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He led his men in person, and of his doings the reader already knows the tale. But though the crossing was flung into confusion, and the rear of the army was compelled 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.
Such porridge without salt or cream is beastly food, but my hunger was so great that I could have eaten a vat of it. Suddenly it appeared that the Kaffir had something to say to me. As he fed me he began to speak in a low voice in English. 'Baas, he said, 'I come from Ratitswan, and I have a message for you. I guessed that Ratitswan was the native name for Arcoll.
'You say the scheme is ripe, I said; 'how ripe? Arcoll looked at the clock. 'In half an hour's time Laputa will be with 'Mpefu. There he will stay the night. To-morrow morning he goes to Umvelos' to meet Henriques. To-morrow evening the gathering begins. 'One question, I said. 'How big a man is Laputa? 'The biggest thing that the Kaffirs have ever produced.
One of his Kaffirs swam the river, and when word of this was brought Arcoll began to withdraw his posts farther down the road. But as the men were changing 'Mpefu's fellows got wind of Laputa's turn to the left, and in great haste Arcoll countermanded the move and waited in deep perplexity at Main Drift. The salvation of his scheme was the farmers on the scarp of the Berg.
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 decided to suspend all other operations and devote himself to shepherding the leader away from his army. How the scheme succeeded and what befell Laputa the reader has already been told.
A Basuto appeared, and, awed by my appearance, went off in a hurry to see to the schimmel. It was late afternoon, about the same time of day as had yesterday seen me escaping from Machudi's. The Bruderstroom camp was empty, though sentinels were posted at the approaches. I beckoned the only white man I saw, and asked where Arcoll was.
A speaker who has lost the thread of his discourse, a soldier who with a bayonet at his throat has forgotten the password I felt like them, and worse. And to crown all I felt my faintness coming back, and my head dropping with heaviness. I was in a torment of impotence. Arcoll, still holding my hands, brought his face close to mine, so that his clear eyes mastered and constrained me.
Down in the bush were the dark figures of the hunted, and on the white wall were my own people horse, foot, and artillery, the squadrons of our defence. What a general Arcoll was, and how great a matter had David Crawfurd kindled! A man came in I suppose a doctor. He took off my leggings and boots, cutting them from my bleeding feet, but I knew no pain. He felt my pulse and listened to my heart.
The bags are waiting for me at a place I appointed. And again Captain Arcoll indulged his sense of humour. Then he became grave, and returned to his examination. 'A rising, with diamonds as the sinews of war, and Henriques as the chief agent. Well and good! But who is to lead, and what are the natives going to rise about? 'I know nothing further, but I have made some guesses.
It was a matter of minutes, and on these minutes depended the lives of thousands. It was also a matter of ebbing strength, for with my return to common sense I saw very clearly how near my capital was spent. If I could reach the highroad, find Arcoll or Arcoll's men, and give them my news, I would do my countrymen a service such as no man in Africa could render.
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