I ASSIST IN A ROBBERY AND BECOME A FUGITIVE.
The ground, as I have said, was not difficult to climb, since the
surface was not quite perpendicular, and besides being rough and
broken, was thickly covered with vegetation; so that without any great
exertion I soon reached the top of the cliff, and landed on to a
nearly level space, which I took to be the summit of a hill. From this
point the view was very extensive in the one direction, although it
was cut off in the other by the forest which clothed the summit.
Looking back--that is, in the direction in which the cliff faced--my
eye ranged over the ocean-like expanse of forest, out of which, at a
distance of about three miles, rose a solitary, conical hill, while
nearer--in fact, quite near--could be seen a river of some size, which
I took--erroneously as it turned out--to be the Tano.
Following the edge of the summit, I walked on, each few hundred yards
bringing into view a new vista, until I had gone half a mile; when I
could tell, from the direction of the shadows, that I had reached the
opposite side of the hill. Here I could see below me a village of some
pretensions immediately at the foot of the hill, and this I guessed to
be the abode of the fetish-men, while at a distance of less than a
mile another village was visible, which, by the large silk-cotton tree
in the middle of an open space, I identified as the one to which I had
been first taken--indeed, on looking carefully, I thought I could make
out the very hut in which I had been confined.
Having thus made clear the position of our hiding place, I struck off
across the middle of the summit, guiding myself towards my starting
point by watching my shadow. I had travelled about half way when I
came to a rather deep hollow occupying, as I judged, nearly the centre
of the summit; and, as it lay directly in my path, I commenced to
descend, and had nearly reached the bottom when I was brought up with
a start by the sound of voices.
Instantly I crouched down among the thick herbage and listened. There
seemed to be several persons talking, but although the voices sounded
near, I could not for a time make out the direction from which they
came; and a peculiar hollow but muffled quality in the sounds puzzled
me not a little. Presently one of the speakers laughed--a strange,
hollow laugh that reverberated as if it came from the bottom of a
well--and then I perceived that the noise proceeded from underground.
On this I crept forward cautiously, and after crawling a few yards,
saw before me a large hole in the earth. I lay down flat on my face
and drew myself softly to the edge of the chasm, and putting my head
into a mass of fern, peered down between the stems. As I had expected,
I looked down into the chamber that I had recently left--and left none
too soon; for it was now occupied by a party of six fetish-men, all
armed with long knives and guns, and provided with a stinking palm oil
lamp.
They were mightily excited, for they chattered and gesticulated like a
pack of monkeys, and I would have given a good deal to know what they
were saying. That they had missed Bukári and me I had no doubt, but
whether or not they had traced our progress thus far I had no means of
judging. On one point, however, and that the most important, I soon
became satisfied; they clearly had no knowledge of the existence of
the tunnel by which we had finally escaped.
After a good deal of talk and searching the corners of the chamber and
the entrance to the filled up tunnel, they commenced to examine the
chests, and I was now most thankful that I had not allowed Bukári to
satisfy his curiosity; for I could see an old fetish man, who had been
poring over the lid of the larger chest (which was immediately beneath
me) pointing out to his fellows the undisturbed coating of dust on it.
In spite of this demonstration, however, they were not quite convinced
apparently, for to my intense satisfaction they proceeded to remove
the skulls one by one and place them at a little distance on the
floor. When the top was clear, they knocked a wooden pin out of a rude
hasp--the only fastening that the chest had--and raised the lid,
resting it against the wall.
From my position immediately overhead I could look down straight into
the chest, and the sight that met my gaze when the lid was flung back,
filled me with amazement.
For that great coffer was filled almost to the top with gold. Gold
masks of strange design, gold armlets, gold anklets, great
dumbbell-like sword-hilts, head-plates and trinkets of which I could
not distinguish the forms, were there by the score; but the great bulk
of the metal was in the form of manillas--the African equivalent of
ingots--of which there must have been hundreds, all tied up in bunches
of a dozen or so.
Here, indeed, was “wealth beyond the dreams of avarice”!
As I looked down into the great chest I felt myself unconsciously
gloating over its shining contents; and when the fetish-men,
apparently satisfied of the safety of the treasure, closed the lid and
drove in the pin, I was conscious of quite a chill of regret, until I
suddenly remembered my condition; when I almost laughed aloud at the
absurdity of a naked, starving wretch like myself barely snatched from
the jaws of death, and yet hankering after wealth.
When the priests had made the chest secure they replaced the skulls,
and forthwith retired through the tunnel, having accomplished what was
probably the principal object of their visit. The smaller chest they
had not examined at all, and from this I judged that it contained
nothing of intrinsic value--perhaps merely some mouldering relics of
the old adventurers. When the last of the men had disappeared I drew
myself carefully back on to the more solid ground, and resumed my
journey across the little plateau.
