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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.
I got to my feet, with Colin bristling beside me, and awaited them with the stiffest face I could muster. As I expected, they were Machudi's men. I recognized them by the red ochre in their hair and their copper-wire necklets. Big fellows they were, long-legged and deep in the chest, the true breed of mountaineers. I admired their light tread on the slippery rock.
Like me he remembered Beyers'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 kraal. A message had already been sent for guns, and the first to arrive got to Bruderstroom about the hour when I was being taken by Machudi's men in the kloof.
He forced me to the ground and rolled my face in the sand; then he pulled me to my feet and tossed me backward, till I almost staggered into the pool. I saved myself, and staggered instead into the shallow at the foot of it, close under the ledge of the precipice. That morning, when Machudi's men were cooking breakfast, I had figured out a route up the cliff. This route was now my hope of escape.
This was the road some of Machudi's men had taken, and unthinkingly I followed them. Twenty minutes' riding brought us to the place, and all the while I had no kind of plan of escape. I was in the hands of my Maker, watching, like the Jews of old, for a sign. Laputa dismounted and looked down into the gorge. 'There is no road there, I said.
'Yes, I said, scrambling to my feet, and ruefully testing my shaky legs. 'But if you want me to get to Machudi's you must go slowly, for I am nearly foundered. Then he brought out a Bible, and made me swear on it that I would do as I promised. 'Swear to me in turn, I said, 'that you will give me my life if I restore the jewels. He swore, kissing the book like a witness in a police-court.
I would have made history by my glorious folly. Breakfastless and footsore, I was yet a proud man as I crossed the hollow to the mouth of Machudi's glen. My chickens had been counted too soon, and there was to be no hatching. Colin grew uneasy, and began to sniff up wind.
I took him to Machudi's and gave him the collar, and then he fired at me and I climbed and climbed ... I climbed on a horse, I concluded childishly. I heard the voice say 'Yes? again inquiringly, but my mind ran off at a tangent. 'Beyers took guns up into the Wolkberg, I cried shrilly. 'Why the devil don't you do the same? You have the whole Kaffir army in a trap.
From their bloodshot eyes stared the lust of blood, the fury of conquest, and all the aboriginal passions on which Laputa had laid his spell. In my mind ran a fragment from Laputa's prayer in the cave about the 'Terrible Ones. Machudi's men stout fellows, they held their ground as long as they could were swept out of the way, and the wave of black savagery seemed to close over my head.
I remember there was a clucking of hens from somewhere behind the kraal, which called up ridiculous memories. I was trying to remember the plan I had made in Machudi's glen. I kept saying to myself like a parrot: 'The army cannot know about the jewels. Laputa must keep his loss secret.
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