he brushed his hand across his brow.
+
+Slowly the six men advanced until they were opposite the retreat, when
+they again entered the reeds, remaining hidden for some time, to emerge
+at last from the very game track followed by the fugitives.
+
+Hume grasped his rifle, while Sirayo's hand felt for his assegai.
+
+The men stayed a few minutes gesticulating; then four of them started
+back for the main body, leaving two, who moved about for some time with
+their bodies bent.  Then, straightening up, they advanced swiftly.
+
+"Good God!" muttered Hume; "they have hit off the spoor.  Behind the
+rocks!"
+
+Sirayo said a word to the Gaika, and, slipping off their blankets, they
+each took an assegai and went down, one on each side of the ridge,
+taking so much advantage of the shelter, that, after a few moments, even
+Hume could not follow them.
+
+"Have they deserted?" said Laura, with a gasp.
+
+"No," said Hume, in a suppressed whisper; "they are taking the only
+measure that will save us.  They are brave men and faithful, and our
+lives depend on them."
+
+"It is true," she murmured, while her eyes grew large.  "I said it when
+you first told me of the accursed Rock--it can only be reached through
+blood."
+
+From the shelter of the rocks they saw the two men breast the ridge,
+following on the spoor like bloodhounds, and stopping at intervals to
+look over the ground ahead.  Gradually their pace slackened, until, when
+they had reached the place where Laura had rested, they halted, and
+seemed reluctant to advance further; indeed, after looking long at the
+precipice which crossed the ridge, they turned to retreat.
+
+They were about four hundred yards off, and Hume raised his rifle.
+
+"If they escape," he said, "the whole crowd will be about us, and if I
+fire it will also draw them."
+
+At this moment the men sprang aside as though suddenly alarmed, and in
+the same breath the two concealed foes hurled themselves upon them.
+There was a shout, the sharp click of assegais, a death hug and tumble,
+and two men arose to continue their flight down the hill.
+
+The three spectators looked at each other horrified.
+
+"Our men are killed," said Webster, moistening his lips.
+
+"This is the beginning of the end," she whispered; "poor Klaas, who was
+so willing, and Sirayo so strong and brave."
+
+Hume looked after the two men with despair in his eyes.  They reached
+the bottom of the ridge, shouted after the four men, who were half-way
+to the main body, and then entered the reeds.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
+
+THE FACE OF ROCK.
+
+"It won't be long before they attack us, will it?" asked Webster
+quietly; "the main body may be two miles away, or perhaps three,
+allowing for the roughness of the ground.  They will learn where we are
+in half an hour.  We've got an hour--plenty of time to build a circular
+wall from the base of the cliff."
+
+"We three are left," murmured Laura; "and if we are to die, let us die
+together."
+
+"Don't let us talk of dying," said Hume, who had been in a brown study.
+
+"We've beaten them off before, and we'll do it again," continued
+Webster; "but we must have our bulwarks high and stanch.  Let us begin."
+
+"There is no necessity; at least, I hope so.  Wait until I return," and
+he cautiously went down the ridge.
+
+"What's in the wind now?" muttered Webster, as the two looked anxiously
+at each other, and then stood waiting in silence while they searched the
+ground in vain for any sign of him.  At last, after a torturing
+interval, they saw him reach the scene of the fight, saw him a moment,
+and then underwent the same suspense.  It might have been an hour after
+he left them that he suddenly appeared below them from behind a bush,
+and his face told its tale before he cried, "It is all right."
+
+"How," they said, "can it be right?  Surely there were two men killed,
+and the others escaped?"
+
+"Yes," said Hume, rubbing his knees, for he had crawled for many a yard;
+"but the two men killed were our enemies."
+
+"But why, then, did our men leave us?"
+
+"Be sure they have some good reason.  When I saw the two retreat after
+the fight, I thought, with you, that Sirayo and Klaas had been killed;
+but I could not understand how a man like Sirayo could fall before a foe
+not armed with a gun, and something in their walk aroused my hopes.
+When they entered the reeds, I was convinced they were our men; for,
+naturally, the others, if they had escaped, would have run on at once to
+the main body."
+
+"Shake, old man," said Webster; "you've put me in good heart again;" and
+the two brown and sinewy hands came together in an iron grasp.
+
+"Don't leave me out," she whispered, and with the first laugh that had
+left their lips for some time, the three crossed hands.  Then, seating
+themselves on the long grass between the rocks, they watched the Zulus
+right through the morning, and into the afternoon.  There was no
+movement until the sun was on the downward slope, and the shadow of the
+mountain had lengthened out, when, the warriors fell into four
+companies, and entered upon what, from the deep-throated shouts that
+marked time to their antics, was evidently a war-dance.
+
+"See!" said Hume anxiously, "they are preparing to attack; there can be
+no doubting that dance.  Can it be possible that they know we are here?"
+
+"If our men have told them," said Webster gloomily.  "But," he added
+grimly, "let them come, and have done with this suspense."
+
+"They are moving now!"
+
+"And coming this way!"
+
+"Yes, by heavens!"
+
+"Hark," said Laura, "what booming noise is that?"
+
+The two men looked at her, at the wild gleam in her eyes, at the parted
+lips and heaving breast, and the dew stood in beads on their foreheads
+at the awful thought that her mind had given way.
+
+"Why do you look at me so?  Do you not hear it--there!"
+
+Hume started, and bent his eyes to the top of the krantz.
+
+"I have it!" he almost shouted, "they are not coming to attack us; that
+noise you hear is made by the people above sounding the alarm with their
+horns."
+
+"But the Zulus are coming this way," said Webster.
+
+"They may turn off before they reach the ridge."
+
+On came the band of warriors, walking in column of six abreast, with
+their Indunas on their left.  A ribbon of white ran down the dark line,
+made by the mark on their shields, and presently the nodding plumes
+could be seen.  Suddenly they wheeled to the left and wound their way up
+to a spur of the mountain, until the long column of about six hundred
+men was marching parallel to the ridge where the fugitives hid, and bars
+of light shone between the ranks.  As the shadows darkened the column
+was hidden by the rising ground, and, except for an occasional horn
+blast echoing from the mountain, there was nothing to tell of the
+presence of savages near.
+
+So the long day drew to its close, leaving the three uneasy and wearied
+in spirit from the recurring strains, and they waited with fresh
+suspense for the return of Sirayo and Klaas.  Happily, however, they
+were not kept long waiting, for soon after the night had fallen a low
+whistle sounded below them, and Hume responding, the two suddenly
+appeared out of the darkness.
+
+They were overwhelmed with questions, for the joy of the three at their
+safe return broke down the barriers of reserve observed in intercourse
+between them.
+
+"We have not eaten," said Klaas practically.
+
+"We may build a fire," said Sirayo, and throwing down their assegais,
+they were about to bring in wood and water.
+
+"Rest," said Hume; "we will do this," and very soon a fire was made
+under the shelter of a rock, the kettle was put on, and the food brought
+out.
+
+The two natives were left to their repast, and when at last they filled
+their pipes they were again questioned.
+
+"We went into the reeds," said Sirayo, "as you saw."
+
+"We thought at first you had been killed."
+
+"Yoh! we each smote our man, for they were startled; then we took their
+shields, called to the other four to throw them off their guard, and
+entered the reeds.  We went through them till we came abreast of the
+impi.  Then we lay and watched.  There were four Indunas and two white
+men.  They ate and slept, and in the afternoon took medicine from the
+_amapakati_, a big man whom the Gaika had seen before."
+
+"Eweh," interposed Klaas, whose eyes gleamed through the dark, "the same
+who came to the kraal, and who last night crept in upon us."
+
+"They took medicine and danced.  Then they marched, and we thought at
+first they were going to eat you up.  I saw the people on the mountain.
+They took alarm; the horns sounded, and I knew the impi was not on your
+spoor.  They have made their fires high up, and in the morning will
+ascend.  It is well.  Our path will be clear."
+
+"And the white men?"
+
+"One I have seen before," said Klaas, "a small man with a yellow skin.
+The other I know not, but his arm is hurt.  It was he the baas hit when
+we were at the waggon."
+
+"You have done good service, and we will remember.  They will have their
+hands full with the mountain people."
+
+"Oh, ayi, and with the people beyond if they enter the valley."
+
+"Then our chances improve," said Hume, turning to Webster, "for while
+they are fighting we may slip through undetected."
+
+"I suppose there can be little doubt that this is Lieutenant Gobo, and
+that he has somehow possessed himself of the secret of the Rock."
+
+"And he has lost much time in his efforts to put us out of the way.
+We'll be before him yet, unless we take this opportunity of escaping."
+
+"No, no," cried Laura; "we have already undergone in imagination the
+terror of violent death, and we must continue.  I have watched you
+to-day, and saw how anxiety has left its mark on your faces.  Imagine
+how it has been with me.  I can feel that there are grey hairs on my
+forehead, that my cheeks have thinned, my mind is stored with the memory
+of alarms, and if we retired there would be nothing for me but the
+bitterness of disappointment and of failure.  I must reach this Golden
+Rock, and then the future will once more brighten before me.  This
+mission stands for me in place of everything I have lost, and you know
+what that loss has been."
+
+"Do you recall how the _Swift_ leapt at the great sides of the cruiser
+through a fury of shot?" asked Webster slowly, his mind going back to
+that one great tragedy of their lives.
+
+"Yes," said Hume softly, "and I think we said we would do something for
+the relatives of the gallant fellows who went to their death with
+Captain Pardoe."
+
+"Then we advance," said Laura.  "When?"
+
+"Well, we must wait until the Zulus have broken camp, then we must
+strike across their line of march, and continue south, about six miles,
+I should say, from my recollection of the map, to bring us opposite that
+bend in the mountain where the Rock may be seen from.  I cannot
+understand why Gobo, if he is in search of the treasure, should approach
+the mountain at the spot selected."
+
+They continued to discuss this absorbing subject for some time before
+seeking rest.  In the morning a sharp outlook was kept on the movements
+of the Zulus from the top of the krantz, and they were seen to be afoot
+soon after dawn; and as the clouds lifted later on it was also seen that
+the people on the mountain had gathered in small bodies.  When the last
+of the Zulus had been swallowed up in the deep gorges which scarred the
+face of the granite mass, the little party set out on a course parallel
+with the base of the mountain.  This presently took them across the wide
+track beaten down in the grass by the naked feet of the warriors, and,
+taking advantage of the shelter, they pushed on until noon, when the
+mountain dipped round to the south.  Before this they had heard the
+sound of firing reverberating from the deep ravines, but the shoulder of
+the mountain now concealed them.  They paused now for a rest after their
+sharp burst, and to prepare for the arduous labour of the ascent in
+search of the Eye in the face of rock.
+
+Above them towered the great mass, bare of trees, and grim with scars
+and fissures cut by the sharp teeth of the wind and rain.  As is the
+case with many African mountains, the summit was rimmed with a sheer
+precipice that seemed from far below quite impassable.  They traced the
+contour of the upper rim for sign of profiles, which are often
+fantastically outlined by the rock, but without success, and, having
+sufficiently rested, began the ascent.
+
+They had carefully marked off their position by the map, and, in the
+excitement of nearing their goal, had completely forgotten the
+neighbourhood of rivals and enemies in the field.  They went on from
+spur to spur, and whenever they topped a ridge the face of the mountain
+took fresh shape, and they would pause to scan its rugged front.
+
+At last, after one of these halts, there suddenly opened before them,
+and above, a narrow fissure in the mountain; and at the very top,
+sharply defined against the sky, stood out the profile of a human face,
+the forehead sloping back to the very sky-line of the mountain, the nose
+straight and clear-cut, the lips full, the chin with a bold and sweeping
+curve, and the neck clearly defined before it joined the parent rock.
+This profile would have been accounted something curious, but not
+unusual, if it had not been for the marvel of the eye, which seemed
+actually to sparkle with a look of mortal intelligence.  The eyebrow was
+clearly marked--the lines beneath as well; but what gave to the feature
+its magic touch of realism was a spark of light from the retina.  This
+lent majesty to the face.  The eye seemed to follow them as they moved,
+and they could not suppress a feeling that there was some living and
+awful power bending its gaze in severe displeasure upon them.
+
+Hume drew a long breath, and then began, in his excitement, to fill his
+pipe, while, with a smile of triumph, he stood looking at the face.
+
+"By Jove," he said, "the old man was right after all!"
+
+"It is wonderful," said Laura, with a shiver; "but I wish it had not
+such a human look."
+
+"There is something in it," said Webster, in a low voice, "that reminds
+me of an eye shining through a layer of still clouds."
+
+After an exclamation that broke from their lips at the first shock of
+startled surprise, the two natives turned their backs to this mysterious
+and threatening portent.
+
+Hume alone was not oppressed.  Whether because he was free from
+superstition, and had little imagination, he regarded the face as merely
+a natural curiosity, and was moved only because it did exist.
+
+"Come," he said cheerily, "let us reach it before nightfall.  See, the
+ravine before us leads right up, and though the mountain rises to the
+face apparently in a straight wall, there is no doubt a way up.  Take
+your bearings, Webster."
+
+They looked at the face, and then at the points around that were most
+conspicuous, and then they looked at each other, startled and dismayed.
+
+When their gaze again returned to the face, the eye was no longer there,
+and the face itself, deprived of that living spark, seemed not the same.
+
+"Never mind," said Hume, with a strange laugh, "we have seen it.
+Forward!"
+
+Somewhat reluctantly, they moved on, casting questioning glances above;
+but when presently the face was hidden by an intervening ridge, they
+shook off their fear, to be revived again when they entered the ravine.
+This cut deeply into the heart of a mountain, a vast and gloomy fissure
+where the sun scarcely entered, the haunt of the owl, but of no other
+living creature.  Lofty walls towered above them, and the bottom was
+covered with a litter of loose stones and gigantic boulders.  At each
+step the stones clattered away, and the sounds echoed and re-echoed.
+
+They did not speak above a whisper, for a loudly uttered word was tossed
+back from side to side and rolled up in deep mutterings.  And then the
+gloom was so deep, especially when a slight bend to the left shut out
+the opening behind, that it seemed as if night had already fallen, and
+one of them looking up, saw pale stars appear out of the blue.  Still
+they plodded on, with many rests, as the incline grew rapidly steeper,
+and Hume affirmed that in an hour they would reach the top.
+
+"It only wants that time to sunset," said Webster, "and before then it
+will be too dark in this wolfs throat to see a yard."
+
+"At any rate, let us get as near the top as we can, so that we can reach
+the face before sunrise."
+
+"If it is there still," muttered Webster gloomily.
+
+Again they advanced, the darkness deepening, and the walls narrowing in
+upon them, until Hume, who was leading, uttered a sharp cry.
+
+"What is it now, in Heaven's name?"
+
+"The way is barred.  We're in a _cul-de-sac_!"
+
+They went up to Hume and stood against a great wall, which, as they
+could dimly see, stretched right across.
+
+All sank to the ground with a first feeling of relief that they had to
+go no further, except Hume, and he went from side to side, feeling with
+his hands for some way over this obstacle.
+
+"It is no good," he cried; "we must halt here and try again to-morrow."
+
+His words were met by a sound of weeping as Laura, tired out, for the
+first time gave way to a spasm of sobs which shook her frame and awoke
+echoes the most melancholy in that profound abyss.  This sign of womanly
+weakness at once restored to the men courage to face this new trouble
+with cheerfulness, and, deeming it best to leave her to the relief of
+tears, they busied themselves in making for her a comfortable couch,
+finding material in a mass of fern which grew at one spot where water
+oozed from the rock.  The dried ferns also served for fuel, and
+presently the flames flickered up, casting fantastic shadows.  They made
+light of their position, being rewarded by seeing Laura take her coffee,
+and tasteless damper and tough biltong, with the relish of hunger.
+Pipes were lit, she rolled a cigarette, and they leant back to gaze up
+at the stars, now out in all their brilliancy, increased by the darkness
+from which they looked.
+
+Then, rolling themselves in their blankets, they fell into a profound
+sleep, in spite of the hard rocks, and were not disturbed until far into
+the night, when they were aroused by the sound of the wind moaning down
+the ravine.  They drew their covering tighter to shut out the cold, but
+the noise coming and going in a manner weird beyond the power of words
+to express, they sat up to listen.  Then they found there was no breath
+of air stirring about them, and that the noise came intermittently in
+blasts from one direction, being caught up by the echoes and sent
+booming from side to side.  When the echoes rolled away there would be a
+fresh blast, a wailing note, a gasp as if the wind were struggling in
+some long funnel, and, mingled with this sound, they fancied there was
+some human note.
+
+"There is a mystery here," said Hume, rising.
+
+"It is the wizard of the mountain," said Klaas, shivering.  "His breath
+will wither your flesh."
+
+"Oh, hang the wizard!" growled Hume, as he moved off away from the
+barrier; but the sound came again, rising from a moan to a shrill
+screech.
+
+They stood to their arms, driven to a pitch of fury by the disturbing
+noise, until there was light enough to reveal objects at hand, when they
+peered up at the walls above.
+
+Suddenly the Gaika yelled aloud, and covered his eyes.
+
+"What do you see?" asked Hume sternly.
+
+"The white breath of the wizard, sieur!"
+
+Hume stood by Klaas, and looked up just as from a point about fifty feet
+above a puff of white darted from the rock, followed by the now familiar
+wail.  He laughed at the sight.
+
+"Here is our tormentor," he cried; "a blast of wind blowing through a
+natural funnel," and he pointed to the spot.
+
+They gathered near him, and Webster, with a quick glance at the rock,
+began to climb.  From point to point he went with seeming ease, until,
+reaching a ledge, he stood before the aperture.
+
+"By Jove," he cried, "there's a gale of wind blowing through!" then,
+after a pause, while his face was at the opening: "A light!  I can see
+through.  Hume, suppose this is the way after all."
+
+"Is the opening large enough for a man to pass through?"
+
+"I will see."
+
+They saw dimly his body disappear, and waited anxiously while the
+moments slipped swiftly by.
+
+"He is a long time," muttered Hume.
+
+"He is in danger," said Laura, in a low voice, coming close to his side;
+"I feel it."
+
+"I will see," he said.
+
+"Yes," she whispered; "I suppose you must," but she laid a trembling
+hand on his arm, while her face looked ghastly white.
+
+Sirayo let slip the blanket from his shoulders, and with a piece of fat
+rubbed his skin until it shone.  Then quickly he scaled the rock and
+disappeared.
+
+And the three left behind stood there looking up at the hole, while
+across the cleft above struck a broad fan of light, making a silver
+track along the rocks on their right, and by the pale reflection they
+saw the opening more clearly, and were startled by the sudden appearance
+of the chief.  Hume placed his hand on Laura's shoulder.
+
+"Have you found him?" asked Hume quietly.
+
+"Yebo.  But it is bad.  He is dead!"
+
+"Dead!" they muttered; "dead!"
+
+"He lies here in the passage."
+
+"Let us go to him," said Laura, shaking off her fears at once.
+
+"Is the way easy?" asked Hume.
+
+"It is easy."
+
+She sprang to the rock, and Sirayo came down to help her, while Hume saw
+that her footing was secure.  They entered a tunnel, which for some
+distance was quite round, and through which, one at a time, they
+crawled.  Then there was more room, and, guided by the light of day
+ahead, they went on where the tunnel opened out on a wide ledge.  Here
+lay their comrade with his face to the sky, and blood oozing from a
+wound on his head.
+
+About fifty yards to their right and above them was the Face!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
+
+A FEARFUL POSITION.