In a few minutes I came out on to the edge a little to the right of
the tunnel, as I could tell by comparing the positions of a large tree
and the distant hill, and was about to turn when I noticed some
objects moving, about a third of the way down the steep slope. I
stopped to observe them, and was able to make out that they were
vole-like animals about the size of rabbits, with blunt muzzles and
short tails, and evidently lived in a large community in burrows in
the hillside.
Zoophilists tell us that by nature man is a fruit-eating animal, which
is possibly true--when there happens to be fruit to eat. At present,
however, there was none, and the sight of those rodents frisking in
and out of their burrows aroused in me a very pronounced carnivorous
impulse. I had noticed on the plateau a great number of nodular lumps
of iron-stone lying on the surface, and I now returned and gathered an
armful of moderate-sized pieces, which I carried to the edge of the
slope. Then I concealed myself behind a bush and waited.
Soon a little party of the rodents assembled on a small knoll
immediately underneath, browsing on the herbage in leisurely security,
all unconscious of the prowling carnivore above, until a lump of
iron-stone about two pounds in weight dropped plump on to the back of
one of them, rolling him over dead; when the parliament instantly
dissolved, and I climbed down to gather up my spoil.
I had not been back in my hiding place many minutes when the
foolish-looking brutes reappeared and began nibbling away at the grass
as if nothing had happened, so that in quite a short time I was able
to secure four of them, with which I started off for the tunnel very
cheerfully.
Bukári was awaiting my return with the keenest anxiety, and
reproached me for being so long absent.
“I thought thou hadst gone away altogether,” he grumbled. “Where hast
thou been, and what hast thou found?”
“I have seen many strange things,” said I, “and I have found us a
dinner,” and I put his hand upon the dead animals, which he felt with
a grin of delight.
“Grass-cutters!” he exclaimed. “I have not tasted flesh since I came
to the mine. Let us cook them at once, for I am famished.”
“How shall we cook them since we have no fire?” I asked.
He seemed greatly surprised at the question. “Why, then, we must make
a fire, of course,” he replied.
This was a little embarrassing, for I had but the haziest notion of
how to go about making a fire. I had, indeed, read in books of the
fire-drill used by the Australian natives; but I had never tried to
make one, and this was hardly a suitable occasion for amateur
experiments. In our camp, the light had always been kindled by Musa,
who had a flint and steel and kept a supply of tinder; without these
appliances I was quite helpless, and had to admit the fact.
Bukári laughed grimly. “Get me a lump of quartz,” said he, “and a bit
of dry bark from some dead wood, and gather some sticks. If thou canst
get some clay, so much the better.”
I climbed up to the plateau, and soon found a dead branch, which I
carried back bodily and handed it over to Bukári to strip of its
bark, while I prised out a lump of quartz from the wall of the tunnel,
and I then stood by to receive a lesson in the art of fire-making.
“Give me thy knife,” said Bukári, and on my handing it to him he
struck its back skilfully a few times on the quartz, receiving the
sparks on the prepared mass of bark, and blowing gently; and in a few
minutes the bark was smouldering and smoking quite briskly.
There was no time to look for clay with which to coat the animals, so
when the fire was fairly alight we fixed them over it, on long,
pointed sticks, and sat by patiently while they frizzled in the smoke.
To while away the interval--which was really a very trying one, for,
when the hair had burnt off, the animals began to emit a most savoury
aroma--I recounted to Bukári what I had seen when I looked down the
opening into the chamber. He was violently excited, rather to my
surprise, when I described the contents of the chest, and announced
his intention of helping himself to some of the gold before finally
leaving the mine.
The smoke-blackened carcases were not very agreeable to look at, but
they furnished exceedingly good eating, and Bukári and I lingered
over our cannibal-like repast until the bones were picked as clean as
if they had been destined for some anatomical museum.
By this time the sun was getting low, so I made another journey to the
plateau to gather wood for the night, and with what I had collected we
made up a cheerful fire some distance down the tunnel, spreading a
quantity of grass upon the floor that we might sleep in comfort.
Naturally, we were very tired after all our labours and excitements,
and the food had made us rather drowsy, but we sat on our beds talking
over our plans for a long time before we lay down to sleep.
We agreed on the necessity for getting away from the neighbourhood of
the mine without delay--indeed, we were running no small risk by
staying so long in the tunnel--but on one point Bukári was resolved;
he would not leave the place until he had possessed himself of some of
the gold.
I could not help admiring his bold adventurous spirit, unbroken by the
long years of suffering and servitude, but at the same time his
obstinacy was highly inconvenient, for any attempt to remove the
treasure would enormously increase the danger of our situation, which
was already sufficiently perilous.
“Why not leave the gold where it is?” I urged. “We know where to find
it whenever we choose to come back.”
