Adventure, June 1911 — page 124: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

310 responsibility for my fate. With the few men at his disposal he could not hope to hold up the great Kaffir army, but there was a chance that he might by a bold stand effect my rescue. Henriques had told him of the Vow, and had told him that Laputa would ride in the center of the force. A body of men well posted at Dupree’s Drift might split the army at the crossing, and under cover of the fire I might swim the river and join my friends. Still relying on the Vow, it might be possible for well- mounted men to evade capture. Accordingly he called for volunteers, and sent off one of his Kaffirs to warn me of his design. He led his men in person, and of his doings the reader already knows the tale. But though the crossing was flung into con- fusion, and the rear of the army were com- pelled to follow the northerly bank of the Letaba, there was no sign of me anywhere. Arcoll searched the river-banks and crossed the Drift to where the old Keeper was lying dead. He then concluded that I had been murdered early on the march, and his Kaf- fir, who might have given him news of me, was Carried up the stream in the tide of the disorderly army. ‘Therefore he and his men rode back with all haste to the Berg by way of Main Drift, and reached Bruderstoon be- fore Laputa had crossed the highway. wig MY INFORMATION about In- 2a anda’s Kraal decided Arcoll’s next " move. Like me, he remembered Beyer’s performance and resolved to repeat it. He had no hope of catching Laputa, but he thought that he might hold up the bulk of his force if he got guns on the ridge above the kraacl. A message had already been sent for guns, and the first to arrive got to Bruderstoon about the hour when I was being taken by Machudi’s men in the kloof. The ceremony of the Purification pre- vented Laputa from keeping a good lookout, and the result was that a way was made for the guns on the northwestern corner of the rampart of rock. It was the way that Beyers had taken, and indeed the enterprise was directed by one of Beyer’s old com- mandants. All that day the work continued, while ae | Laputa and I were traveling to Machudi’s. . Then came the evening when I staggered into camp and told my news. Arcoll, who alone knew how vital Laputa was to the success of the insurrection, immediately de- Adventure cided to suspend all other operations and* devote himself to shepherding the leader away from hisarmy. How the scheme suc- ceeded and what befell Laputa the reader has already been told. Aitken and Wardlaw, when I descended from the cliffs, took me straight to Blaau- wildebeestefontein. I was like a man who is recovering from bad fever, cured, but weak and foolish, and it was a slow journey that I made to Umvelos’, riding on Aitken’s pony. At Umvelos’ we found a picket who had captured the schimmel by the roadside. The wise beast, when I turned him loose at the entrance to the cave, had trotted quietly back the way he had come. At Umvelos’ Aitken left me, and next day, with Wardlaw as companion, I rode up the glen of the Klein Labonga, and came in the afternoon to my old home. The store was empty, for Japp some days before had gone off post-haste to Pietersdorp; but there was Zeeta clearing up the place as if war had never been heard of. I slept the night ~ there, and in the morning found myself so much recovered that I was eager to get away. I wanted to see Arcoll about many things, but mainly about the treasure jin the cave. It was an easy journey to Bruderstoon through the meadows of the Plateau. The farmers’ commandoes had been recalled, but the ashes of their camp-fires were still gray among the bracken. I fell in with a police patrol and was taken by them to a spot on the Upper Letaba, some miles west of the camp, where we found Arcoll at a late break- fast. I had resolved to take him fully into my confidence, so I told him the full tale of my night’s adventure. He was very severe with me, I remember, for my daft-like ride, but his severity relaxed before I had done with my story. The telling brought back the scene to me, and I shivered at the picture of the cave with the morning breaking through the veil of water and Laputa in his death-throes. Arcoll did not speak for some time. _- *““So he is dead,” he said at last, half whispering to himself. “Well, he was a king, and died like a king! Our job nowis simple, for there are none of his breed left in Africa!” Then I told him of the treasure. “Tt belongs to you, Davie,” he said, ‘‘and we must see that you get it. This is going to be a long war, but if we survive to the end you will be a rich man.” GOmiGcbdooksEeo