+
+"He is not dead," said Hume, as he earnestly studied the white face.
+
+"Oh, thank Heaven!  Quick! bring him in here out of the sun;" and,
+sitting down in the shadow of the opening, she took the wounded head
+upon her lap, and, with a firm, yet soft touch, parted the matted hairs.
+"Now get water and brandy."
+
+Hume went swiftly back to the place they had just left, and on his
+return with water he found she had cut away the hair with her scissors,
+which she always carried.
+
+"It is only a surface wound.  I think we have some maize meal left; give
+me some."
+
+Hume unbound a small bundle, and produced a packet of meal, of which she
+grasped a handful and laid it on the wound, pressing it with her hand
+till the oozing blood caked it into an impervious plaster.
+
+"That will stop the bleeding.  Now a drop of brandy," and, taking a
+pannikin handed to her, she poured a few drops into his mouth, bathing
+his forehead with the rest.  "Make a couch there with the blankets."
+This was done, and the insensible form laid softly down.
+
+Then she sat by his side, bathing his forehead at intervals, and
+watching with an absorbed look, while Hume stood near pale and silent,
+and the two natives crouched in the cave.
+
+"Don't stand there," she said, without removing her gaze; "it irritates
+me.  Find out how it happened."
+
+Hume stepped out on to a broad ledge and stood in a maze, looking
+without seeing anything, until the rush of an eagle before his face made
+him recoil and restored his faculties.  Then he keenly noted the
+surroundings.  The ledge terminated at the cave, and from its lip a
+frightful precipice sank down and down into the rock-strewn depths.  On
+his right the ledge swept up the face of the krantz to where the Face
+stood out from the rock, about two hundred feet above.  He noted that
+the outline was not so clear, the smoothness observable from a distance
+being broken up by cracks and inequalities, while the neck was detached,
+and in the eye was a jagged opening without design.  Slowly he mounted
+towards the profile, scanning the ledge for a sign of human presence,
+but finding nothing but a certain polish on the rock, which might have
+been caused by the passage of human feet.  Without difficulty, and
+without emotion, he stepped into the socket of the eye; but no sooner
+was he there, with one hand holding to the rock to support him, than he
+thrilled to the thought that at last the mysterious Golden Rock was in
+the range of his vision.  He drew a deep breath, and, forgetting
+everything, stood looking at the scene spread in noble beauty at his
+feet.  There it lay, calm, beautiful and peaceful, the valley of the
+shining rock; the place where no white man had entered; whose secret had
+been jealously protected for centuries, to find its way at last through
+those gloomy ravines to the solitary hunter, and from him to the three
+who had been so strangely thrown together, and who were risking all to
+win it.  Far and wide stretched the valley, flanked on the east and
+south by the frowning battlement of rocky mountains; on the north and
+west by deep forests, whose dark and sombre mantle stretched without a
+break, a valley of gentle grassy undulations, with clusters of trees
+scattered about, and with a broad and shining river running through its
+centre.  On the further side large herds of cattle grazed, the slopes
+leading to the river showed green in patches, where the mealies grew,
+while dozens of native kraals were visible, and diminutive figures moved
+about in the fields, about the huts, or along the winding paths.  On the
+nearer side there were no cattle, neither people nor villages, nor the
+criss-cross of trodden paths, but only an irregular structure overgrown
+with bush, which marked, no doubt, the site of the ruins referred to in
+the map.  Long he stood drinking in the scene, and making many guesses
+as to the place where the rock should be, until he remembered that there
+was no one with him to share this pleasure.  Then he examined the rock
+about him, and saw that a ledge ran from his feet along the front of the
+mountain facing the valley, to disappear round a projecting shoulder
+about one hundred yards away.  Returning to the cave, he found Laura
+still sitting by the still figure.  She looked up with a smile as he
+entered.
+
+"He is breathing regularly now, and the bleeding has stopped."
+
+"You have saved his life, then," he said warmly; and added softly, "his
+life is yours."
+
+A deep flush suffused her face, and her lips trembled.
+
+"Did you find anything?" she asked absently.
+
+"No," he answered, with a sigh; "but I have seen the casket that holds
+our treasure.  I have looked on the valley from the eye.  We are very
+near it at last.  Will you come and see?"
+
+"I will wait till he can join us.  It is at sunrise only--is it not?--we
+can see the Golden Rock.  And to-morrow, then, let us stand together and
+watch for the ray that is to guide us."
+
+Hume looked at Webster, and he remembered the silent mysterious foe who
+had dogged their footsteps.  "If to-morrow's sun shines for us," he
+murmured.
+
+At last, in the afternoon, Webster suddenly sat up, and with a wild
+glare in his eyes, stared around him.
+
+"We are here, Jim," she whispered softly.
+
+The bloodshot eyes sought her pale face.  "And Frank?" he asked.  She
+drew aside, showing Hume standing there.
+
+"Look out!" he cried hoarsely, "there is danger here.  I was struck down
+just now by some unseen hand.  Give me my rifle."
+
+"There is no fear at present," she said gently.  "Several hours have
+gone since we found you here."
+
+"And Laura has nursed you all that time;" and Hume placed her hand in
+that of the wounded man.
+
+Then he stepped out again to keep guard, while Klaas, who had been very
+subdued, took infinite pains to make the kettle boil out of such scanty
+fuel as he could find.  When night closed down Webster was able to sit
+up, but was still too dizzy to stand, and could not, much to his
+concern, take his turn at guard.  Klaas was stationed at the back of the
+cave, Sirayo at its mouth, while Hume went forward to seat himself in
+the eye itself.
+
+There was a profound silence up in that lofty eyrie, and the
+long-continued strain they had been subjected to made them more liable
+to the sad influence of the surroundings.  In the dim light Laura could
+see the blanketed figure of the Zulu chief, seated like a stone image on
+the ledge overhanging the deep ravine, and as she watched the blurred
+outline minute after minute without seeing any movement, she began at
+first to speculate on his reflections; but this train of thought rapidly
+melted into a vague uneasiness, giving way again to a feeling of
+superstition.  Her breath came quicker, and to still her fears she moved
+softly out on to the ledge and laid a timid hand on the bowed shoulder
+of the immovable savage.
+
+He turned his head quickly at the touch, his eyes gleaming.
+
+"I was afraid," she whispered, shuddering, and sat down near him, while
+he, after a steady look around, gravely took snuff.
+
+"Much dark," he growled in broken English.  "Inkosikasi not like.  Sit
+here; sleep--no!" and leaning over, he gently touched the lip of the
+precipice with his assegai.
+
+"It is very deep," she whispered.  "What did you see down there in the
+dark that you looked so steadily."
+
+He shook his head.  "Still," he said; "listen."
+
+Drawing his blanket more closely round him, he became motionless as
+before, his sombre eyes fixed on the gloomy depths and his ears alert,
+while she, feeling a little comforted by the presence of this watchful
+figure, turned her white face to the brilliant stars.
+
+In the cave Webster was recovering his strength in a profound sleep,
+while behind him the lean Gaika, stretched at length in the narrow
+tunnel, kept doggedly on guard, his position being the safest but the
+most trying, from the cramped surroundings and intense gloom.
+
+The post of danger, however, was on the eye, where Hume sat barring the
+only possible way of approach to the unknown enemy who had struck down
+Webster.  Fully two thousand feet below him was the wide valley, hidden
+now by the blackness of night, and showing its depth only by one tiny
+point of red where a fire blazed in some kraal.  To him there rose soft
+sounds, the lowing of cattle, the cry of wild animals, a song of
+natives, intermingled, and subdued by distance.  There was a sense of
+companionship in the sounds, showing as they did the presence of living
+creatures near that lonely height; but they did not appeal to his stern
+nature.  He sat with a grim purpose, his rifle cocked, his ears bent to
+detect some other noise, and his mind fixed only on the one purpose of
+defending his position.  In this mysterious being, who had dogged their
+footsteps, whose every visit had put them to a severe trial, he knew he
+had to deal with someone not only possessed of extraordinary cunning,
+but who had a secret knowledge of his name and his mission.  He would
+not sound the dangerous depth of speculation about the identity of the
+unknown, but sat on, determined and watchful.
+
+So they continued at their several posts well into the night until the
+wind rose, poured into the ravine, and as on the previous night, went
+moaning into the ear of the cave, and through the narrow tunnel.
+
+Hume stirred in his seat, and placed his finger on the trigger.  The
+moment, he thought, had come.  Then the faint crack of a rifle broke on
+his ear, followed by a confused murmur of voices, and almost at his
+feet, though far down, a circle of fires pierced the darkness with their
+red points.  The fires were evidently on the deserted right side of the
+valley, and, as he judged, in the neighbourhood of the ruins.
+
+Bringing the rifle to his shoulder, and with his elbow resting on his
+knee, he idly sighted at one of these gleaming points.  While his finger
+played with a come-and-go touch in the curve of the trigger, his nerves
+suddenly tightened at a slight sound.  It was a sound made by a man
+expanding his nostrils, the noise he had heard at the reeds--and slowly
+bringing the muzzle round, he fired into the night.  There was the vivid
+flash, the crashing report suddenly breaking the silence, and a startled
+cry from his rear, where Laura still sat dreaming near the still figure
+of the chief.
+
+Then a deeper silence than before, save that the wind wailed down the
+ravine; and Hume, softly rising to his feet, slipped in another
+cartridge.
+
+In a moment Sirayo was by his side, having come without a sound, and the
+two stood intently listening, without a whisper even of what had
+occurred.
+
+"Are you safe?  Oh! what is it?"  It was Laura's frightened voice
+hailing.
+
+Sirayo clicked with his tongue at the interruption, and Hume half turned
+his head.
+
+"Frank," she cried again, nearer at hand.  "Frank; oh, how dark!"
+
+Hume thought of the narrow ledge, of the fearful precipice, of the
+danger of one false step in the dark, and cried out:
+
+"Stand where you are.  I am coming."
+
+Immediately the darkness below was pierced by lurid flashes, and bullets
+smacked against the rock or whistled fiercely overhead.
+
+Hume fired both barrels, and then swung behind the projecting rock which
+formed the ear of the face.
+
+"Oh, merciful Lady!" came in a gasp from behind.
+
+"Take her to the cave, chief," said Hume quickly, "and return with the
+other gun."
+
+Sirayo slipped away, and Hume, taking a heavy Colt's revolver from his
+belt in his left hand, swung himself round and fired along the ledge on
+the further face of the mountain.  The first shot was swiftly answered,
+and as quick as lightning, he emptied the remaining barrels, guided by
+the flashes.
+
+Sirayo returned, and Hume explained to him that the enemy must be
+advancing along a ledge which sloped away to their right for about one
+hundred paces, to disappear around a projecting rock.
+
+"We should hold this place against a hundred.  The only danger is lest
+two or three should crawl up while their companions fire to attract our
+attention."
+
+"It is easy to shoot wide in the dark," muttered Sirayo, "but when a man
+gets close enough to thrust an assegai it is different."  He felt about
+with his naked feet to find the nature of the foothold.
+
+Hume fired again, drawing as before an instant reply, the bullets
+singing viciously overhead.
+
+"They fire high," said Hume.
+
+"How wide is the ledge?"
+
+"It will take two men, crawling side by side."
+
+"Soh!  Here is a plan.  Let one of us get out flat on the ledge.  The
+other will stand here and fire.  Then the other will hear if any advance
+on their bellies, and shoot."
+
+"It is good; I will take the ledge."
+
+"Nay, the plan is mine; I will take the ledge, and if the bullet misses,
+the assegai will not."
+
+"No, chief; your assegai is good against one or two, but this little gun
+holds six lives."
+
+"Go, then," said Sirayo, with a grim chuckle; "but when your little gun
+has spoken let me try my assegai."
+
+Hume took off his boots, laid his rifle and cartridge-belt aside, and
+then, feeling his way with his hands, he crept out, inch by inch,
+several yards, until he was well out on the ledge.
+
+Then he sat close against the wall of rock, with his revolver ready--
+waiting.  It was a dangerous position, and his life depended on the
+keenness of his hearing and steadiness of nerve.  Before him were
+cunning foes stealthily advancing, and within a yard was the lip of the
+sheer precipice.
+
+No sooner had he sat down than Sirayo, standing well out in the eye,
+fired, and the bullet, striking the side of the mountain, went humming
+into the darkness.  A solitary shot replied; then another nearer, and a
+third still nearer; and immediately after the third report a shout
+rolled out, deep and fierce, thundering taunts.
+
+"Look out!" hissed Sirayo, and fired again.
+
+The shouting increased, and Hume's grasp tightened on his revolver,
+while his breathing came quicker.  What was that?  The sound of metal
+touching the rock--just touching it--but the faint tinkle was enough.
+There were men crawling up, then!  That soft noise--it must be made by
+naked men creeping.  His arm stiffened--his eyes were riveted--he now
+scarcely breathed.  Was that a darker shadow before him?--almost within
+reach--his finger closed on the trigger.  There was a groan--the rattle
+of a spear falling--the flash of a gun almost in his face, so that the
+burning powder scorched his eyes, and he emptied his remaining barrels
+before covering his eyes with his hand.  As he did so he heard at his
+side the double report as Sirayo, advancing, fired; heard the terrible
+Zulu war-cry, the clash of blades, the fierce grunting of men in a death
+struggle.  But he sat helpless, blinded, in an agony of pain and
+apprehension.  The sound of the fighting retreated, grew more fitful,
+died away, and with trembling fingers he refilled the empty chambers of
+his pistol, and waited, with his hand over his throbbing eyeballs.  But
+the enemy did not come; instead he heard the voice of Sirayo calling:
+
+"Eh, Hu-em--Inkose!"--calling surely in some strangely unfamiliar tone
+of fear.
+
+"Hu-em, my friend, do not desert me."
+
+"What is it, chief?"
+
+"Come; I cling to the rock."
+
+"Good God!" cried Hume; "wait," and painfully he groped his blind way
+along, grinding his teeth.
+
+"Quick, my friend!" cried the chief hoarsely.
+
+"Yes, yes; oh, God, for one moment's strength!"
+
+"Frank, oh, Frank, where are you?"
+
+He turned his head at the sound.  "Laura!" he cried.
+
+"Oh, thank Heaven!"
+
+"Listen," he cried, steadying his voice by a supreme effort.  "You will
+find a ledge on your right.  Keep your right hand, to the rock and come
+on quickly, quickly, for God's sake!"
+
+There was a sobbing reply, but he heard her come.
+
+"Where are you?"
+
+"Here; but go on quickly to the chief.  He is in danger."
+
+"But you--you are hurt?"
+
+"Go on," he cried fiercely; and he felt the touch of her dress and heard
+her voice go out in a quivering cry for Sirayo.
+
+"Inkosikasi," came the faint reply.
+
+She gave a shriek of terror as, guided by the heavy breathing of the
+chief, she felt his wrist, and slipping her hand over the straining
+muscles of the arm, found that he was hanging from the ledge.
+
+"Your other hand," she said.
+
+"Broken!" he growled.  "Woman weak--where Hu-em?"
+
+She stretched herself on the ledge, and, reaching over, grasped the
+shoulder-strap from which his bag was suspended.
+
+"No good," he panted; then, in Zulu, he muttered: "It is a far drop, and
+every bone will be broken.  To die like this.  Inkosikasi!"
+
+"Well!" she gasped.
+
+"A gun is near.  Find it and shoot!  So Sirayo dies!  Go--find."
+
+"Hold on--help comes.  If you fall you drag me.  Frank!"
+
+There was a movement by her side, fingers felt along her outstretched
+hands, then closed upon the warrior's wrist in a grasp of iron, and
+Hume, shutting his teeth, put forth all his strength.
+
+There was a scramble, a sob, the sound of deep panting breaths, and
+Sirayo was saved.  Hume, with a cold sweat on his brow, fell back,
+almost swooning from the fierce throbbing of his eyes.  Laura gave way
+to a fit of crying, and Sirayo, crawling along the ledge, lay at full
+length, breathing deeply.
+
+If the enemy had come now, not one of them could have lifted a finger in
+defence.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY.
+
+THE PLACE OF THE EYE.
+
+Some minutes they remained helpless in that perilous position, then
+Laura aroused, but at the deep silence--significant of, perhaps, more
+disaster--she cried out, frightened.
+
+Hume muttered some inarticulate reply.
+
+"Oh, let us get away from here," she said, almost in a whisper.  "The
+precipice so near seems to draw me to it, and in every breath of wind I
+hear a stealthy footstep."
+
+"Yes, let us go," he said in a low voice, trying to keep his agony from
+her knowledge.  "Keep your left hand against the rock, and tread firmly.
+Sirayo!"
+
+"My strength has returned," answered the chief, though he still breathed
+heavily.  "Pass by, and I will follow," and there was a movement as he
+edged to the brink of the krantz.
+
+"I will go first," said Hume; "follow me closely, Laura;" and setting
+his teeth so that no groan should escape, he groped his way along.  She
+came fearfully behind, catching her breath now and again, and Sirayo
+followed.
+
+Now that the excitement, which had supported them before, had died away,
+the return along that giddy height, with no other guide than the sense
+of touch, was full of terrors, and these increased in the slow and
+hesitating advance.  If she had known that the one who led was blind,
+that at times he almost reeled through pain, she must inevitably have
+broken down; but Hume forced himself to the task with a desperate
+resolve.
+
+At last he felt the ridge made by the eye, and climbing up, helped her
+to ascend, then asked her if she could go on to the cave; then, as she
+went on, he sat with his head bowed on his hands.
+
+"What is it, friend?" asked Sirayo, as he, in his turn, reached the
+place.
+
+"I am blind, chief, blind!" was the bitter reply.
+
+"Yoh!" and, overcome by the terrible nature of the injury the Zulu
+remained dumb.
+
+"Say nothing to her, for it will soon be morning, and she must stand in
+the eye and watch.  Bind this handkerchief about my eyes."
+
+"I cannot--my arm is broken; but I will send Klaas with water.  It is
+bad--this thing that has happened.  It would have been better had you
+let me go out on the ledge."
+
+"And your arm is broken," muttered Hume.  "We owe our lives to her, and
+the mountain is slipping away."
+
+Sirayo caught him, and laid him in a corner of the rock, then went down
+rapidly to the cave, where he called to Klaas.
+
+"Where is he?" asked Laura.
+
+"He is tired; moreover, he says the morning is near at hand, when you
+will stand in the place above."
+
+"To see the Golden Rock," she murmured.  "At last; but at what cost of
+suffering!"
+
+"What do you say about the rock?" asked Webster, sitting up suddenly.
+
+"Are you better?" she asked gently.
+
+"Ay, except that my head feels strangely light.  Where is Hume?"
+
+"He has been watching through the night, and is still out on the ledge."
+
+"Good fellow.  I will take his watch when I am well."  And with a sigh
+he sank back on to the couch to sleep again.
+
+A faint smile hovered about her lips, then she bound Sirayo's damaged
+arm, and at last, drawing her blanket over her, she sank into a profound
+slumber.
+
+On the rock above, Klaas put a bandage round his master's injured eyes,
+gave him water, and made a pillow for his head.  Sirayo went out on the
+ledge again to keep watch, bearing his injury with stoic indifference,
+and grimly bent on doing his duty.
+
+"Sit with your face to the sunrise, Klaas," whispered Hume, "and when
+you see the sky turn red bring your mistress here."
+
+"Eweh, my master."
+
+So they sat in the darkness and silence deep and brooding.
+
+"Do you sleep, Klaas?"
+
+"Neh, sieur."
+
+"I feel the touch of the morning wind."