“We know where it is now,” he replied, “but the wizards may take it
elsewhere. Thou didst see thyself that they were uneasy and fearful
about it. They may put it in some safer place.”
I could not deny the truth of this; it was in fact highly probable
that the priests would now look out for some more secure hiding-place
for their treasure.
“How much dost thou wish to take?” I asked.
“I would take it all,” he replied.
“What!” I exclaimed. “Take it all! Thou art mad, Bukári. Why, there
is more than thirty men could carry, and we are but two.”
“I know it,” he answered calmly. “We could not carry it all away, but
what I would do is this. I would take out the gold and bury it in a
safe place, where I would make a mark to find it again by. Then I
would go to my country and tell my brothers of what I had done, and
they should come to this country as if to buy guru, and when they had
bought the guru at Juabin, they should come back this way, dig up the
gold, and take it to my country.”
“Why bury the gold?” I asked. “Why not leave it in the tunnel. Nobody
seems to know of the existence of this passage.”
“Who knows?” he answered. “Perhaps some hunters may know of this place
and come here to sleep in the rains; besides, thinkest thou that the
wizards, when they miss their treasure, will not search every place?
They have only to bring a ladder to the treasure chamber to find this
tunnel, and then all our labour would be in vain.”
I could not deny that Bukári’s reasoning was sound, that is, if one
admitted the desirability of meddling with the treasure at all; and as
I have already admitted, the sight of the gold had aroused my own
cupidity to no small extent. Moreover the treasure had really been the
object of my quest from the first, although I had never dreamed of
laying my hands upon the actual hoard, so, in the end I fell in with
the Moshi’s plan, and agreed to commence lifting the treasure at
daybreak on the morrow.
There were, indeed, other matters to settle, such as the proportions
of our respective shares and the security to be offered to me against
treachery on the part of his brother Moshis, but as the marks must
necessarily be made by me, and my assistance would be indispensable in
identifying the locality, I left the details for settlement at a later
date.
On the following morning we were awake and on the move before
daybreak, and Bukári was full of childish eagerness to commence
removing the gold. But there were one or two things to be done before
we could begin. First it would be wise to settle on the place where
the gold was to be buried, so that there should be no delay when once
the removal was begun. Then it would never do to risk carrying the
uncovered gold even a short distance, for if we were observed even by
a chance stranger, disaster would be sure to follow. Lastly, we must
have food of some kind.
As to the first question, we agreed that the gold would best be buried
near to the river that I had seen from the plateau, as we should thus
have a landmark that would help in the subsequent finding of the
hoard; so, as soon as the sun had risen, I set off down the
precipitous hillside to examine the river, leaving Bukári to plait a
couple of wicker bags out of the grass on which we had slept.
A few minutes’ very easy climbing brought me to the foot of the hill
by the great odúm tree, and I plunged at once into the forest, which
was here rather dense, keeping a careful eye upon my shadow, that I
might not lose my way. From the summit of the hill I had noted the
position of the river, and I now struck out confidently in its
direction.
It was very unpleasant pushing through the dense vegetation, for my
unclothed condition exposed me completely to the thorns with which
every bush and tree seemed to be covered, and my progress was not
rapid; but at length, after walking for about half a mile, I crossed a
small track, and soon after came out on to the bank of the river,
which was here a rather shallow stream about thirty yards broad, whose
clear water ran quietly over a bed of pale grey sand. My first action
on reaching the river was to lie down and indulge in a deep draught of
the limpid water, for the tiny spring that we had found on the
hillside below the tunnel had given barely enough water to quench our
thirst, even when carefully collected in the hollows of our hands;
then I arose, and having cut a bunch of twigs and laid them on the
bank for a landmark, walked slowly up stream, wading nearly knee-deep.
The river was a typical forest stream, meandering through a kind of
tunnel of foliage, between high banks of crumbling yellow sandstone,
clothed with moss and fern; but it was so enclosed by the forest and
one part was so like another, that I could for some time find no spot
that I could hope to identify on a second visit.
I had been sauntering thus for some time when my foot came in contact
with some hard object in the sand, and stooping to examine it, I
picked up one of the large fresh-water mussels that the Adangme people
call affaní. This was indeed a lucky find, for although these
shell-fish are tough and greasy, they are perfectly wholesome to eat;
so I fell to searching with my feet for more, and before long had
collected as many as I could carry in my hands.
The river, at the place that I had now reached, spread out into a wide
expanse that in the rainy season was evidently a swamp, and as the
foliage seemed here a little thinner, I waded across to the further
bank in the hopes that from thence a more extended view might be
obtainable. Nor was I disappointed, for when I had crossed the river,
which nowhere came above my waist, I could plainly see, through an
opening in the foliage, the summit of the hill and the red patch of
our cliff below it.