+
+"The stars are white, all but one that shines red."
+
+"The morning star.  The sun will soon be up.  Are the clouds rising, do
+you think?"
+
+"The sky shines like the eye of a pool when the moon looks on it."
+
+"And the mist; look below."
+
+"It is black below, sieur."
+
+The minutes went slowly by.
+
+"It must be time," he muttered.  "What noise is that?"
+
+"Birds flying over.  They smell the morning; and the buck will now take
+his stand at the edge of the kloof, to catch the first warmth of the
+sun.  Ayi; the red line spreads along the sky."
+
+"Call your mistress!"  Hume cried.  "The moment is at hand!" he
+murmured; "and I--I will not see this wonder."
+
+Presently she came and stood by him.
+
+"I am here, Frank."
+
+"Stand in the opening above, with your face to the west, and look below
+to your right.  At the first ray of the sun you should see the light on
+the Golden Rock."
+
+"Am I to stand there alone," she said, "at this moment we have looked
+forward to so intently?"
+
+"Where is Webster?" he asked impatiently.
+
+"He is still weak and asleep.  And you, Frank--I can see you have been
+wounded."
+
+"For Heaven's sake!" he said, almost fiercely, "take your stand there.
+I am all right, but knocked up."
+
+She sighed, and stepped into the embrasure, and stood there waiting,
+with an oppression at her heart that robbed the moment of all its
+expected joy.  The two natives sat near, calm and unmoved, perhaps
+marvelling at the strange ways of these restless white people.
+
+"What do you see?" asked Hume anxiously, to make her talk, so that she
+should not hear him moan with the pain he suffered.
+
+"I see the rocks on my right, the outlines of the mountains beyond, a
+tremulous light around, but below it is jet black.  No--there is a faint
+luminous track winding through the blackness."
+
+"That is the layer of mist over the river."
+
+"There is a glow on the summits of the distant mountains; and, oh! above
+me, on the rocks, there is the reflection as from fire.  It is the
+sunlight streaming, and it stretches out, fan-shaped, pouring its
+radiance down into the darkness in countless quivering threads of
+silver."
+
+"Follow that gleam," he cried; "don't let your gaze wander."
+
+"It is shivered by a projecting rock on the mountain side," she
+continued; "but the centre broadens out and flows on deeper and deeper,
+the darkness flying before it, and now there is a lake lying far below;
+no, it is land, I think--rolling prairie, and oh!"
+
+"What--what?"
+
+"Come and look at this--a gleaming spot far off, that glows like the
+heart of a furnace.  Give me your hand."
+
+"No; I am tired.  Laura, that is the rock; look well at it."
+
+"Is that the rock? it glows, it flashes back the light.  There is a pale
+radiance that quivers above and around, and a wide belt of purple about
+its base--a belt of colour that widens, contracts, and coils upon
+itself.  Purple--no, it is not purple; it is like a band of opal; now
+'tis red, blood-red," and her voice sank to an awed whisper, "and the
+yellow flame above shines wonderfully."
+
+"Mawoh," muttered Klaas.
+
+"Well, what now?"
+
+"It is gone--faded!"  And she stood looking below her with wide-opened
+eyes and parted lips, and a glow of colour in her cheeks.  "Frank, it
+was such a sight I saw when we were on the mid-Atlantic."
+
+"And has it repaid you for all you have suffered?" he asked.
+
+"Repaid me; it was beautiful!  But it has not repaid me, and will not
+till I stand beside the rock itself."
+
+"That cannot be," he said in low tones.
+
+"And why?" she asked, still looking away.
+
+"Webster is ill."
+
+"He is rapidly recovering, I am sure; and the news that we have seen the
+Golden Rock will restore him."
+
+"Then Sirayo is wounded."
+
+"His arm is bruised, not broken; and then we have you."
+
+"But," he said, "I am blind!" and the long restraint he had put upon
+himself giving way, he flung his hands out before him with a groan of
+bitter disappointment.
+
+"Blind!" she murmured, "blind!" and sinking beside him, she caught his
+hands in a convulsive grasp, and looked into his drawn and bandaged
+face.  "Oh, Frank! why did not you tell me of this before?  How did it
+happen?  But never mind now; let me lead you to the cave.  Blind! and
+out on that fearful ledge."
+
+"Yes," he said, with a ghastly smile; "lead me to the hospital."
+
+"Hullo!" shouted Webster, as they approached the opening, "I thought you
+had left me, cast me adrift without compass or food, and I have a most
+extravagant appetite.  Don't look so downcast; I assure you I am quite
+well.  Why, what is it?"
+
+"You see, I am crippled, Jim, disabled, helpless, worse than useless."
+
+"Lad, I don't believe it;" and rising, Webster stepped to Hume's side,
+took his hand, then, as he caught the signs of suffering, he gently
+pressed him to the couch, while Laura leant against the rock with her
+hands before her face, her courage gone at last.
+
+"Hurt, while I have been lying here like a log.  Well, it is my turn to
+help now.  Let us look at it."  Gently he drew away the roughly-tied
+bandage, and caught his breath at what he saw.  He looked quickly over
+his shoulder.  "Laura, tell Klaas to get some water."  She went out
+slowly, and he examined the injury.  The upper part of Hume's face was
+blackened, the eyelashes and eyebrows burnt off, the eyelids glued to
+the cheeks.  "Poor lad!" he muttered.  "She must not see this."
+
+"Is it so bad; will I ever see again, Jim?"
+
+"Ay, man, that you will!  I have seen a worse case mend within a week
+with the proper treatment.  Laura, you look worn--lie down and rest.
+This is my case.  Klaas, bring water and some clean damp moss."
+
+Klaas quickly returned, and Webster began, with a gentle touch, to
+moisten the eyelids.
+
+Hume caught him by the wrists.
+
+"Leave me alone--it's torture."
+
+"Good--the powder has pierced the lids, and what you feel is the grit on
+the eyeballs," and he went on sponging.  "The upper part of your face is
+a colourable imitation of Klaas's."
+
+"Jim, don't be so cruel."
+
+"Oblige me by going to sleep, young lady.  Now for the damp moss," and,
+picking out all the coarse stuff, he placed a portion over each eye, and
+tied the bandage.  "Now, take this brandy, and keep quiet."  Then, in
+singular contradiction to his own words, he burst out: "How the devil
+did this happen?"
+
+An hour after he sponged the eyes again, and continued at lesser
+intervals throughout the morning, heedless of his patient's terrible
+sufferings.
+
+"I'll tell you what," he said, as though with a sudden inspiration,
+"we'll get back to the river, and drift down to the coast on a raft; the
+rest will do us all good."
+
+"Yes," she said; "let us go quickly; I have lost all desire to see the
+rock."
+
+Sirayo's form darkened the opening.
+
+"What!" almost shouted Webster, "are you wounded, too?"
+
+"The people are moving down below," said the chief; "the same we fought,
+and there are others gathering beyond the river.  I think they will
+fight."
+
+"Which way do the Zulus move?" asked Hume, sitting up.
+
+"Away towards the shining place from the spot where we saw the fires
+burn last night."
+
+"Are there many of the other people?"
+
+"Ay, they outnumber the Zulus, but they are not eager for the fight.
+Maybe they have already been attacked."
+
+"We will descend, then!"
+
+"Descend!" asked Laura, bewildered.
+
+"Yes; don't you see," he continued quickly, though his lips trembled at
+the pain, "this is our chance?  If there is to be a fight our help may
+decide the day, and instead of being opposed by the people of the
+valley, they would assist us in return for our support.  Don't you see
+that, Jim?"
+
+"No, I don't.  I know nothing of the people of the valley, and it will
+be folly now to continue."
+
+"You must not," cried Laura; "you are not fit to face fresh dangers."
+
+"I have brought you thus far," he replied doggedly, "now you must take
+me down.  I swear if you do not I will not budge from here.  Let us pack
+up and go while there is still light, for the day must be far advanced."
+
+In vain they tried to persuade him, but opposition only made him the
+more stubborn, and after noon they began the long and perilous descent.
+Klaas, as being the most active, went ahead; Sirayo followed, then
+Laura, Hume, and Webster, with rheims connecting them.  Of necessity
+their advance was slow, but after they had passed over the scene of the
+night's conflicts, with its stains of blood, and rounded the projecting
+rock, they struck the top of a ravine, down which the way was safer,
+though more difficult to traverse because of the loose shale.  From the
+ledge they saw a body of Zulus marching on one side of the valley, while
+beyond the river a larger body was massed inside a wide military kraal.
+After many a rest they arrived safely near the bottom, and, waiting
+until Klaas, who had been sent on to scout, returned with a favourable
+report, they reached the valley near sunset.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
+
+A STRANGE AWAKENING.
+
+Immediately before them rose a conspicuous mound, which they believed to
+be the ruins marked on the map, and though, from the fires still
+smouldering near, they knew the Zulus had camped there, they rapidly
+determined it was the best position for them to hold.  Quickly,
+therefore, they struck across and found themselves under a broken
+bush-covered wall, which surrounded an irregular mass of masonry, out of
+which rose a crown of foliage.  They walked round seeking for an inlet,
+and stepped off the circumference at one hundred and fifty yards.  On
+the south, where the wall was intact, it rose to a height of ten feet,
+and appeared to be of great thickness, and, though at other points it
+was lower, there was a continuous natural fence of stiff brushwood,
+showing no entrance anywhere.  They saw, too, from the ring of fires,
+that the Zulus had camped quite a hundred yards from the ruins at a spot
+where a spring of clear water bubbled from a belt of rushes.
+
+"It would not be safe to camp out here," said Webster; "and if there is
+no inlet to this place there is no reason why we should not climb over
+the outer wall."  He very quickly mounted to the top, and, springing
+down, disappeared.  "Come on," he cried presently; "there is good
+shelter in here and a clean floor, in the very centre of winding
+passages."
+
+Very soon they were all on the wall, and Webster led them along a narrow
+passage, which coiled round and round between heavy walls to an inner
+chamber, whose floor was covered with sand.
+
+It seemed so retired, was so silent, that in security they placed no
+guard, they made no fire, neither did they talk; but stretched
+themselves on the sand and slept, and the sky was blue above them when
+they opened their eyes again.
+
+Yet weariness weighed upon their lids, their limbs were heavy, and the
+morning air was charged with a sweet odour that seemed to lull the
+senses.
+
+Slowly they opened their eyes, blinked at the strong light, closed them
+again, without any feeling of surprise that they had slept so long, then
+remained still, listening idly.  They heard, afar off, the drowsy
+war-song of the Zulu warriors; but it was a sound detached from their
+surroundings that no longer moved them.  They did not ask themselves
+where they were nor why.  A strange relaxation of mind and body had
+overcome them--the reaction possibly from the fierce impulse which had
+impelled them on in face of all danger.  Constant anxiety, want of
+sleep, and poor food had worn them out.  Was that the explanation of
+their stupor, or did it arise from some other source--that faint and
+subtle odour that recalled to Laura, at least, the swinging of a censer
+in some dimly-lighted aisle?  She saw the shadowy figures of priests
+moving softly to and fro, the forms of women kneeling, and involuntarily
+there broke from her lips, in a tremulous whisper, the petition, "Ave
+Maria."
+
+Webster stirred, and muttered with a yawn:
+
+"Eight bells, and my watch; a calm sea, and a bright night."
+
+"Eh!" said Hume; "what's the matter with my eyes?  I cannot open them."
+
+"We're bewitched!" shouted Klaas.
+
+They sat up, and then with a cry of fear and amazement looked at each
+other.  They were bound hand and foot!
+
+Bound with the very rheims which they had used to secure their packs,
+their weapons removed, and all their belongings.  And yet not one of
+them had felt the slightest touch, or heard the faintest movement of
+their enemies, neither was there anyone visible beyond themselves.
+
+The room was about ten feet square, its roof opened to the sky, the
+walls covered with the shining leaves and twisted tendrils of the wild
+vine.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked Hume, struggling wildly to free his hands.
+
+"Heaven knows!" muttered Webster, staring helplessly at his bonds.
+
+"And to be bound like this!" cried Hume, in fierce and bitter despair.
+"Sirayo, what do you say?"
+
+There were beads of sweat on the chief's forehead, for his bruised arm
+had been torn from the sling and tightly bound, while his fingers
+trembled with the pain.
+
+"It is true, we have been bewitched," he said hoarsely, "for I felt no
+one touch me, even though they bound my wounded arm."
+
+"Laura, are you also bound?"
+
+"Yes," she whispered.
+
+Webster struggled to free himself, then rolled over until with his
+fingers he could touch her cold hand.
+
+"This is awful," muttered Hume.  "Can't you see any spoor?"
+
+"No," growled Webster; "the sand has been kicked up, but I can see no
+footmarks."
+
+For many minutes they stared at each other with wild eyes, then making a
+frantic effort, Webster rose to his feet, swayed about a moment, then,
+in a series of jumps, reached the opening, where he steadied himself.
+"Good heavens!" he gasped.
+
+They all heard his cry with a feeling of something terrible impending.
+
+"What now?" cried Hume.
+
+"Nothing," came the faint reply, "but the tightening of the ropes;" but
+when he turned, his face was ghastly white, and there was a look of
+horror in his eyes.
+
+Slowly he shuffled to his former place, then turned his head to watch
+the opening, while his breath came quickly.
+
+"You have seen something," she whispered, with her eyes fixed on the
+opening.
+
+"No," he said; "there is no one there.  Laura, can you move up against
+the far end of the wall?  You will be in the shade there.  Try, please."
+
+She slowly crept to the wall, then Hume was asked to join her, and, with
+a deep groan at his weakness, he did so.  Then Webster, with a sigh of
+relief, sat with his back to them, and his face to the opening, and
+there came into his eyes that same look of horror.  The two warriors saw
+his fixed gaze, caught, too, the fear in it, and their eyes were
+fastened on the opening.
+
+"Why don't you talk," said Hume, "and tell me what you see; the size of
+the room, its appearance, anything to relieve this darkness and
+suspense."
+
+"Be still," muttered Webster, in hollow tones.
+
+Hume suppressed the fierce retort that rose to his lips, and the others
+sat staring at the opening, finding in this new suggestion of unknown
+danger a fear which quenched the speculation about the mysterious nature
+of their bondage.  So they sat on, while from beyond there came to them
+a confused sound of shouting, while the sunlight streamed in in a white
+light, and the broad leaves of the vine rustled softly, and imagination
+working on their fears kept their senses on the rack.  The air grew
+closer, their lips were parched, and the sweet odour in the heavy air
+oppressed their breathing.
+
+"Speak," whispered Laura, moistening her lips.
+
+"Yes, for God's sake break this silence!  It is worse than death;" and
+Hume rolled impatiently from side to side.
+
+"Yes," muttered Webster; "it is terrible, this waiting.  Shall we talk
+of the Golden Rock?"
+
+"No, no," she cried, with a shudder.
+
+"I remember once," he resumed slowly, "when on the sea--shall I ever
+feel the touch of the salt breeze again?--the look-out reported the
+sea-serpent ahead, and, sure enough, we saw the gleaming curves of his
+body.  I recall well how we all grouped forward till the captain gruffly
+dusted us for a lot of swabs, though he himself had kept his eye glued
+to his glass.  The sea-serpent proved to be a floating mast with a
+trailing mass of rope and a dead body caught in the raffle."
+
+Laura laughed hysterically.
+
+"A pleasant story," said Hume savagely.
+
+"Man, I can't think of a joke; my brain revolts from the effort.  Why
+were serpents created footless, stealthy, lidless, implacable--the
+living embodiment of cunning, their very presence--" He stopped short,
+and the hairs of his moustache bristled.  "It comes," he whispered.
+"There! there!"
+
+Spellbound, they gazed at something that flickered in the opening at a
+height of about three feet from the ground, something strange, black,
+supple, that quivered in the air like a thin flame of fire,
+insignificant in size, yet suggestive in its lightning play of something
+terrible.  Scarcely breathing, they waited for what was to follow, and
+in a moment found themselves looking into the unwinking eyes of a huge
+serpent.  The long head and about two feet of the muscular neck alone
+showed, held high above the ground, and remaining there fixed as if cast
+in bronze.  The sunlight pouring on the large scales made them glow like
+bits of burnished metal in tints of blue and yellow, while a greenish
+light smouldered in the unwinking eyes.  In the actual size of the head
+there was nothing alarming.  It was no bigger than a man's hand, with
+the thumb bent in, the fingers extended, and the knuckles arched, while
+the neck was no thicker than a man's wrist.  A strong man might grasp it
+by the neck and strangle it--so Webster thought--but the eyes--ah! in
+their fixed, impenetrable stare, there was the suggestion of unknown
+power and mysterious force.  Suddenly the forked tongue darted out from
+the aperture in the grim jaws, quivered rapidly, and then the head was
+withdrawn.
+
+"Thank God!" murmured Webster.
+
+With a faint cry, Laura fainted away, and was mercifully spared the
+fresh trial.
+
+"Ah! heavens!  Again!" whispered Webster, while, with an awful cry, the
+Gaika wriggled back to the far end of the room, and turned his face to
+the wall.
+
+Suddenly the snake darted its head along the floor, and the body poured
+in with a swift and silent motion, the muscles standing out in a ridge
+along its swelling bulk.  Half-way it reached across the floor in that
+swift dart; then its head and neck curved back, and the body was bent
+like a huge S to permit the fatal strike at its destined victim.
+
+"I can feel there is something awful in the room," said Hume, in hollow
+tones; "tell me what!"
+
+Webster gulped down a lump in his throat.  "A snake!" he gasped, and his
+eyes, wild and starting, were held as in a spell.  He was the nearer,
+for Sirayo had shrunk against the wall at the side.  This thing he felt
+could only take one.  He was to be that one.  Well, all right; he would
+not see Laura die.
+
+Then he went through an ordeal that nearly shook his reason.  The snake
+moved its head from side to side, and his head moved also.  The tongue
+darted out, and his lips quivered.  The head was suddenly uplifted, and
+he staggered to his feet.  He began to laugh--foolishly--and his
+features twitched horribly.  His body swayed to and fro, and, with an
+inarticulate cry he fell forward, his outstretched hands striking
+against the cold scales.  With a loud hiss the reptile darted forward
+till its head rested on Laura's insensible body, and its coils gathered
+upon Webster's.  So it remained a minute, then the head was reared
+against the wall, the leaves rustled to the strange, flowing movement of
+the heavy coils, the tail presently slithered over the sand, went up the
+wall, and disappeared.
+
+Sirayo followed it with bloodshot eyes, looked a moment at the entrance
+to see if some new horror were in store, looked at the motionless
+figures about him, then shouted in Zulu: "It is gone; wake up!"
+
+As if in response to his shout, a low music broke out, thin and
+monotonous, the strains from a native bow, and gradually, as each one of
+the helpless band revived, they listened with intense relief to these
+signs of human presence.  In the grim silence of that room they had
+begun to think that there was something magical in the manner of their
+capture, and they would have welcomed any foe in human form rather than
+think of another visit from the python.
+
+The monotonous strain rose and fell on the heavy air, a sickly vapour
+sifted in through the cracks in the wall, suspense gave way before the
+torture of thirst which suddenly assailed them, and Klaas shouted out to
+the unseen foes to come and kill him.  The music rose to a wail as if in
+mockery, then receded, grew fainter, died away, was heard again from
+another point, grew nearer, retreated again, until even Sirayo's iron
+nerves broke down under the irritation as he shouted hoarsely.
+
+Suddenly, without sound or notice, the passage was darkened by the form
+of an old woman, black and withered.  She looked at the prostrate
+captives with a mingling of fear and rage, but they looked not at her,
+but at a calabash poised on her head, on which glittered a few precious
+drops of water.  Was this to be another mode of torture?  No, she moved
+timidly forward, lifted her calabash from her head, while they followed
+her movements with glittering eyes, then shot a cooling stream into each
+mouth gaping wide to receive it.  Then the old witch stood there talking
+passionately, stretching her skinny arms, pointing now to the passage,
+then at the broad trail of the python.
+
+"Silence," said Sirayo, "bring someone here who can listen as well as
+talk."
+
+She shook her lean hand in his face until the bones cracked, then
+shuffled out, still shrilly grumbling.
+
+"I am past all feeling of curiosity," groaned Webster, as his eyes
+shifted uneasily round the room; "but I should like to know two things:
+why that old woman has been cursing us after giving us water, and what
+became of the snake."  He turned his head to scan the wall.  "I have a
+strange feeling in my bones," he said with a shudder, "that those evil
+eyes are still fixed upon me!"
+
+Laura shuddered, too, violently, and her dark eyes, looking unnaturally
+large and bright, glanced about restlessly.  "I hope this will soon
+end," she whispered.
+
+"Good God!" groaned Hume; "if I could only see!"
+
+They lapsed once more into silence, and listened again to the wailing of
+the native instrument, heard a sudden outbreak, the sharp crack of
+rifles, the shouts of men, the wild din of battle.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
+
+DEFENDING THE PASSAGE.
+
+Unmistakably the sounds of battle.  The small Zulu force of marauders
+must have come into collision with the people of the valley.  It had
+happened as Hume had said, up to a certain point; but that point left
+them very far short of the possibility of taking advantage of the fight.
+Whether the Zulus conquered or were defeated, the result could matter
+little to the prisoners in the ruined chamber.
+
+They heard, without hope as without fear, the roar of the distant
+fighting, but what affected them keenly was the wailing of the native
+music, which all along continued to send forth its monotonous cry.  They
+could not understand what was meant by this persistent sound, having in
+it a wild note of appeal, but they felt it had a closer bearing on their
+lives than the din of battle.
+
+Presently, however, they became aware that the fight was coming nearer.
+They heard shrill whistling, the occasional sharp crack of a rifle, the
+deep shouts of individual warriors, and the loud, continuous roar of
+conflict.
+
+It was evident that one party must be in retreat, but fighting
+stubbornly.
+
+"The Zulus are getting the worst of it," muttered Hume.
+
+"If we were only free!" growled Webster, and he made a violent struggle
+to release his hands.
+
+"The shouts of victory," said Sirayo, "are from the Zulus."
+
+"The fight is coming this way rapidly.  The retreating party will surely
+make a stand in these ruins, and then--"
+
+"And then we'll be put out of our misery."
+
+Louder and fiercer grew the shouts; but through it all pierced the thin
+music, and it, too, came nearer, shrill and despairing--now nearer,
+until the musician himself appeared at the door--a wild figure tricked
+out with bones and teeth, feathers, and whisps of hair.  He stood there
+glaring at them a minute like a wild beast; then dashing his reed
+instrument to the ground with a yell of rage, he grasped a small
+battle-axe that hung from his waist, and flourishing it about, poured
+out a flood of denunciation, exactly as the old woman had done.
+
+"Good heavens above," growled Webster, "to be sworn at by a thing like
+that."
+
+There came a wild yell of terror from beyond the walls, a cry several
+times repeated, there was a rush of many feet, and the triumphant shout
+of victory from the pursuers.
+
+"Yoh!" said Sirayo, while a sudden light leapt to his eyes.
+
+The musician was also affected.  His eyes rolled, his lips foamed, and
+with a scream he rushed forward.
+
+"Hold!" shouted Sirayo in Zulu.
+
+The man stood with his axe poised and glared at the chief.
+
+"You have lost your familiar, your protecting spirit, the great snake!"
+
+The native gnashed his teeth and howled in his fury: "Killed!  They have
+slain it, and now our nation is doomed; but you who caused this shall
+not escape."
+
+"Fool!  Would you destroy your friends?  The snake itself fled, though
+we were bound, because our fetish is more powerful."
+
+The native dropped his arm, and looked half terrified at the eyes that
+were fixed upon him by the silent and helpless group.
+
+There was a sound of men climbing the wall, of metal striking against
+the rocks, of the Zulu war-shout, ringing loud above the despairing
+cries of their defeated foes.
+
+"Release us, dog, before it is too late!" cried Sirayo hoarsely, while
+the blood, rushing to his eyes, gave them an awful appearance, as he
+glared at the now cowed native.
+
+A man appeared at the door panting, streaming with blood, a broken
+feather drooping from his hair.  He staggered into the room, and, as he
+advanced, the first native grovelled at his feet, sobbing.
+
+Sirayo thrust out his hands, calling out: "Cut these; the Zulus are our
+enemies."
+
+The new-comer brushed his hand across his brow and flicked the blood
+from his fingers.
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"A chief, like you.  Quick--cut; we can save you."
+
+There was a fall of stones, the Zulu cry rose within the walls.  The
+wounded man, stooping, severed the tough rheims with the sharp blade of
+his stabbing assegai, then drew it across the thongs about the ankles.
+
+Sirayo paused a moment to rub his arms, then, rising up, snatched the
+battle-axe from the still grovelling native and reached the door.  A
+moment later the blade descended with a crashing blow upon the head of a
+Zulu who was rushing in.  Stooping, he snatched the shield from the dead
+man, and forced his wounded arm through the band.  Up the narrow
+passage, with eyes gleaming, with a low moaning noise, came a second
+Zulu.  Without a pause he rushed forward, stepped, unheeding, on the
+quivering body, then bounded at Sirayo.  The fierce onset drove the
+giant warrior back a few feet, but his shield received the thrust, then
+he struck so fiercely that the blade remained fixed in the skull, and
+the handle was torn from his grasp by the fall of the stricken man.
+
+"Mawoh, oh chief, a stroke for an ox!" came from behind, and Sirayo saw
+the Gaika at his side.
+
+"There is not room for two," said the chief, as with his toes he grasped
+the haft of an assegai and lifted it to his hand.  "See to the others."
+
+"They are free, but they cannot yet stand, their flesh being too soft,
+and not of iron, like yours."  The Gaika stooped and pulled the
+battle-axe from the skull.
+
+"Give me room," growled Sirayo, and Klaas, looking under the chief's
+arm, saw three Zulus standing in the passage.  He drew back a step, and
+rubbing his hand in the sand, took a firmer grip of the handle.
+
+The Zulus stood awhile, with their nostrils quivering at the scent of
+blood, and their eyes gleaming with satisfaction to think that one of
+the fugitives had courage to face them.  They did not know it was a
+warrior from the famous fighting stock of their own nation; but they
+feared nothing now.
+
+"To the good death!" cried the first man, and advanced alone, pausing to
+roll the dead body against the wall.  Then he balanced a throwing
+assegai, and launched it.  The narrow blade struck Sirayo's shield full,
+passed through the tough hide, pierced the forearm of the chief, and
+struck against his ribs.
+
+"A good throw," said the chief, and bounding forward, drove in his
+assegai under his opponent's arm before he could raise his shield.  The
+warrior reeled--then sunk to the ground.
+
+"To the good death!" cried the second Zulu, bounding forward at once,
+and hurling himself on Sirayo; he grasped the haft of the assegai that
+still protruded from the shield, and pushed fiercely at it.  The chief
+slipped and fell backwards, and with a hoarse shout of triumph the enemy
+lifted his arm to plunge his weapon into the broad and naked breast.
+With an answering shout the Gaika hurled his battle-axe.  It struck the
+Zulu on the temple and flew high into the air.  The man himself fell
+with his hands outspread upon Sirayo, and before the chief could
+struggle to his feet the third Zulu, whirling a heavy knob-kerrie,
+rushed to avenge the death of his comrades.  Sirayo, by a herculean
+effort, raised the dead body as a shield, warding off the furious blow,
+then, seizing his assailant by the leg, he hurled him against the wall,
+when the warrior, shaken by the grim and blood-stained figure that rose
+to confront him, turned and fled with a cry of "Sirayo."  Each separate
+duel had followed with breathless rapidity, and the chief, exhausted by
+his morning's fast and suffering from the second wound in his left arm,
+leant dizzy and faint against the wall, his lips still curling from his
+white teeth.
+
+The desperate struggle could not be renewed by him if the Zulus
+returned, and at any moment a fresh string of them might appear.
+Already there were eager shouts as the escaped warrior spread the news
+of the presence of Sirayo.  Well they knew him from the fight at the
+waggon; and they would esteem it an honour to vanquish him.  Mingled,
+too, with the cries of his name were the names of his white companions
+and of the white lady.  What would be her fate when they triumphed, as
+in the end they must?
+
+"By the Lord, has a single man done this?"  It was Webster who spoke.
+He had heard the conflict, had seen the first blow given by Sirayo, and
+had rubbed fiercely to bring back the blood to his numbed limbs.
+
+"They will come," said Sirayo, speaking slowly; "I will hold them for a
+time.  When I fall be ready to take my place.  The inkosikasi, does she
+live?"
+
+"Yes," said Webster, with his eyes brightening at the unyielding courage
+of the savage warrior.
+
+"Give her an assegai," he said, and put the point of his blood-stained
+blade to his throat.
+
+Webster shuddered at the fearful significance of the gesture, then
+picked up an assegai, and stood waiting with the Gaika to bar the
+passage.
+
+There was a cry from Laura.  "Come," she said, "quick!"
+
+Webster turned with a roar, expecting to face the foe; but he stood
+amazed to see the native who had so opportunely arrived to cut their
+bands disappearing through a hole in the wall.  Laura stood by, holding
+Hume by the hand, while with the disengaged hand she pointed at the
+hole.
+
+"A refuge," she whispered; "a hiding-place."
+
+"Hold the passage a minute, Sirayo," he cried, then ran to her, and
+looked through into a dark cavern.  "Is it safe?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," said Hume; "but I have lost half my perception with the loss of
+sight; there is some sort of cave here, I think.  The man told me he had
+run here for shelter."
+
+There was a shout from beyond.
+
+Laura struggled through; then Webster lifted Hume, and almost shot him
+in.  "Klaas, come!"
+
+The Gaika looked along the passage and hesitated.  Webster ran, caught
+him by the neck, and jammed his head in the hole, then shoved him
+through by main force.
+
+"Jim, come in!" cried Laura.
+
+He was already advancing to the passage, but he turned.  "I cannot,
+Laura.  Sirayo must come too;" and he rushed away to join the chief, who
+stood astride the passage eyeing a fresh body of the enemy, whose
+glaring eyes and quivering nostrils met the view above the striped
+shields.
+
+Two men stood shoulder to shoulder, their shields before them, and two
+behind held their bucklers above the heads of those in advance.
+
+"Now!" they cried, "together!" and advancing in a solid mass, by their
+sheer weight pushed back their two opponents into the open room; but
+beyond the opening the two would not budge.
+
+Webster drove his fist full in the face of the foremost native, who
+fell, stunned, against the men behind, and in the opening made Sirayo
+plunged his assegai.  Then the two of them struck and thrust furiously,
+while the Zulus in front, who could not use their hands, cried to those
+behind to give them room, but the latter, scenting blood, pressed on the
+more fiercely, till at last they forced their way and, by their impetus,
+fell headlong into the room.  Webster and the chief sprang aside a
+moment, and then dashed among their foes before they could rally; and
+the desperate rush they made, and their great strength exerted to the
+utmost in each swift blow, combined with the fierce war-shout and
+terrible vigour of the great Zulu, produced a panic.  The injured men at
+first ran crying out, and then the survivors fled, leaving the two alone
+with a few writhing figures.  Then they struggled, all blood-stained and
+panting, through the hole to the hiding-place, and the stone was
+replaced.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
+
+THE CHIEF'S PLAN.
+
+They had entered a narrow chamber, into which the light streamed through
+numerous cracks, in volume sufficient to bring every object into dim
+relief.  For several minutes the little band, snatched from certain
+death at the last moment, stood anxiously listening for the movements of
+their enemies, scarcely daring to hope that their hiding-place would not
+be immediately detected; then, with a sigh of relief, they grasped each
+other's hands and peered about them.
+
+At one corner of the room was the old woman who had first visited them,
+mixing something in a stone dish; near her crouched the witch-doctor,
+with his head bent in a state of utter dejection, while, with his back
+to the wall and his eyes fixed upon the woman, leant the warrior whose
+prompt action had so timely released the captives.  Sirayo was seated on
+the floor, with the Gaika endeavouring to stanch the blood that still
+trickled down his arm.  Hume stood with his hands to his eyes, having
+torn off the bandage, which, in its sun-dried state, had increased his
+torture, his face looking haggard and white.  As her eyes, growing
+accustomed to the darkness, dwelt upon his pathetic action, and noticed
+the signs of suffering in his face, Laura realised what he must have
+endured through the long hours of darkness.  She moved to his side, and
+gently took his arm, the tears gathering in her eyes.
+
+The old woman rose up, washed away the blood from the wounds of the
+warrior of her own race, then anointed them with the preparation on
+which she had been engaged, and over the wounds so treated laid a thin
+leaf peeled from a large bulbous root.  The man turned away, and took a
+deep draught of water from a calabash, the gurgling noise breaking
+strangely on the silence.
+
+Sirayo stood up, and thrust his arm before the old woman, and she,
+without a word, busied herself with it, probing it with her skinny
+fingers to feel if the bones were broken, and giving a satisfied grunt
+when she found it was sound.  Moving the limb under a stream of
+sunlight, and bidding Klaas support it, she washed out the wound, then
+brought the gaping ends together, and stitched them with a dried thorn
+of mimosa and sinews.  She spread ointment on the wound, and bound the
+arm up with a curious fragment cut from a long strip stretched along the
+wall.  With the same material she made a sling for his arm, then, with a
+dry chuckle, dismissed him, and cast a questioning gaze at the others.
+
+Seeing, from the expression of Hume's face, that he was the only other
+needing her attention, she stepped to his side, drew his hand away, and
+with glittering eyes peered into his mutilated face.  Then, roughly
+pushing Laura aside, she drew him to the light and again scrutinised
+him, while the others looked on in silence, subdued by the confidence in
+her own power of this old and withered savage.
+
+She whispered to the crouching witch-doctor, and he submissively brought
+her first a calabash of water, with which she moistened the blackened
+and inflamed lids, then some vegetable, which she began to chew with her
+almost toothless gums, making awful grimaces.  Then, taking the
+masticated pulp, she spread it over the lids, stretched on them leaves
+from the bulb, and with the handkerchief made a bandage.
+
+Hume had submitted with a strange patience, and, now that the operation
+was over, stood with his face in the light.
+
+Laura stole to his side again.  "Do you feel any relief?" she murmured.
+
+"Hush," whispered Webster.
+
+They listened, and heard a sharp exclamation outside.  Those who stood
+near the wall peeped through the crack, and saw a Zulu standing in the
+centre of the vacated chamber, looking around him curiously at the signs
+of the struggle.
+
+There was a fierce hiss, and the Zulu, with a cry of alarm, darted off,
+while the old woman opened wide her mouth in a silent laugh, and cracked
+her fingers.  She it was who had made this noise.
+
+They heard a noise of men leaping to the ground, and a distant shouting,
+gradually sinking to a confused murmur.
+
+"They have gone," said Sirayo.  "Old mother, have you any food?"
+
+The old dame responded not very amiably, but at an authoritative order
+from her own chief she disappeared through a narrow opening, hitherto--
+hidden in the gloom, into another apartment, while, at the prospect of
+food, the men brightened up.  A man may soon become indifferent to
+danger, but peril never deadens the edge of hunger, so that many a man
+condemned to death has breakfasted heartily a few minutes before the
+hour set for his execution.  The fare laid before them was not tempting,
+but they ate the food ravenously and felt the better for it.  Laura
+retired into the other compartment, after somewhat timidly eyeing the
+old woman, and the strange crone followed her, mumbling and smiling, as
+well as her toothless gums would permit, at this new type of feminine
+beauty.  The natives prepared to sleep, that appearing to them the most
+natural alternative, but the developed nerves of the civilised white
+rebelled against such indulgence at such a time.  Hume leant against the
+wall with his arms folded, putting a few whispered questions to Webster,
+who restlessly moved up and down, as though pacing the bridge.
+
+"I want to get out of this place," he growled.  "It isn't natural--it's
+cramped, dark, uncanny, with the dried skin of a snake on the wall, and
+in its evil-smelling corners the lurking superstition of a mysterious
+and bloody past.  If we stay here we'll deserve the worst kind of
+ill-luck."
+
+"How large are these ruins?" asked Hume.
+
+"About fifty yards across, but with a multitude of passages coiling
+round the centre chamber, from which we escaped into this hole, which, I
+take it, lies between the first curve of the passage and the inner
+chamber."
+
+"Then, if the Zulus, knowing we are concealed somewhere in the pile,
+made a systematic search, they must find us?"
+
+"Certainly; and knowing we were in the inner chamber they will begin
+their search from that point, and discover our hiding-place at once."
+
+"Would it not be best, then, to find out what the Zulus are about?"
+
+"Good; anything to get out of this place.  I'd better get out the way I
+squeezed in.  Where's the port-hole--the loose stone?"
+
+"Stop; Jim, you must not go; you're too clumsy for this work.  Klaas!"
+
+"Sieur!"
+
+"We are in great danger here.  To get free we need the help of a brave
+man, a man who can move softly, and use his eyes and ears well.  You are
+he."
+
+"Eweh, Inkose, I am that man."
+
+"You will get out of this place, and, keeping yourself concealed, see
+where the Zulus are and what they do."
+
+"I will do it," and he fixed the point of his assegai in a crack in the
+wall where the movable stone was fixed.
+
+"Stay," said Hume; "I have been thinking.  There must be another outlet.
+The woman was here when we entered; I heard her voice.  She must have
+crept in by another way after bringing us water when we were bound."
+
+"I never thought of that," muttered Webster.
+
+Klaas spoke a word to the witch-doctor, and, at the sullen reply,
+removed a strip of hide in a corner, slipped through a hole, and
+disappeared.
+
+There was an exclamation from Laura, and she came swiftly in, holding
+one of the rifles.  "Look," she said, "I have found all our guns and
+belongings."
+
+Webster caught the rifle and opened the breech.  "Loaded!  Ah, now we're
+all right."
+
+Hume sighed heavily.
+
+"Do your eyes pain you still?" she asked gently.
+
+"No; I was thinking of my rifle.  If I could only see a little--a very
+little."
+
+She looked into his face, and, with a curious thrill, saw that the tears
+were streaming down his cheeks.  She took his hand and patted it.
+
+"I am not weeping," he said, with a ghost of a smile, "but the treatment
+of the old woman makes my eyes water."
+
+"Thank God," said Webster fervently; and he grasped Hume's disengaged
+hand in a warm pressure.
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Frank hoarsely, while his hand tightened in a
+convulsive grasp on Laura's fingers.
+
+"I mean that your eyesight will be restored.  I saw a similar recovery
+on the _Barracouta_, and I remember the surgeon's joy when he saw the
+water run from the powder-burnt eyes of the patient."
+
+"I cannot see yet," muttered Hume, as he raised his fingers to the
+bandage.
+
+"Nay, man, wait a little longer; you are in the hands of the old woman,
+and must trust the cure to her.  But, believe me, Frank, you will see
+the sight on your rifle when the Zulus come again."
+
+"And the sunlight and the trees," he whispered.
+
+"Which," Laura said, "would you like to see first?"
+
+"Well," he said, "I would like very much to see my feet, for they appear
+now not to belong to me, and then one look round the horizon.  But the
+idea frightens me," and he leant against the wall again with folded
+arms, while Webster paced to and fro, and Laura stood looking at the
+quiet figure and the three natives, dimly outlined on the floor.
+
+Suddenly the shafts of sunlight that streamed through the lower cracks
+were cut off, and the black line of shadow crept steadily up the wall,
+until the narrow cell was faintly illumined by one broad stream only,
+and this they watched slowly fade away, leaving them in impenetrable
+gloom.
+
+"It is very still," muttered Hume.
+
+"Yes," said Webster; "it is oppressive.  I suppose the night is upon us,
+but the light has been turned off as though it had been under command.
+We must not stay here; it would be folly--madness."
+
+There came a sound of shuffling, and the voice of Klaas, sounding
+hollow, called out:
+
+"Are you there?"
+
+"What have you seen?"
+
+"Ah, it was so still I thought you had been swallowed up.  The Zulus are
+in three parties; one has marched up the valley, another is by the
+river, and the rest stay near here, where they were encamped before."
+
+"Are they keeping watch over the ruins?"
+
+"Neh, sieur, I think they fear the stones and the things in them at
+night."
+
+"Then let us get out of this," said Webster.
+
+"Wait awhile," said Hume, for an animated discussion had sprung up
+between the natives, and he was listening intently.  The strange chief
+was evidently emphasising some point with great earnestness, and the
+smack of his fingers into the open palm marked off each point.
+
+"Does he think the Zulus are determined to find us?" asked Hume.
+
+"Oh, ay," said Sirayo; "yoh, I have no more snuff.  They will attack
+to-morrow, and if they do not succeed the others will come to their
+help.  But they do not seek us!"
+
+"They do not seek us?"
+
+"So the chief says.  They came here in search of riches stored below,"
+and the thud of his assegai was heard as it struck the floor.  "They
+find us here.  It is the worse for us--but they do not seek us.  So says
+the chief."
+
+"Is there such a treasure?"
+
+"No chief would tell where the grain pit is dug in the kraal, or if it
+were full of grain.  But the Zulus do not hunt on a cold spoor.  If they
+come after riches, who will say they are not here?"
+
+"But who told the Zulus of the store?  They were encamped here before,
+and did not enter the ruins."
+
+Sirayo repeated this, and the chief, with an angry exclamation, poured
+out a volume of excited words.
+
+"He says the secret must have been told them by one of the witch-doctors
+who lived here, and who alone knew of it with the chiefs."
+
+There was a noise in the room of someone moving.  Laura cried out that
+something had brushed against her, and there was a scraping, followed by
+a rush of cold wind.
+
+Each grasped a weapon, and deep silence ensued as they listened; then
+Webster struck a match, and, as the feeble light spread, they followed
+its path through the blackness.
+
+"Yoh!" exclaimed Klaas, whose eyes gleamed as they rolled, "the
+_umtagati_ (witch-doctor) has gone," and he thrust his assegai through
+an opening in the wall opposite to the gap through which they had
+entered.
+
+The match went out, and the stranger chief gave a sharp exclamation.
+
+"What the devil is in the wind now?" demanded Webster impatiently.
+
+"Treachery," said Hume.  "Was that the informer?" he asked in Zulu.
+
+"Eweh," said Sirayo fiercely; "my fingers itched to grasp him by the
+throat as he sat there like an evil toad through the afternoon.  He is
+one of those who knew the secret, so says Umkomaas, the chief, and he
+must have given the word to the Zulus last night."
+
+"And now he will go straight to them, tell them where we are, and that
+half of us are wounded."
+
+"Eweh, he will do that."
+
+"For Heaven's sake," said Webster, "give me the bearings of this
+matter."
+
+Hume explained.
+
+Webster laughed fiercely.
+
+"We've missed port again, but I'm hanged if I weigh anchor now."
+
+"A few minutes ago you were anxious to get away from here."
+
+"Look here, Frank, we are after a treasure.  There's no doubt we've been
+mad to push on; but if there is a treasure here we would be mad to give
+it up.  What do you think yourself?"
+
+"Leave me out of the question; let Laura decide."
+
+Sirayo's deep voice interposed.
+
+"The chief Umkomaas has a plan."
+
+"Wait awhile, Laura.  What is this plan?"
+
+"He says it would be no good to leave this place unless you take the
+backward path up the mountain, for on the plain you would be seen and
+attacked in the open.  This is a strong place, and the only place that a
+few men can hold.  The Zulus will attack in the morning after they have
+eaten.  You will hold them off till the sun is high.  To-night one of us
+will leave, cross the river, and gather the people to fall on the Zulus.
+He cannot go, for his hurts are deep; neither a white man, for the
+people would not follow him; neither the Gaika, for he is not of their
+race.  It is I who will go.  Soh!  That is the plan, and it is good."
+
+Hume interpreted, and Webster banged his clenched hand into the open
+palm.
+
+"Splendid!" he cried.
+
+"Now, Laura, the decision remains with you."
+
+"I am tired," she said in low tones.  "I could not climb the mountain if
+we retreated.  Let us stay."
+
+Hume sighed, and laid his hand upon hers.
+
+"What we decide to do must be done quickly," said Sirayo.
+
+"If you find your way to the people, Sirayo, will they not turn upon
+you?"
+
+"The chief has given me the word and a sign.  They will follow Sirayo,"
+said the chief proudly.
+
+"Then let it be as you wish."
+
+"I will go," said the chief, rising; "I must swim the river, and though
+the way is not far, it will be longer than if I had both arms.  But when
+the shadow is small at your feet you will hear Sirayo's war-cry."
+
+Without another word he passed from the room by the way Klaas had taken.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
+
+SIRAYO'S MISSION.
+
+After climbing through the hole, Sirayo found himself in a passage so
+narrow that his broad shoulders jammed, and he was obliged to edge along
+sideways, and so dark that he had to feel his way with his toes.  It
+bent sharply to the left, and after he had shuffled on about twenty
+paces he found an opening above, and mounting on projecting stones,
+reached the top of the wall, from which he dropped into the open
+passage.  This coiled round and round in widening circles until at last
+he stood on the outermost fringe, from which he saw the light of Zulu
+fires about two hundred yards distant.  Creeping round the wall to the
+opposite side, he saw, far off, the gleam of camp fires straight ahead
+in the direction of the Golden Rock, and then to the left, towards the
+river, the lights of still another encampment.
+
+The stars shone brilliantly out of the black sky, the air was cool and
+refreshing.  He drew a long breath, looked back at the dark pile, so
+much like a mound of the dead that he almost shuddered, then sprang
+lightly to the ground, paused awhile, listening, and silently slipped
+away in the direction of the river, straight towards the Zulu fires.
+
+He heard the distant lowing of cattle complaining at being hurriedly
+driven in the night, the sharp yelping of dogs, the angry muttering of a
+war-song chanted by deep throats.  They were sounds familiar to his ear.
+They told of war and victory, of premeditated riot in the morning, of a
+frightened people deserting their kraals in the night with such of their
+goods and their cattle as they could hastily collect, of terrified
+children and wailing women, of men who had lost heart.  He knew them
+well.  Often in his daring youth and stormy manhood he had burst upon
+some peaceful village slumbering amid waving fields of maize, and seen
+the scattered survivors flying to the woods or rocky retreats in a
+neighbouring krantz.  Like a hurricane he had swept over the land,
+leaving desolation in his track; and the wailing of innumerable women
+widowed by his terrible regiment, the quavering cry of children made
+fatherless by him, seemed to mingle with that tremulous cry that came on
+the night air from beyond the river.  His iron soul stirred under these
+blood-stained memories at the thought that now, in his grim age, the
+last of his band, an outcast, without authority or possessions beyond
+the assegai in his hand, he was hurrying to the relief of the helpless.
+He strode on faster over the level plain, his nostrils expanding, his
+tireless sinews stiffening until his gait was as clean and springy
+almost as in his youth, when he led his victorious warriors to the
+fight.
+
+The reflection before him shone in a ring of fire, then as he rapidly
+advanced this split up into separate flames, and he slackened his speed
+to approach stealthily.  There were ten fires, and in a circle about
+each there squatted ten warriors, some of them chattering as they ate,
+others flinging their war-cry across the river, telling what they would
+do in the morning.  Little did they dream in their confidence of the
+dreaded enemy whose fierce eyes took note of their numbers, and who,
+slipping away to the right, turned his steps to the river.
+
+He stood on the high bank, listening to its soft, mysterious murmur,
+trying to pierce the gloom on the further bank, and unshaken by the
+eye-like reflections of the brighter stars, through which Icanti, the
+spirit of the river, looks out upon the venturous mortal, seeking to
+draw him into the clutch of the waters.  At a spot where the bank was
+low he went down to the water, felt the depth with his assegai, then
+gently slipping in, so that he made no sound to disturb a lurking
+crocodile, he waded until the cold waters mounted to his chin, when he
+fixed his assegai in his waistband, and struck out with his right arm.
+A few strokes he made, until with his toe he touched the bottom again,
+then struggled on to the bank, reached the top, and all wet as he was
+ran in the direction of a confused noise.
+
+His way was soon barred by the thorn fences to the cultivated lands, in
+which he could hear some stray cattle munching at the forbidden food,
+but with unerring instinct he found a footpath, and passed through
+several kraals, deserted by everything save a few curs, which yelped at
+his heels before returning to forage in the abandoned huts.  Then he
+came up with a string of old people, feebly struggling along, who stood
+still to look after him with bleared eyes, and next upon a band of
+women, swinging along under great bundles borne on their heads.  At the
+sight of this glistening figure at their side, that had come without
+warning, and of his head-ring, sign of the dreaded Zulu, they threw down
+their bundles and ran shrieking away, while at the noise young children
+ahead cried out shrilly, communicating the alarm to the men who were in
+advance driving the cattle.
+
+The men called to each other, and the rush of their feet could be heard.
+
+"What is it?" they shouted.
+
+"We know not," said a boy's clear voice; "but our mothers cried that the
+Zulus were upon us.  Give me an assegai.  I will fight, too."
+
+"Run, my child, run!" called out a woman's voice.
+
+"Stand where you are, and I will do you no harm;" and as the deep voice
+rolled above the noise there was immediate silence.  "Soh!  Let your
+chief Induna come forward; I have a message."
+
+"Do not heed him," cried the woman; "he will slay you."
+
+"There is but one," cried another, "kill him; nay, let us tear him to
+pieces."
+
+"Stop, or by the bones of Chaka I will beat you till you cry for mercy.
+Let the boy who spoke advance.  Come."
+
+"My son, my son, do not heed."
+
+"Nay, I will go, since I am chief;" and there came to the great Zulu a
+stripling, with his eyes gleaming, and the hand that held the assegai
+thrown back.  "You speak to us as though we were dogs!  Who are you?"
+
+Sirayo's eyes rested on the boy, then glanced around.
+
+"Tell your men to keep back.  I hear them stealing through the grass
+like snakes."
+
+The boy turned, and called to the men to keep back.
+
+"Good!  You will be a chief some day."
+
+"I am a chief now," said the boy proudly, "since my father is killed."
+
+A strange light leapt from Sirayo's eyes.  "Take that, O chief, and tell
+me what it is!" and he held out something, after sticking the point of
+his assegai in the ground.
+
+The boy looked at the gigantic figure before him, then snatched the
+thing, and held it close to his eyes.
+
+"It is the war-plume of my father--Umkomaas."
+
+"Yebo.  He lives; but he is in danger, and if you would save him you
+must obey me.  Say that to the people."
+
+The boy turned instantly and shouted the message, whereupon the women
+came forward, while the men talked.
+
+"How do we know this is true?" asked an old man suspiciously.
+
+"You know by the plume, by the word that your chief lies in the old
+place of stones, by the wound I received in his defence, by the sign of
+the snakeskin round my arm.  I have said enough.  Let those who obey the
+chief Umkomaas stand on this side."
+
+Sirayo, beginning suavely, ended by ringing out in a stern command, and,
+quelled by the authority in his tone, a few of the young men ranged up
+behind him.
+
+"What means this, son of Umkomaas? are your warriors quicker to run than
+to obey?"
+
+There was a threatening murmur from the dark mass of men who had
+gathered opposite to Sirayo and his small party.
+
+"Who are you that we should obey?"
+
+"Who am I?  Well do you ask, for never yet have you seen a warrior like
+me.  I am he who was the first war chief of the Zulus of the south.  I
+have led, I have fought, I have conquered since I was a boy like this
+son of Umkomaas: I am Sirayo!"
+
+They fell back before this name, and the women fled again; for the fame
+of the great chief, spreading from tribe to tribe, had entered their
+remote valley.
+
+"Yes, I am Sirayo, and there never was a warrior yet who would not have
+left all to follow him at his command.  You have heard; now, without
+more words, will you obey?"
+
+"Bayate!" they cried, and thundered on their shields--all but a few
+Indunas, who would feign probe their suspicions by prolonged discussion.
+
+"It is well.  Let there be no more thought of flight.  Your women will
+return to their kraals.  The men will take their weapons and meet in the
+great kraal.  Every man will take his place in his own regiment, and the
+Indunas will take their proper positions.  Advance!"
+
+Under the spell of this born leader the courage of the people returned;
+the men poured on in one direction, talking excitedly, and Sirayo
+followed with the young chief by his side, whose head was thrown back,
+while his eyes continually turned upon his formidable companion.
+
+In a vast semicircle within the great kraal the men drew up in something
+like order, regiment on regiment, to the number of two thousand, each
+regiment with shields differing in colour from those carried by the
+others.
+
+Sirayo marched through the lines, towering a head above them, and the
+rows of gleaming eyes followed him, trying in the dark to decipher the
+features of their new leader.  It was an impressive scene--this large
+body of men, silent and waiting, drawn up under the stars within the
+wide circle of huts.
+
+Sirayo smiled grimly on returning to the head of the column, after
+judging the number, to think that so large a body should dream of flying
+before the small band of Zulus.
+
+"Your enemies are few," he said; "you are many.  Why did you think of
+flight?"
+
+"They had killed our fetich, and the witch-doctors said we were doomed,"
+came the response.
+
+"They lied; they were in league with the enemy.  Which of the regiments
+suffered most in the fight?"
+
+"We of the Rock," said a young Induna proudly; "nearly half of our
+brothers lie beyond, and they fell facing the foe.  I, Inyame, say it."
+
+"The Regiment of the Rock will draw up on my right."
+
+There was a movement, and from the mass, with active steps, a body of
+about three hundred drew up.  Sirayo recognised the red and white
+shields of the men who had first sided with him.
+
+"The regiment of tried fighting men will now draw up on my left."
+
+"It is the Regiment of the Snake," said a deep voice, and at the command
+a body of about five hundred fine warriors marched to the left, giving a
+booming shout as they fell into columns.
+
+"Who leads the Regiment of the Snake?"
+
+"I, Chanda."
+
+"Chanda, listen!  You will at once lead your men down the river towards
+the place of stones.  On the further bank you will see the fires of a
+band of Zulus.  Camp over against them, singing your war-song.  In the
+morning, when they retire, you will cross the river and attack them in
+the rear."
+
+"Will they retire?"
+
+"I have said it.  Heed my words.  When they retreat you must cross and
+follow.  Depart, and make much noise."
+
+Chanda gave his orders, and the regiment, accompanied by a shrill
+whistling from those who remained, filed out of the gates and went
+chanting into the night, and as they sang they struck the hafts of their
+assegais against their shields.
+
+"Chanda has done well.  Let the others obey as promptly.  I want, now,
+picked men from the regiments in the centre to make good the Regiment of
+the Rock.  Inyami, select your men."
+
+The young Induna advanced and touched, with his assegai, the men he
+wanted, ticking them off on his fingers, until two hundred stood out and
+fell in with the Regiment of the Rock.
+
+"Son of Umkomaas, little chief with the big heart, I place you over the
+men who remain in the centre.  You will sleep here, but when the sun is
+up you will march quickly to the old stones where your father lies."
+
+"Shall I not go at once, O chief?"
+
+"Nay, do as I say.  Inyami, listen.  The largest body of Zulus lie at
+the place of the shining Rock.  Is it not so?"
+
+"It is so, great chief."
+
+"You will lead on to the nearest drift.  We will cross the river
+to-night with your regiment, and draw up before the Zulus.  There must
+be no noise.  We steal like panthers on the prey--silent and hungry.  If
+any man speaks so much as one word it will be his last.  Do you heed?"
+
+"Eweh, O chief!"
+
+"Come, then;" and placing himself beside Inyami, he led the regiment
+towards the river.  The war-song of Chanda's regiment on the march came
+plainly on the wind, and in response they heard the deep booming of the
+Zulu chant.  The enemy recognised that some movement was afoot, though
+in their confidence they never expected that their defeated foes would
+dare to attack them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
+
+AT BAY!
+
+When Sirayo left, Webster, chafing at the narrow limits of the stifling
+den, knocked away the loose stone and wriggled through into the inner
+chamber, where they had passed the previous night in a stupor of sodden
+sleep.  The Gaika presently glided to his side, and Laura soon struggled
+out to drink in the fresher air.  The two men went along the passage,
+still bearing its ghastly burdens.
+
+She leant against the rough wall, with her white face to the stars,
+weary in body and mind, worn out by the unequal struggle against the
+accumulating horrors and dangers, in which there was no wild dash of
+romance.  She was beaten.  Her courage had lost its resolution; her
+pride had been burnt out.
+
+"Where have you gone?" asked Hume, with a touch of reproach in his
+tones.
+
+She shuddered, but did not move or speak.
+
+"It is very dark," he muttered, as he groped about with his hands until
+he came upon the opening, when he thrust his head through, moving it
+helplessly from side to side.
+
+"Don't!" she gasped; "you frighten me."
+
+"I am sorry," he said.
+
+"For heaven's sake!" whispered Webster as he hurried up, "keep quiet,
+man.  Someone has entered, and is coming along the passage."
+
+With a low cry, Laura placed her hands before her face.
+
+"I will protect you!" murmured Webster passionately, and Hume silently
+withdrew his head, a feeling of fierce despair at his heart.
+
+He stood in the narrow den, hoping in his bitterness that death would
+free him from his torture, when the old woman suddenly clicked with her
+tongue angrily, then muttered to the wounded chief.  He rose up, and she
+supported him to the hole, calling on the Gaika to help him through.
+She followed, and said a few words to Klaas, who, with a stifled
+exclamation, began tapping the sanded floor with the butt of his
+assegai.
+
+"What are you doing?" demanded Webster.
+
+"Wait, sieur;" and the tapping of the assegai continued.  "This is the
+place;" and Klaas with his naked foot pushed the sand away, leaving bare
+a flat stone in the centre of the room.  With the point of his assegai
+he prised up the stone and then started back, for there was a yawning
+pit disclosed, out of which came a rush of damp and sickly air.
+
+"Where does that lead?" asked Webster.
+
+"I don't know, sieur.  The old woman will say."
+
+She spoke rapidly, pointing with skinny forefinger at the pit, and
+turning her gleaming eyes from face to face.
+
+"She says we must go down," said Klaas; "but I am afraid."
+
+"Hark!" said Laura; "I hear voices."
+
+The old woman drew Umkomaas to the hole, then, seizing Laura by the arm,
+pulled her violently forward.
+
+"What the deuce does the old witch mean?" growled Webster impatiently.
+
+"I think," said Klaas, "she say this is the last place of hiding; and
+the Amazulus will find us if we stay here."
+
+"Go down, then."
+
+"Neh, sieur.  It is too dark."
+
+"It is no blacker than a ship's hold.  Stand away;" and, dropping his
+feet through, Webster lowered himself till he touched ground, when
+immediately Umkomaas almost fell on top of him, and he was obliged to
+catch the helpless chief and stagger back with him.
+
+Before she could utter a word of protest, Laura was seized by wiry arms
+and dropped into the pit, and the Gaika, with a grunt of anger at such
+treatment of his mistress, followed her.  Then the old woman quickly
+slid the stone over the opening, rapidly spread the sand above, and
+stood listening.
+
+Hume had heard the exclamations, the excited whispers, and a muffled cry
+from Webster calling his name, and in the silence which suddenly cut
+short this commotion he read some fresh calamity, and stood for a moment
+trembling violently.  Then he groped once more to the hole, and,
+thrusting his head through, called softly:
+
+"Laura!"
+
+No answer came to the murmur.
+
+"Webster!" he cried, a little louder.  "Jim! are you there?"
+
+"Ssh! be still," came a suppressed cry in the native tongue.
+
+"I have been still too long--where are you?"
+
+"Listen.  The men know that hiding-place.  I heard two come and retreat.
+They will return in greater numbers.  Be not afraid for your people;
+they are safe with Umkomaas, my chief, under the ground here;" and she
+stamped with her feet.
+
+"They are safe," he muttered--"safe, you say?  Why did they leave me?"
+
+"You must stay there and tell the Amazulus that your people have fled."
+
+"And then?"
+
+"They will kill you.  Your strength has gone; it is well."
+
+"Good heavens!" he gasped in horror; "did they know that?  No, no, no!
+It is a lie.  They would not leave me.  Jim!"
+
+"Ssh!" she hissed, then swiftly climbed the wild vine and crouched flat
+on the wall.
+
+"My God!" he cried, "my God! and is this the end, to be left in a hole,
+blind, helpless, and alone?  And I lost my sight for them! would have
+lost my life to save them"--he paused--"ay," he continued softly, "may
+do so yet."  There was the ring of metal against stones, and he drew in
+his head instinctively and grasped his rifle.  "Good!" he muttered
+fiercely; "I hope there are many, so that even a blind man may strike
+home."
+
+He heard the soft sound of men brushing against the stones, heard their
+exclamations of fury as they kicked against the bodies of dead Zulus,
+and knew they had reached the inner chamber.
+
+"Is this the place?" said one harshly, in Portuguese.
+
+"This is the place, Captain," answered a deep voice that seemed familiar
+to Hume.
+
+"And where are those robbers hidden?"
+
+"In the wall there.  See! there is the gap by which they entered."
+
+"Hark ye," said the first man, raising his voice, and speaking in
+English, "you who are hidden in there.  I will lay a train of powder and
+blow the walls in upon you if you so much as lift a finger upon us.  Do
+you hear?"
+
+"I hear," said Hume sternly; "and I warn you also that I will shoot you
+like the dog you are if you attempt to injure one of us."
+
+There was a laugh, and a third man, whom Hume judged to be Lieutenant
+Gobo, said: "Would it not be better to blow them in now, Captain?"
+
+"What! and kill the girl you rave about?" said the Captain in
+Portuguese.  "We'll get her first--moreover, we have no time to waste;
+the people across the river may yet show fight.  Hark to their singing!
+Blow them up when we have finished this job."
+
+The deep chant of Chanda's regiment rolled from beyond.
+
+"Now," said the man who had been addressed as Captain, "let us begin.
+Ferrara, which is the entrance to this hidden treasure?  It must be in
+the centre.  Where is that witch-doctor--ah, you thief of night, come
+here!  Now, Ferrara, tell him to point out the place."
+
+As the witch-doctor stepped forward, a loud hiss arrested his steps.
+
+"What in the devil's name was that?"
+
+"Look!" said Gobo, trembling; "there is something moving on the wall.
+Is it a snake?"
+
+"Serpent or not, here goes."  A report rang out, followed by a wild cry,
+the rustling of leaves, and the fall of a heavy body.
+
+"Carrambo!  What have we here?  A woman--a witch.  Gobo, here is your
+serpent;" and the Captain laughed.  "Do you hear that, you inside?  If
+you do not keep quiet you will be served in the same way."
+
+The old woman, with a last effort, called to Hume: "Keep watch; they
+look for the secret place of hiding."
+
+"Be silent!" cried the Captain; "and, Ferrara, show us this place of
+treasure, if you have not lied."
+
+"I do not lie," replied a deep voice, "and you have done wrong to shoot
+that woman.  She has given warning of our search."
+
+"And what then?  Are we afraid of a parcel of sick men?  By the saints!
+I will give them this old witch for company."
+
+"Stay; here is the place.  Yes--see the crack!  Your knife, Captain, to
+force it open."
+
+Hume heard the scrape of the knife, the thud of the stone as it fell
+back.
+
+"Carrambo!" exclaimed the Captain.  "What a hole of night!  Who goes
+down first?  I will lead.  A light--give me a light."
+
+There was a light, a flash of red flame from the hole in the wall, as
+Hume, who had listened, with nerves all quivering, fired blindly to save
+his friends.
+
+"Bayate!" gasped the old woman.  "It is well done, O Mole."
+
+There was a sound of rushing feet, followed by a storm of curses from
+the passage, where the men had rushed for shelter.  Hume drew his
+revolver, and, with his arm out of the hole, fired in the direction of
+the voices.
+
+"The powder!" roared the Captain, hoarse with fury.  "Give me the
+powder, and I will blow in the wall on their heads."
+
+"Nay!" said Ferrara; "the falling stones may crush in the secret chamber
+below.  Let two of us fire into the hole while the other descends."
+
+"No, the powder!  That bullet grazed my head.  I will lay it against the
+wall.  Good! here is a projecting stone.  Get back, all of you, to the
+inner curve."
+
+Hume, listening, heard the men retreat.
+
+"Listen in there!  In one minute you will be crushed.  I have laid the
+train"--there was a scratch--"I have fired it--good-bye!"
+
+Hume stood a moment; then felt wildly for a hole, struggled through, and
+as he fell free of the wall he heard the spluttering of the powder.  The
+next instant he was hurled aside, and in his ears there roared the heavy
+blast of the explosion, coupled with the hollow rumble of falling
+stones, while the floor beneath him shook and trembled to the shock.  He
+remained for a time on his face motionless, almost stunned by the noise
+of the explosion and by the force with which he was flung aside.  Then,
+as his senses returned, he heard a murmur of voices as though afar off--
+then more clearly a man speaking:
+
+"By the saints! that is well done.  They have had decent burial,
+Captain."
+
+"Ay, too good; now we can get to work at our ease.  But what a dust!
+First let it settle; it chokes me."
+
+Hume rallied his senses, and softly rolled over, feeling for his rifle,
+which he had dropped.  Then he put his hand to his eyes, to feel that
+the bandage had been torn away by the rush, of air.  With his fingers he
+pushed back the lids, which by long pressure remained as though gummed
+down.  With his eyes blinking at the falling dust, he sat in hopeless
+darkness; then a sharp cry escaped his lips, for it seemed to him that
+the darkness was not so black.  He shut his eyes tightly, then opened
+them wide, and before him there was a yellow blur.  A brilliant spark
+flashed through it; then it changed to a deep violet, and from his
+trembling lips there leapt a cry, for he saw the looming dark walls, and
+above caught the sparkle of innumerable stars.
+
+"I can see!" he cried.  "My God!  I can see!"
+
+"Hark!  It is one of them crying out."
+
+"It was a fearful voice," whispered Gobo.  "The men say this place is
+possessed."
+
+Hume saw the sheen of something bright, and, with his heart beating,
+softly drew his rifle to him.  He shut his eyes, and opened them with a
+joy he could scarce restrain; then, gently cocking the hammer, he rose
+to his feet.
+
+"Curse this dust!" growled the Captain; "one can neither see nor hear.
+But we cannot remain here like a lot of children frightened by a sound.
+Come."
+
+"Stop!" shouted Hume sternly.  "I can see you--ay, I can see you well;
+and if a man moves I will shoot him."
+
+"If you can see in this light, you have good eyes, my friend," said the
+Captain, with a nervous laugh.  "But who in the devil's name are you?"
+
+"Stand aside, Captain," whispered Gobo.
+
+"Stand where you are," said Hume fiercely.  "Now give an account of
+yourselves.  You have hunted us, keeping yourselves, like the shabbiest
+curs, well out of danger; and now, when you have brought us to bay, you
+have taken the last damnable measure of cowardice against us--thinking,
+too, there was a lady here.  I see that third man move--by heavens!  I
+will shoot."
+
+"Be calm, my friend," said the Captain in his hoarse voice; "we do not
+wish to harm you.  Now, can't you make some agreement with us?  You are
+perhaps alone?"
+
+"Thanks to you," said Hume grimly.
+
+"Alone--one man against two hundred.  What can you do?  Just think: you
+may kill one of us; but then you are yourself killed, or perhaps wounded
+and given over as a plaything to the Zulus, who are like tigers because
+of their friends who died."
+
+"Well, what do you propose?" said Hume, listening to the louder cry of
+Chanda's regiment, and to a confused murmur that quivered through the
+fresh morning air.
+
+"You know why we are here, as we know why you have come.  We have been
+racing against each other for a hidden treasure, and you would not
+accept the warnings we gave you to desist.  There are three of us; let
+us sink all differences, and do you come in, taking fourth share."
+
+"And my friends?"
+
+"Your friends?  It was the fortune of war that--"
+
+"War do you call it?  The better name would be murder."
+
+"We need not split hairs," said the Captain impatiently.  "But why speak
+of your friends, since they are dead?"
+
+"You lie! they live.  The treasure is not for you.  They have already
+secured it, and are in safety with the people beyond the river.  Fools!
+while you slept they marched away, and Sirayo is now leading an army
+against your men."
+
+"You lie yourself, dog of an Englishman!" cried the Captain.
+
+"Listen!"
+
+The distant murmur increased to a hoarse roar, threatening, and nearer
+rose the shouts of Zulus calling to each other.
+
+Behind the three men in the passage were some Zulus, who had remained
+silent; but now they broke out in fierce excitement, all speaking
+together.
+
+"What do they say?" shouted the Captain shrilly.
+
+"They say there is a fight where the greatest number of our men are, and
+the enemy have gathered also by the river, where our second force is
+stationed.  This man speaks truly.  The people would not fight unless
+they had a fresh leader, and who can that leader be but Sirayo?  But as
+for the treasure, those feeble people could not have carried it away."
+
+"Carrambo!" said Gobo, "I recognise this fellow now."
+
+"We met before at Madeira," said Hume grimly; and as the light increased
+the scowling faces of the three men stood out.
+
+"Mother of God! what a sight!  His eyes are red and look out from a
+black mask."
+
+"He is like a devil," muttered Gobo; and, with his gun at his hip, he
+pressed the trigger.
+
+"Baleka!" cried a warrior, pushing in.  "Sirayo eats our men up by the
+lone rock, and men are swarming across the river for this place."
+
+"To the mountain!" cried Gobo, turning to fly.
+
+"Not I!" cried the Captain furiously.
+
+"Nor I!" said Ferrara.
+
+And the two dashed at Hume.
+
+He fired and the Captain fell; but Ferrara gripped him by the throat,
+and the two reeled about in a fierce struggle, and in their ears, though
+without conveying much meaning, there came the sound of shouting beyond
+the walls.  As they stood for a spell, gasping for breath to renew the
+struggle, they heard the Zulus calling to each other to fly, and Ferrara
+by a terrific effort hurled Hume away, sent him staggering, to fall
+heavily over the heap of fallen stones, then himself vanished into the
+underground passage, a moment before the little son of Umkomaas dashed
+into the ruined chamber at the head of his victorious warriors.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
+
+THE UNDERGROUND CHAMBER.
+
+Sirayo's leadership had prevailed.  He attacked the main body of the
+enemy before sunrise, and the young warriors of the Rock, fired by his
+ferocious courage, had withstood the desperate rush of the Zulus until
+Chanda's regiment came up on the trail of the second detachment, when
+the enemy, terribly thinned, took the path to the mountain wisely left
+open for them.
+
+Before the fight Sirayo had taken the long throwing assegai from Inyami
+and snapped the haft across his knee within three feet of the blade.
+
+"Do ye likewise," he said to the regiment, "and you will fight the Zulus
+hand-to-hand with their own weapons, for it is by their short assegais
+they have conquered."
+
+The young warriors obeyed, and for the first time they went into a fight
+without hurling their spears.
+
+After the great fight, which left the ground about a lonely rock of
+strange shape strewn with dead and dying, the women flocked to the
+scene, to attend to the wounded, and Sirayo, with the remnant of his
+band, marched to the ruins.  As they neared the place, the men broke out
+with their song of victory--a deep-throated roar tossed to the
+mountain--and the warriors about the ruins formed up to meet them,
+whistling shrilly and drumming on their shields, while the boy-chief
+stood before the ranks, his black eyes glittering.
+
+"Bayate!" they thundered.  "Great is Sirayo, the big black bull, the
+swooping eagle!"
+
+The air vibrated to their shouts, and the warriors of the Rock, with the
+marks of battle on them, gave an answering shout, and proclaimed Sirayo
+as their chief.
+
+If the Zulu had been a younger man, he would perhaps have seized the
+opportunity and grasped the proffered honour, which would have meant
+instant death to the little chief, and a fierce attack upon any
+suspected of supporting him.
+
+As it was, the chief took a pinch of snuff, while his bloodshot eyes
+glared fiercely at the son of Umkomaas, standing within reach of his red
+and dripping assegai.
+
+"Do you hear, little chief?" he said in his deep tones.
+
+"I hear, and I know.  Strike if you will."
+
+Sirayo took from his head the broken eagle plume, and fixed it on the
+head of the child.
+
+"Behold your chief!" he cried, lifting his assegai and letting his dark
+glance sweep along the ranks of excited men.  "He is a babe, but he has
+the heart of a lion.  Chief, see your men; they fought like my own Zulus
+of the far south.  Take thought that your heart never turns black
+towards them."
+
+Then Sirayo turned into the ruins, and found Hume wetting with his
+dripping handkerchief the lips of the old woman, who lay bleeding slowly
+from a wound in the breast.  The chief looked at the fallen stones and
+at the prone body of the Portuguese Captain.
+
+"What evil has happened?" he asked.
+
+"I heard them shout your name, chief," said Hume, keeping his face bent
+over the woman; "you have triumphed?"
+
+"Yebo! it was well done, and it was a great fight.  Your eyes are no
+longer dark; that is better than my victory.  Ay, it is good!  Where are
+the others?"
+
+"Down there;" and he pointed at the hole.
+
+"Did they go before the fight, and leave you alone?"
+
+"I could not see, and they were hurried.  They forgot me."
+
+"Yoh!  And do they hide there like jackals?  It was not a good thing to
+leave a blind man."
+
+"They did it without thought I fear there is something dark thereunder,
+chief, for a strange man, I think, has gone down.  I would have
+followed, but my head was dizzy from a fall; and then I heard this old
+woman crying feebly for water, and I went out to the spring.  We must go
+down."
+
+Sirayo called for men, and when a few came in with wild looks he bid
+them carry the old woman to the spring and tend to her.  The men
+exclaimed, when they saw Hume, and clapped their hands to their mouths,
+but Sirayo sternly bid them go.
+
+"They do not like my face," said Hume, with a bitter smile.
+
+"They are not women, that they should be terrified at a scar received in
+battle."
+
+"Then my face would frighten a woman;" and he shuddered.  "Will you go
+first, chief?"
+
+A faint smile flickered for a second about the grim mouth of the
+warrior; then he lowered himself into the hole.  "We shall need a
+light," he said, and split the haft of an assegai.  They found
+themselves in a narrow passage curiously arched and ribbed, which coiled
+round and widened as they advanced, turning always to the left.  The
+walls were polished, as if by constant friction, and where the ribs met
+overhead was a well-defined ridge, or backbone, regularly articulated.
+It was very still, the stagnant air heavy with a sickly odour, and twice
+they paused to struggle against a feeling of dizziness; but a slight
+current of air, coming with a cooling touch, freshened them, so they
+were able to struggle on, through a short length where the passage
+suddenly narrowed, to a large wedge-shaped chamber.
+
+They stood peering by the flickering and waning light at some dim forms
+stretched upon the floor, at two spots of light at the far end through
+which the air came, at a double row of shining objects on either side
+the narrow end of the wedge, and at an object in the centre from which
+there came a wreath of smoke, spreading the odour that had so disturbed
+them.
+
+As Hume hesitated, with a sharp fear at his heart, one of the figures
+moved, then rose up, swaying to the side for support.
+
+"Thank God!" he cried; and at the sound of the voice the figure started
+back, moved his head from side to side as though he tried in vain to
+pierce the gloom behind the spark of fire, and then cried hoarsely:
+
+"Quien es?"
+
+"Ah, it is you!  Surrender; we are armed."
+
+The man made no answer; but, stooping, he appeared to grope among the
+prostrate forms; then with a fierce growl of satisfaction lifted one,
+and by the light that filtered through the two openings they caught the
+sheen of steel in his hand; they saw, too, the face of Laura, white and
+deathlike.
+
+"I will not surrender!" he said slowly; "and if I die she dies also."
+
+"Don't!" cried Hume hoarsely.  "Give her to me, for Heaven's sake!"
+
+"Not I," he growled, and placed her face in the stream of light, so that
+Hume could see the closed eyes and white cheeks.
+
+Hume trembled and went faint with terror.  "For mercy's sake, take her
+out of this, into the fresh air."
+
+"And what of me?"
+
+"Ask what you like; but be quick, or it will be worse for you--I swear
+it!"
+
+"Do not threaten," said the other darkly; "I want my life!"
+
+"Yes--yes."
+
+"My liberty, and safe passage from the valley."
+
+"Ay, I will see you out myself; but, for God's sake, be quick!"
+
+"And more--a full half-share of any treasure there may be here.  I have
+lived years for it, and less I will not take."
+
+"I know nothing of any treasure; but if there is any, halt is yours--the
+whole if you will hasten."
+
+"Nay, half will do; I would not try you with the loss of the whole.  How
+do I know you can dispose of it?"
+
+Hume swore under his breath, and made a step forward.
+
+"Stop!" cried the other, with so menacing a voice that Hume reeled back.
+"You are wasting time now, and I feel her heart beats more slowly.
+What claim have you to give half the treasure away?"
+
+"I--I am captain of this party."
+
+"Ay, but you are not the chief of the people here."
+
+"No," said Hume quickly; "but here he is.  Sirayo!"  And he spoke
+hurriedly to the chief.
+
+"Half is his," said Sirayo.
+
+"Good!" said the man, this time in Zulu.  "Swear it.  I think I will
+trust you--since I have watched you for many nights--had your lives in
+my power, but spared you."
+
+"Then bring her out!"
+
+"Take her yourself."
+
+And the next minute Hume was staggering blindly, fiercely through the
+dark and tortuous passage, with his precious burden.
+
+Then the stranger overturned the burning vessel in the middle of the
+room, and stamped on the smouldering herbs; next he lifted Webster's
+heavy form, to stagger off with it; while Sirayo did the same for Klaas,
+both returning to carry the chief, Umkomaas.  They were all taken to the
+spring, shelters of rushes built over them, and a medicine man called to
+attend them.  They had been all stupefied by the fumes of burning herbs,
+by the same fumes which, stealing through the cracks in the floor, had
+overcome them on their first night in the ruins; and the witch-doctor,
+after much waste of time over muttered incantations, brought them slowly
+to their senses, though they were too languid to move.
+
+When Hume found that they had shaken off the stupor in which they were
+locked, he went down to the spring and stooped to quench his burning
+thirst; but he paused as he knelt, appalled by the reflection he saw in
+the clear pool--the reflection of a terrible face: the eyes red,
+inflamed, without eyelashes; the forehead blackened, as though covered
+by a mask.  In his anxiety for Laura, in his joy at her recovery, he had
+forgotten about his injury; and now this sudden revelation filled him
+with horror.  He turned away from the pool with a feeling of repulsion
+for himself, and went off to the now deserted ruins, where he faced this
+new trouble, and all that it meant to him of ruined hopes.  With these
+awful eyes of his he could not face her--no, nor mingle among his
+fellows.  He remembered how the Portuguese had exclaimed at seeing his
+face; and he writhed at the thought that men would start at sight of
+him, and women would turn shuddering away.  A great bitterness filled
+his heart, and when he thought of Webster, he ground his teeth at the
+cursed chance which left him maimed, while leaving his friend free.  A
+feeling of resentment towards Laura sprang up also, because she had
+feared him even in the dark.
+
+"Would to Heaven," he muttered savagely, "I had been killed!"
+
+And he sat staring blankly at the wall before him, and suddenly there
+came before him the calm face of Mr Dixon, the engineer, going to his
+death, cooped up in the bowels of the _Swift_, and the stern features of
+Captain Pardoe.  Then he rose with a faint smile about his lips and went
+to the inner chamber, where he found Ferrara preparing a torch, while
+Sirayo sat near, as calm and indifferent as though he had passed an
+uneventful day.
+
+"Are your mends better?" asked Ferrara.
+
+"Yes," was the curt reply.  "What do you hope to find here?"
+
+"That which has brought you to this valley, and led us upon your tracks,
+and sent many of us on the longest journey of all--the love of gain."
+
+"And what good, after all?"
+
+"Very little good to you, my friend; but for me--I am not too old to
+have one last fling after having lived the life of a savage.  Now let us
+find and share."
+
+He lit the torch and held it close to the arched roof, and the flaming
+light was reflected on a double row of shining objects.  His eyes
+glittered as he examined them closely.
+
+"Ah," he muttered, "the man did not lie, then.  These are the teeth of
+gold."
+
+"Teeth," said Hume, throwing off his moody air--"teeth of what?"
+
+"Why, of this serpent.  Have you not been through the coils?--and this
+place is the head.  The temple above was reared on the coils of a
+serpent, and the simple people of the valley have kept alive the old
+worship in some of its forms.  These two points of light at the narrow
+end are the nostrils.  But you knew of this."
+
+"Nothing.  We came in search of the Golden Rock."
+
+"Yes; I have seen that wondrous thing, but it was not to be carried away
+bodily, while these treasures may."
+
+And with a strong tug he wrenched one of the curved teeth from its
+socket, and as it lay in the broad palm, the three heads bent over to
+examine it--a finely-wrought piece of pure metal, two inches in length,
+and about a quarter of a pound in weight.  There were altogether
+forty-eight of these teeth, and in an hour they had all been wrenched
+from the sockets which had retained them in glittering rows for many
+centuries.
+
+"My knowledge of values is rather musty.  What would you judge the worth
+of these?"
+
+"About a thousand," said Hume, after a mental calculation.
+
+"Is that all?  Then my share will not purchase a month's enjoyment.  You
+gave me half for the life of that girl, yet I had you all at my mercy,
+and spared you.  Come, comrade, what say you to my taking the whole?
+Remember, you offered me all."
+
+Hume divided the yellow pile into two parts, and emptied one half into
+Sirayo's skin bag.
+
+"There! that is your share," he said sternly, and Ferrara, muttering to
+himself, stored the precious burden about his person.
+
+Hume looked curiously at the tall dark man.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked, "and why have you followed us so closely?"
+
+"Who am I?  Ho, ho!  I scarcely know.  Ask the Zulus; they will tell you
+I am the great Witch-Doctor, whose coming and going no man knows.  Ask
+the white traders--they will tell you I am the Hermit of the River.  Ask
+the Portuguese--they will say I am Alfonse Ferrara, the lieutenant who
+killed his captain at Delagoa Bay.  I am all these, and for twenty years
+I have lived on the banks of the river, alone--alone with the running
+water, the brooding trees, and the things that move in the night."
+
+"The animals?" whispered Hume, awed by the light which smouldered in the
+dark eyes opposite him.
+
+"The animals--phaugh! they shrink at my coming.  No, no, the soft,
+silent, gliding things that lurk in the shadows; that watch me looking
+over their shoulders, or peeping from the shelter of rocks, or from out
+the dark pool.  I want to get away from them;" and he glared round the
+cavern, shuddering.
+
+Hume shuddered too at the glimpse of madness in Ferrara's gesture.
+
+"But why did you dog us?"
+
+"Because I knew what you were after, and I wanted it for myself.  Years
+ago I knew of the secret of this valley.  It was I who set your uncle
+upon the quest, in the hope I might afterwards rob him.  I have haunted
+this place, but in vain, for they kept too close a watch.  It was
+necessary to have help, and before you came, I sent a message to a
+Portuguese trader.  You came when my plans were ready, and if it had not
+been that I mistrusted my countrymen, you would have been killed while
+you slept; but if they had played me false, I would have sought your
+help."
+
+"You appeared to us as a savage," said Hume, repressing a feeling of
+abhorrence.
+
+"Yes," replied Ferrara with a mysterious air, and dropping his voice.
+"You see, I have donned this clothing to deceive them--the voiceless
+people who are searching for me.  If they found me"--and he looked
+cautiously round--"they would drag me back to the river."
+
+After another glance round the chamber, Hume and Sirayo withdrew,
+leaving Ferrara alone, and Hume, surrendering himself again to gloomy
+thoughts of his maimed face, sat on the outer coping of the wall, with
+his face resting on his hand.
+
+Long he sat there thinking whether he, too, would not do well to lead
+the life of a hermit, rather than be an object of disgust to his
+friends, when he heard a hoarse cry behind him, and, turning, saw
+Ferrara standing with his head turned, looking back along the passage.
+
+The strange being had stripped himself of his clothes.  His huge form
+stood naked as that of a savage, his breast was heaving, the muscles of
+his arms rigid, and when he turned his face it was contorted with the
+passion of terror and rage.
+
+"What in Heaven's name is it now?" cried Hume, springing to his feet.
+
+Ferrara fixed his eyes on Hume; his lips moved, but without sound, and
+he seized his throat savagely.  Then with a wild cry in Zulu of "They
+come! they come!" he sprang over the wall and fled towards the mountain,
+while Hume faced the passage, expecting he knew not what.  Presently he
+entered cautiously, until he came once again to the underground coil
+without meeting anyone; but while he stood peering down into the dark
+pit, he realised that Ferrara had in the stillness of that gloomy
+retreat fallen a victim to his dark fancies of the "voiceless people."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.
+
+THE LAST OF THE ROCK.
+
+Laura recovered from her prostration filled with an intense longing to
+get away from the savage surroundings, which had too surely left their
+mark upon her spirits.  The whole enterprise had lost for her its zest,
+and under the reaction which had set in she wondered how she could have
+entered upon the expedition.
+
+"Let us go," she said to Webster.  "Take me away from this.  It fills me
+with disgust."
+
+"I do not wonder," he said gloomily, running his eyes over her frayed
+dress.  "You look ill; won't you rest?"
+
+"It is not rest, but change--change from this fearful, this degrading
+life--that I need."
+
+"Degrading?"
+
+"Yes, degrading!" she replied passionately.  "Where is Mr Hume?"
+
+"I do not know," he said.
+
+"Find him, then."
+
+He rose slowly, looked at her a moment dully, then heavily moved off
+towards the ruins, where after a long search he found Hume seated with
+his hands over his eyes.  He waited for some time patiently, but as
+Frank showed no signs of his presence he touched him on the shoulder.
+
+"Miss Anstrade asks for you.  She wishes to return."
+
+There was no reply.
+
+"You must go back with her.  She is weary of this life--sick of it and
+of me.  I will remain here for a time.  You hear me, don't you, Frank?
+besides, it is necessary your eyes should be looked to.  Of course," he
+went on patiently, "I understand how you feel.  I have seen that you
+have shunned me, but God knows, my lad, I would not have left you alone
+in the ruins if I could have helped it Frank, I tried to get back to
+you, but I was overcome by those cursed fumes.  Do you believe it,
+Frank?"
+
+"Ay, I believe it, Jim."
+
+"Ah!" he said with a sigh of relief.  "Now will you take her back, my
+lad?  Take her away out of this, and when you are once again back among
+your fellows, forget that ever I had the impudence to make a pact about
+her.  Forget it, and win her."
+
+Hume withdrew his hand from his eyes, and, rising slowly, faced his
+friend, his worn face pale, his eyes burning from out that blackened
+mask.
+
+"My God!" said Webster, drawing back.  "But you can see," he muttered.
+
+"I can see--yes," said Hume, in hollow tones.  "See how you shrink from
+me.  Do you ask me now to take her back?"
+
+Webster said nothing, but a groan shook his frame, and he caught his
+friend's hand and held it.
+
+"You don't speak?"
+
+"The black will fade out.  It is only powder."
+
+"Yes, and my eyebrows will grow," he said with a bitter laugh, "and the
+red will disappear from my eyes; but before that she would have learnt
+to dread my presence.  Do you still ask me to take her?"
+
+"No, lad; you must not see her until you have recovered."
+
+"Then, you must take her, and I will at once see Sirayo about your
+departure.  By the way, he has our share of one part of the treasure
+already found, and it will be sufficient to pay your way to Cape Town
+and to take her passage."
+
+He related what had occurred in the underground chamber.
+
+"You will come also, of course, keeping near by day, and sharing our
+camp by night?"
+
+"You have forgotten the Golden Rock.  I will remain here."
+
+"Impossible!  I could not leave you behind."
+
+"I will stay."
+
+"But what must I tell her?"
+
+"Tell her that, as we came for the Golden Rock, it would be folly for
+the whole of us to return at the very time when the natives are
+friendly, and that I have remained behind in the interests of the
+party."
+
+"She will want to hear that from your own lips."
+
+"I will see Sirayo--tell him to make arrangements for your departure,
+and will leave for the rock.  If she asks for me I will not be within
+call."
+
+"It is a miserable ending," said Webster.
+
+"Not for you," said Hume meaningly.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"You will have an opportunity to push your suit, and you may do so."
+
+"Look here, Frank: I will take Miss Anstrade to Pretoria or Cape Town,
+and part with her as a friend--if she is willing to call me friend--and
+I will come back here to you.  How long will it take for the double
+journey?"
+
+"Three months."
+
+"In three months, then, I will be back."
+
+He went to the camp, and Miss Anstrade advanced quickly to meet him.
+
+"Have you seen him?" she asked impatiently.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Why, then, is he not with you?"
+
+"He is making arrangements for our departure, and I am afraid you will
+not see him--at any rate, at present."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"You will remember that we came here for a certain purpose, and that,
+certainly, was not to return as soon as we had arrived.  One of us is to
+remain, and it is decided that I go with you."
+
+"Oh," she said, looking haughtily at him, "is this your arrangement?"
+
+"Yes," he answered slowly; "I made it."
+
+"Then I decline to go with you."
+
+"I am afraid you must."
+
+"Where is Mr Hume?" she asked, as the blood flashed in her cheeks.
+
+"Frank asked me to say good-bye.  He is very busy.  I told him how
+important it was he should lose no time."
+
+"Would you leave a blind man alone, and again seek the safest course
+yourself, you--you coward?"
+
+"I should have told you," he said gravely, "that Frank has recovered his
+sight;" and he stood waiting for her to speak, but she turned away, and,
+with a wild look around, he moved heavily down to the river, where he
+stood with head sunk, watching the water.
+
+Sirayo made arrangements that evening with the people, and next morning
+a party of men with two trained oxen approached the little camp.  Laura
+was persuaded to mount one of these; the kit was packed on another, and
+Webster, with Klaas and five natives, moved off in the direction of the
+forest for a secret path which led directly over the mountains beyond
+into the Transvaal.
+
+Hume, from the ruins, saw the little party go, and watched them across
+the plain--watched them until they were out of sight, and afterwards
+stood there looking towards the west with a half-formed hope that they
+might return.  For now in his loneliness the bitterness and pride of his
+spirit melted away.  And so, he thought, had ended their great quest,
+his companions surrendering in disgust, himself filled with
+disappointment, though he had reached the goal.
+
+The Golden Rock, the golden dreams, the links of friendship, the ties of
+love--where were they now?  Ah, well, there was still the rock.  He
+turned from the ruins, and with Sirayo went along the right side of the
+valley in search of it.  Away over the river the women moved among the
+fields singing, and beyond in the great kraal the men were drinking
+beer; their drinking-song had gone droning on through the night, and was
+still coming in snatches.
+
+"They sing loud and drink deep," said Sirayo; "to-day they will slay
+whole armies in song; to-morrow they will have forgotten Sirayo and the
+help he gave.  Already they have asked me about the gold that was in my
+sack."
+
+"Is there any danger, then?" asked Hume listlessly.
+
+"I care not," said Sirayo; "and your heart is heavy too.  What will it
+matter?"
+
+Hume stopped and looked anxiously across the river.  "As you say, chief,
+what does it matter?  But are our friends safe?"
+
+"They are safe, for they go and have the word of Umkomaas the chief; but
+we are here, and they would love us better if we were away."
+
+"But you have done them a service, and they would have made you chief."
+
+"I have done them a service, and when they were hot they would have set
+me above them; but some of them will think the service was too great for
+any reward but death.  Water will run, and men will always act the same.
+See where the vultures circle; below them lays the field of the fight."
+
+The unclean birds, with their bald heads bent earthwards between the
+vast sweep of their fringed wings, were circling round above the stained
+and trampled ground, whereon were many scores of dark figures rigid in
+death, and each swift circle bringing them nearer to their dreadful
+repast.
+
+"Phaugh! to think that a warrior should come at last to the maw of such
+a creature!"
+
+They moved among the dead, lying as they fell, with gaping wounds on the
+naked breasts, and saw standing alone a large rock rising from a bed of
+flat stone stained red with blood.
+
+"See the stone of blood!" said Sirayo.  "It was here they made their
+last stand."
+
+The Golden Rock!  Hume looked at it with a feeling of horror and
+disgust, as though it were itself answerable for that ominous tinge of
+red; then his eye was caught by a singular life-like appearance, and
+advancing, he saw that the rock had been carved into the semblance of a
+coiled serpent, with the head slightly raised and projecting, giving to
+it a touch of defiance.
+
+Looking closer, he saw that the coils were beautifully carved, the
+muscles standing out with startling distinctness, while each scale was
+clearly defined, and the whole polished to the smoothness of marble.
+The head stood about five feet from the ground, and the tail ran out in
+a small ridge across the flat rock at the back.  Under the throat a
+broad vein of white quartz gave a wonderful touch of reality to the
+carving, and along the side of the coils were patches of yellow and
+black, while the topmost coils in line with the head were richly marked
+with yellow.  From the broad blunt nose there was a continuous line of
+yellow over the head and along the backbone of the topmost coil.
+
+"It is gold," said Hume hoarsely--"pure gold--and if these veins and
+splashes run through the mass there must be thousands of ounces."
+
+"There are men hurrying from the kraal," said Sirayo quietly.
+
+"Let them come;" and Hume, without turning his head, drew his knife and
+began feverishly to scratch a yellow patch.  "It is as hard as iron," he
+muttered; "we shall have to blow it to pieces."
+
+"It has been long here," said Sirayo, "that snake of stone, looking over
+the plain at the mountains.  The people think it watches over them."
+
+"The people are fools," said Hume gruffly.  "There is gold enough here
+to buy up their cattle ten times over."
+
+"Soh!  If they had so many cattle, other nations would have eaten them
+up.  As it is, they have lived in peace to the present."
+
+"A fragment has been broken off here," muttered Hume, going down on his
+knees; "and the vein runs right into the rock.  Why, it spreads right
+over here!"  He crept over the flat rock, thinking nothing of the stains
+of blood, and cried out that the whole bed was thickly shot with gold.
+"The rock has been cut down all round--see, here are the marks of the
+chisel!  Miners have been at work here--white men."
+
+"No white people have been here.  So they told me; but here are those
+who can answer best."
+
+A band of warriors led by an old Induna rapidly approached.  The leader
+held a white wand in his hand; the warriors wore their blankets, which
+fell gracefully over their right shoulders, covering their right arms.
+
+"Greeting!" said the old man.
+
+"Greeting!" said Sirayo courteously.
+
+"Why do you linger here among the dead, when on the other side there is
+plenty of beer and merriment?  And what was the white man doing crawling
+around the rock?"
+
+"And why have you left the feast to question me?"
+
+"These questions are through my mouth, but they come from Umkomaas, the
+chief.  He would have you near him, and he has sent a message."
+
+"Hu-em!" said Sirayo, while his nostrils expanded; "the time has come.
+Say what shall it be--one last fight, or, like an old lion weary of
+life, shall we die as we stand without a sound or a movement?  I care
+not."
+
+"Why," said Hume, "they are peaceful men;" but he brought his heavy
+rifle forward and stood beside the chief with his back to the rock.
+
+"I know your message," said Sirayo in his deep voice.  "I can see it in
+your eyes, that fear to look straight.  You carry it under your
+blankets, and it has a sharp edge to it.  Stop!" he thundered, as there
+was a movement among the men.  "I have a word to say to you.  Let slip
+your blankets; the air is warm, and I know what you hold beneath them."
+
+The blankets slipped to the ground, and every man stood revealed with a
+stabbing assegai in his hand.
+
+"Soh!  It is well.  Look around on the dead and tell me who they are."
+
+"Amazulus!" was the sullen cry.
+
+"Yebo--Amazulus; and they lie as still as the blades of grass beneath
+them.  Look, and think how ye would have fared, had not Sirayo fought
+against them.  Where to-day would have been your flocks and your women?
+Sirayo is a great chief; it is because he is great that Umkomaas has
+sent you each with a message--Umkomaas, who was drawn by these hands out
+of the hole.  Do you think that men such as you can slay me?" and he
+took a stride towards them.
+
+They fell back, looking at each other, and the old Induna lifted his
+hands.  "It is the will of Umkomaas and the headmen in council, O
+chief."
+
+"Learn--Sirayo cannot be slain.  See these wounds--the blood yet drips
+from them--these scars; they tell you that Sirayo cannot be slain unless
+he so wishes."  He let his fierce gaze dwell on them, and his giant form
+seemed to tower above them.  "Let this white man go, and to-night you
+may do the will of the chief; but if harm befalls my friend, my spirit
+will return; you will hear your cattle moan in the night, and in the
+morning they will be dead."
+
+"Never!" said Hume, who had followed the strange speech without
+difficulty.  "I will not take my life on such terms."
+
+"Hu-em! my day has passed and the night comes.  Of what use is it that
+we should both die?  Take the road to the forest while there is light,
+and the dread of me will keep these men quiet till I give them the
+sign."
+
+"And they will follow me up!"
+
+"What say you? can the white man go?  Remember my words: Sirayo living
+is not to be so feared as Sirayo dead."
+
+"Ay, he can go; the chief said nothing concerning him."
+
+"Go, my friend, and when you grow old, see that you have children about
+you.  It is not well to be alone then."
+
+"I stay with you, chief," said Hume quietly.
+
+"Is that the last word?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"It is a fight, then;" and the big Zulu, throwing back his head, began
+to shout of his deeds, while he stamped on the rock in a sort of dance,
+a dance that grew quicker, winding up with a terrific bound in the
+direction of the men.  They did not wait for him, but turned and fled,
+and Sirayo stood looking after them in amazement.
+
+"You frightened them," said Hume with a laugh.
+
+The chief shook his head, took a pinch of snuff, and smiled grimly.
+
+"Ay," he said; "they will have some lies to tell the council.  You see
+it was as I said: they would like us better if we went away.  I cannot
+frighten them with words when they come again.  Why stay, since they
+don't want us, and you cannot carry that rock away with you?"
+
+Hume laid his hand on the carved head of the serpent, and looked
+gloomily across the river, then at the deserted stretch of the valley on
+the near side.  Its desolation struck him, and he called his companion's
+attention to it.
+
+"How is it that this side of the valley is deserted, while beyond there
+are so many?  The ground looks rich, and the grass is good."
+
+"It is some folly of the witch-doctors, from what I have heard."
+
+Under cover of the night they went back to the ruins, and there they
+found the old witch-woman alone, sitting smoking over the fire.
+
+"I thought," she said, "you would have been crow's meat before this.
+The witch-doctors smelt you out last night.  They doctored some
+warriors; how is it you escaped?"
+
+"Oh, they were old women.  They came, but I shook my fingers at them,
+and they ran."
+
+"Ho, ho! if they'd been old women they would not have run.  So they ran;
+and you--why did you not run also?"
+
+"We have come for the stone of fire, old mother."
+
+"Yinny!  That is where the _amapagati_ dance and make their medicine.
+No one can touch the rock and live."
+
+"We have touched it.  The _amapagati_ are fools; but surely if they
+touch it now that we claim it, they will die."
+
+The old dame grinned.
+
+"See," she said.  "I know.  You cannot frighten me with such things.
+But, as you say, the wise men are fools; they have made this side of the
+valley a fear to the people.  Oh, I know their tricks--how they would
+prick cattle, when they strayed on this side, with a snake's tooth, and
+then tell the people the deed was done by the fetich, the great
+snake-spirit.  Ay, they have slain men too, and girls who went to the
+river for water have disappeared."
+
+"If that is so," said Hume, "it would be better if the snake rock were
+removed."
+
+"Eweh, O red eyes--and the _amapagati_ as well.  They have beaten me.
+Let them die, I say."
+
+Hume gave a bit of tobacco to her, and as she filled her pipe he shot a
+significant look across at Sirayo.
+
+"It is not well for an old woman to be here without good food and warm
+shelter.  You should have a hut in the kraal," said Sirayo.
+
+"They killed my son when he brought me food one night," she said
+hoarsely; "and they threaten to smell out my daughter if I leave these
+rocks--the sons of dogs and earth-pigs!"
+
+"Soh! we will talk over this in the morning.  In the meantime go you to
+the river, and call out that we have gone."
+
+"But you will stay and slay them?"
+
+"We have said it."
+
+"Oh ay, I will go.  They have grown fat on lies; now I will repay them.
+I will show you this night where they keep their girls, all young and
+fat, the he-goats that they are."
+
+When she had gone, Hume immediately pointed out that they could turn the
+superstitious fears of the people to their own advantage.
+
+"Well, for my part," said Sirayo, "I am curious about these girls.  If
+they have put up long with the company of snuffy old men, they will know
+how to receive a man and a warrior;" and he stretched his limbs.
+
+The old woman, having done her mission by shouting until someone heard
+her, returned, and led them up the mountain, where, in a kloof whose
+narrow entrance was almost hidden by huge rocks, they found a small
+kraal and saw the light of fires.
+
+The old woman clapped her hands and called out:
+
+"Come and see what presents I have brought you, children!"
+
+A door was opened and three girls crept out, laughing, one of them, with
+her naked toe, pushing the half-burnt logs on to the smouldering coals.
+
+"What is it, mother?"
+
+"Guess, my children."
+
+"A young kid," said one, smacking her lips.
+
+"Tobacco," said another.
+
+"Hark to them!" said a third scornfully.  "You bring news, is it not so?
+We heard sounds of a fight.  Our people have fled, and we are free!"
+
+"Ay, there was a big fight, and our people have won."
+
+"You gabble, old woman!  Our men have no stomach for fighting.  They can
+only talk."
+
+"Noenti, how you chatter!  If our folk have won, they will be feasting
+and dancing."
+
+"Oh, your news is old like yourself, mother," said Noenti.  "We saw the
+fighting, and our people won; but it was because of the stranger who led
+them--a great man."
+
+"Oh, well, if you know everything I will return; when I was a girl I
+always listened to what my elders had to say.  So you saw the fight and
+the great chief.  I could have told about him, but you already know."
+
+"Tell us!" they all cried together.  "Catch her, hold her fast!" and,
+running round the fire, they came full tilt against Sirayo.
+
+"Yinny!" they cried, and bolted like rabbits for the hut, while the old
+dame laugh shrilly.
+
+Presently they peeped out, and after much giggling emerged once more,
+and came and peeped up at Sirayo, and walked round him.
+
+"What say you, my children, have I not done well?  Here is the great
+chief himself."
+
+The girls shrieked with laughter, and then, under the direction of
+Noenti, brought out meat and thick Kaffir beer.
+
+Hume left them seated round the fire, chattering like children all
+together, and sat at the mouth of the kloof, gazing idly before him.
+And as he sat there watching the stars in the east he heard footsteps
+approaching stealthily, so he stepped gently from the rock, crouching
+down in the shadow.
+
+As the group at the fire laughed while the girls filled the calabash,
+seeing how much their magnificent visitor could drink, Hume appeared
+within the circle of light with a man in his grasp.
+
+"Here is another visitor," he said.
+
+"Yoh!" exclaimed one of the girls, "it is our master;" and she ran
+frightened away, while the old dame seized a brand from the fire, and
+held it before the malignant face of the same man who had led the Zulus
+to the ruins.
+
+"Soh! it is you," said Sirayo; "you are welcome; come, sit by me;" and,
+seizing the man by the leg, he jerked him over the fire to his side.
+"The beer is good--drink, man, drink."
+
+"Nay," cried the old dame, "drink he shall not."
+
+"Drink," said Sirayo, with a frightful grimace; "for it is the last your
+lips will touch.  Since you have walked into the den, you will not leave
+it alive."
+
+"No, chief," said Hume; "you must not take the blood of such a
+creature."
+
+"As you say, Hu-em.  Let us leave him to the old woman; but this tuft on
+your hair let me have it, and this necklet of teeth, and this bag of old
+bones;" and Sirayo stripped from the cowering man all the ornaments and
+trappings of his office.  "Now, Noenti, fix them on me; I will to-night
+play the part of witch-doctor."
+
+"There is a place in the hut here for you," she said.
+
+"Keep it warm for me, then, but to-night I will cross the river and
+listen to their talk.  Is it not well, Hu-em?"
+
+"No, the plan is wild; they will detect you at once."
+
+"I will crouch under a blanket and keep in the shadow.  Moreover, I see
+there is a good time for me if I can keep them on their side.  I will
+frighten them with a tale of the spirit of the snake; and is it not said
+among the tribes that in council Sirayo is as cunning as the jackal?
+though it is a mangy beast.  Yes, I will go."
+
+"If you will go, warn them that when the sun is up they must collect the
+dead on the field, and bury them well and deep, lest a pestilence strike
+them."
+
+"Ho, ho!  I see you would work by the rock.  Good!  I will say the
+spirit is offended by the dead."
+
+Noenti having finished fixing on the witch-doctor's belongings, Sirayo
+bounded over the fire, and was in a moment out of sight, while the old
+dame, with the willing help of the girls, bound the despoiled rascal
+tightly, and thrust him into a hen-coop with unnecessary violence.
+Whether the man died of fright, or whether some darker fate befell him,
+Hume never found out, but in the morning he saw that the coop was empty.
+
+Before daybreak Sirayo returned, cool and uninjured, with the report
+that the people had already set out to bury the dead, and that they
+fully believed that he and Hume had fled.  Then he rolled himself in his
+blanket and slept soundly till morn, when he awoke to eat heartily, and
+then to play and talk with the girls, who were merry enough, no matter
+what part they might have taken in the disappearance of the
+witch-doctor.
+
+They remained within the shelter of their retreat through the day, and
+in the night, with the laughing help of the girls, they made strange
+noises by the river, and bore aloft on poles weird globes of light to
+frighten the natives and imbue them with respect for the sanctity of the
+deserted side of the valley.  Those mysterious, pale, and ghostly globes
+that flitted in the air were but the rinds of hollowed pumpkins,
+luminous from the light of burning tinder within; but they produced a
+great sensation on the people, who on the following day crossed the
+river with presents of food which they placed round the Golden Rock.
+This was, however, an unwelcome sign of respect, and when the darkness
+once brought down hundreds of people to the river to watch for the
+globes of spirit-light, they saw suddenly a horrid face literally blaze
+out of the night, with a tongue of flame and fiery eyes, while a slow,
+solemn, thunderous voice bade them keep to their huts, lest they should
+be driven into the water.  That lesson was enough for the credulous
+folk; the hollowed pumpkin with the punctured eyes and mouth was put
+away, Sirayo dallied with the girls, and Hume, with the crowbar he had
+carried from the waggon, slowly bored into the carved rock.
+
+In the still nights when the wide valley was hushed in silence, except
+only for the melancholy howl of a jackal, he laboured to destroy that
+old, old work of human hands, done in a time long past.  It was eerie
+work, and there were times when he would lay down his tool and stare at
+the menacing head of the great snake, then take a slow look around him.
+It was very quiet, and the darkness shut him in like a wall, but that
+still, erect head he could always see outlined as he sat, against the
+stars, and one night suddenly he thought of the lone hermit of the river
+and shivered.  It seemed that there were strange forms peering at him
+also, undefined, shadowy shapes with muffled faces.  He stood up, looked
+around him fiercely, as though he would invite his fancies to take shape
+so that he might confront them, then he ran blindly away.  In the
+daylight he smiled bitterly at his fears, but that night again the
+forbidding phantoms crowded thick and thicker on his imagination, until,
+without accomplishing a stroke, he once more fled from his task.
+
+"You have seen," said Sirayo, as he looked at Hume's face by the light
+of the fire.  "What have you seen?"
+
+"I am a child again, chief.  I am frightened by shadows."
+
+"See," said the old woman solemnly; "I said they would come."
+
+"Yebo!" said Sirayo, "a rock is a rock, and it cannot speak; but when
+men have breathed into it, have put themselves into it, have taken it
+into their inmost thoughts, it is no longer a rock.  No man has said
+that I fear, but yet if, not knowing of it, I came on that rock in the
+night, I should be afraid.  Leave it, my friend, lest the spirit take
+possession of you, and you start and mutter, and grow wild-eyed."
+
+"I have bored three holes," said Hume; "to-morrow I will split it
+without doing more work."
+
+"It is true: white men are never content.  They have been bitten by the
+water-beetle, and never rest."
+
+The next night the people in the kraals saw once again the pale globe
+flitting about, and as they marvelled there was a flash of fire and a
+dull rumbling report.  The next morning, when they looked across, they
+saw that the Golden Rock was no more, and, with a sense of something old
+and familiar gone from their lives, they wailed in their sorrow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.
+
+BETTER THAN GOLD.
+
+When Sirayo saw that no harm befell Hume for the act of sacrilege, he
+helped him bring the scattered fragments of the rock to the hidden
+valley, and when the mass of now shapeless ore was stored up, with its
+threads and veins of gold gleaming yellow, preparations were made to
+break it up.  From the crowbar, after much labour about a roughly-made
+furnace, Hume made two great hammers, and for days he and Sirayo
+battered at the hard quartz, reducing it by slow degrees to small
+fragments.  This work they had done on a wide flat rock, banked in so
+that nothing should be lost, and next, with native-made shallow dishes
+of baked clay, they began on the less arduous and more exciting business
+of washing for gold-dust.  So alternately washing and crushing from week
+to week, they at last succeeded with their primitive methods in rescuing
+a vast amount of gold-dust, coarse grains, and large pellets from the
+mass of rich ore.
+
+At one time they were threatened with trouble, a prying witch-doctor
+having braved the unknown dangers by crossing the river and surprising
+the little party at work.  Sirayo and the old woman, setting their wits
+to work, managed, however, to detach Inyame, who moved over with his
+entire regiment, and placed himself under the chief.  A fierce conflict
+was prevented by a meeting between Sirayo and Umkomaas, and by the time
+Webster was expected back a new kraal had been built about the shattered
+rock, and herds of cattle grazed on the rich grass.
+
+Sirayo was now a respected chief with a royal household, the lively
+Noenti being the head wife.
+
+Gradually Hume's face regained some of its comeliness, but he seemed to
+live in an atmosphere of gloom, and spent much of his time alone,
+looking to the west for the return of his friend.  The interest which
+had kept him up so long as there was a lump of quartz to crush had
+failed him.  He was listless, silent and moody, so that the children
+shunned him, and the women turned away when he came near.  They thought
+he was possessed; and so he was--by a melancholy of the mind and
+irritability of nerves, severely shaken by the hardships he had
+undergone.  He had succeeded, so he told himself.  He had alone won the
+Golden Rock and by indomitable energy broken it up, but this gave him no
+pleasure.  Nay, he grew to doubt whether he had done right.  What right
+had he to destroy that carved image, that masterpiece of ancient
+workers, to shed blood for its possession?  So he brooded gloomily in
+his loneliness, and the only comfort he derived was the spectacle of
+growing crops on the land that was formerly shunned.
+
+And Webster would not return.  Why should he?  He had, no doubt, crossed
+the ocean with her, and by this time they would be married, for sailors
+were always quick in their loves.  But he would wait.  And yet while
+these thoughts ran always in his mind he would look towards the west,
+growing thin, haggard and unkempt.
+
+One day the scouts reported the arrival of a stranger, and Hume watched
+him come--a mounted man with a servant behind, leading a spare horse.
+
+"This is some traveller," said Hume--"some chance traveller who has
+entered the valley.  I will hide till he goes."
+
+But it was Webster, and the little son of Umkomaas led him up to the
+stones, led him to where a battered figure of a man lay face downward on
+the ground.
+
+"Frank!" rang out the familiar voice, "what ails you, my lad? are you
+asleep?"
+
+But Hume rose and stood before his friend, thin, long-haired, gaunt,
+with a fierce, almost defiant, glare in his hollow eyes.
+
+"My God, Hume! you are ill."
+
+Hume looked long at the big, healthy, handsome man before him, and he
+shuddered.
+
+"No," he said in a hoarse voice, "I am not ill.  I've been waiting"--he
+paused and looked round--"but I did not expect you."
+
+Webster put his hand to his throat, for there was that in the forlorn
+figure before him that told its own story.
+
+"Why did you come?"
+
+"Frank, old friend, how can you ask me that?"
+
+"For the gold, eh?  Well, it is there, in three calabashes--the dust,
+the coarser, and the nuggets.  You can take two: one for you, one for--
+for her."
+
+"Damn the gold!" said Webster, as the blood mounted to his face.
+
+"And so you have come?"  Hume went on.
+
+"Yes," said Webster hopelessly; "I have come.  You don't seem glad to
+see me."
+
+"Yes, I am glad--why shouldn't I be?" he added with a sudden flare.  "I
+suppose you are hungry.  I think there is something in my hut.  Let us
+see."
+
+"Wait a minute, Frank.  I have been looking forward to this meeting so
+long, and now you almost repulse me.  What is it? have you anything on
+your mind?"
+
+"No," said Hume, looking around.
+
+"Is it," said Webster sternly, "that you have grown to love your gold?
+If so, learn that I will have none of it."
+
+"You must have your share.  It is yours; you cannot refuse it."
+
+"So it is that?" said Webster quietly.  "Ah, my poor friend, I can
+understand how in your loneliness you must have felt yourself neglected,
+and that your thoughts may have dwelt for compensation on the wealth you
+have earned; but, man, believe me, I care not if I never see it, still
+less possess it."
+
+"Neither do I," muttered Hume.
+
+"Then what the devil is it?"
+
+The two stood looking at each other, and the contrast between them was
+painful, and so obvious that Hume seemed to shrink within himself.
+
+"Ah," continued Webster, while a sudden smile broke the cloud on his
+face, "you think of Laura!  Come, Frank, you trusted me.  Can you
+believe that I would abuse it--more especially when you were left
+behind?"
+
+"Then," said Hume, meeting his friend's convincing glance, "you have not
+asked her?"
+
+"No, my lad," said Webster gently; "and if I had asked her, it would
+have been of no use.  She loves you."
+
+"Loves me!" cried Hume with a wild laugh--"loves me!  Look at me--you
+can see what I am."
+
+"You require a wash," said Webster gravely, "and a shave, and a new
+rig."
+
+Hume started back, as though he had been stung, with a forbidding look
+on his face; but presently he began to laugh.  "Thank God!" muttered
+Webster.
+
+"Ay, thank God!" said Hume solemnly; "if it had not been for the mercy
+of that laugh, Jim, I would have flown at you."
+
+They went down to the village, and soon after Hume reappeared properly
+clad and groomed.  Sirayo, already growing sleek, joined them, and
+Klaas, who had followed his master back, sat with his eye on a comely
+maid.
+
+Soon after that they left the valley with half a dozen men, and these
+they sent back to the valley with a goodly number of cows, and goods
+dear to Kaffir girls.  Klaas remained to settle down in Sirayo's kraal.
+
+Five months later the two friends saw Miss Anstrade in London, but she
+was so changed from the woman who, in a short skirt and gaiters, had
+tramped beside them in the wilds that their hearts sank within them.
+
+It was absurd to suppose that brilliant, magnificent woman, with those
+wondrous eyes and that imperious bearing, could condescend to hear them.
+Yet they went, and for courage they went together.
+
+"Oh, merciful Lady!" she said, between crying and laughter, "I could not
+marry both of you."
+
+"No, I suppose not," said Webster, stroking his fair beard and looking
+hard at Hume.  "Perhaps I should not have spoken, but Frank would have
+me come."
+
+"It is a conspiracy," she said, with a flash in her eyes.  "You have
+come together out of some absurd notion of honour."
+
+"No," said Frank, turning red under her glance, "we thought it was
+hopeless, yet we came to show that we loved you."
+
+"And what are you going to do now?" she said, biting her lip.
+
+"Ah!  I see someone in the street," muttered Webster.  "I will see you
+again;" and he darted out hurriedly.
+
+Hume looked as though he would follow, but was arrested by a faint
+sound, and, turning his head, he saw that she was laughing.
+
+"It is no crime for a brave man to love you," he said, "and he deserves
+something more than laughter."
+
+"I am not laughing at him," she said.
+
+"At me, then?  Am I, then, an object of ridicule?"
+
+"You never could understand," she said.
+
+"No," he said with a smile of courage; "I never did understand you, and
+I never shall.  I love you.  Must I go also?"
+
+"My friend," she said, with a sad smile about her lips, "I have been
+wanting to call on Miss Webster; do you remember Captain Pardoe?  You
+must come with me."
+
+"And Jim?" he whispered.
+
+"Jim will be our brother; he will be pleased.  His friendship is better
+than gold."
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Golden Rock, by Ernest Glanville
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