But more than this. The large window-like opening was bi-sected by the
silvery-grey trunk of a lofty silk-cotton tree, and somewhat nearer to
the river a tall oil palm held aloft its plumy head like a bunch of
green ostrich feathers. I climbed the bank, and taking my stand upon a
smooth knoll covered with thick moss, looked steadily through the
opening at the hill; and now I perceived that the end of the red patch
of cliff formed a nearly vertical line which appeared just half way
between the stem of the palm and the trunk of the tree. This formed a
leading mark which would enable me to find the spot again with
certainty, and if the soil was not too rocky, this was an ideal place
in which to bury the treasure. To test the hardness of the ground I
stuck my knife into the moss, which it penetrated easily up to the
hilt, showing that the soil underneath was soft and deep.
Before returning, I had the curiosity to explore a little further this
bank of the river, and, walking away from the water, I presently made
a curious discovery; for I had not gone above twenty paces when I came
to the water again. I at first thought I had merely reached a sharp
bend in the river, but further examination showed that the land on
which I stood was a small island, about a hundred yards long by twenty
wide, and that it was separated from the mainland on either side by a
stretch of water fully fifty yards in width. This was another piece of
good fortune, for, being cut off on all sides by water, the place was
peculiarly safe from accidental intrusion and, as I gathered up my
knife and the shell-fish preparatory to returning, I felt that my
mission had been highly successful.
I had no difficulty in finding my way back. Starting from the knoll I
marked the position of the oil palm and the tree, and waded across the
river towards the former, going straight through the bushes until I
reached it. Then I took a new direction to where I judged the tree to
be, and soon its column-like trunk loomed above me out of the
undergrowth.
I sliced off two patches of bark to enable me to identify it for the
present, and then taking a fresh bearing, I pushed on through the
thick wood, watching my shadow attentively whenever the sunlight
pierced the foliage. It was some time before I reached the track, and
I began to fear that I had lost my way; but at length I crossed it,
and in a few minutes more reached the foot of the hill. Evidently the
track skirted the hill and diverged from the river.
I found the patch of cliff with very little trouble, and when I
thought I had reached the vicinity of the tunnel I gave a shrill
whistle--the signal I had arranged with Bukári--which was immediately
answered by a hail from above. Looking up I could see my comrade
leaning out of the tunnel, and in a couple of minutes I had joined
him.
While the shell-fish were roasting on the embers, I detailed to
Bukári the results of my explorations, with which he was highly
satisfied; and when we had devoured the affaní and taken a pair of
empty shells down to the spring, to scrape up a scanty and muddy
draught, we set about completing the preparations for our great
enterprise.
On my way back from the river I had cut two long lengths of thin
monkey-rope--not thicker than my thumb but as strong as steel
hawser--and I now proceeded to hack down a stout sapling and cut it
off to a length of six feet. With this, the monkey-rope, the coil of
grass rope, and the two bags that Bukári had plaited, we took our way
down the tunnel towards the treasure chamber.
We stepped silently and cautiously along the dark passage, Bukári
leading, until we reached the inner opening, and I must confess that,
as I lay down and, putting my head over the brink, looked down into
the chamber, I felt an intense repugnance to the idea of returning to
it. However, the thing had to be done, so the sooner the better.
“Shall I go down or shall I hold the rope for thee?” asked Bukári.
“Neither,” said I. “We will fix the rope, and I will go down, and thou
shalt pull up the gold with the small cord.”
I had cut the sapling a little longer than the width of the tunnel,
and I now set it across the passage a little obliquely and jammed the
ends hard against the walls, so that it formed what sailors call a
Sampson-post, the peculiarity of which is that the more it is hauled
upon, the more firmly it jams--provided one does not haul at the wrong
end. To the fixed end of the post I made fast the two monkey-ropes and
the grass rope, each with a “fisherman’s bend” so that they could not
slip, and flung the ends of all three down to the floor below.
Having explained to Bukári what I wished him to do, I grasped the
three ropes, gave a trial jerk to test the post, and then swung myself
over the edge and easily let myself down to the floor.
It was highly disturbing and uncomfortable to be again confronted by
the yawning mouth of that black tunnel that led into the terrible
cavern, and I found myself continually watching it and listening at it
with a nervousness that I struggled in vain to ignore. What made it
more unpleasant was that strange, indefinite sounds came echoing down
it from time to time, making it clear that people were stirring in the
cavern at the other end; and this again suggested the necessity for
silence on our part, for any noise made by us would be carried down
the tunnel to the cavern as if through a speaking tube.
I therefore warned Bukári, in a loud whisper, to be silent, and set
to work with all possible expedition. Quickly but carefully I laid the
skulls one by one on the floor at a little distance, and with the
handle of my knife pushed the pin out of the hasp and raised the heavy
lid, which swung open with a dismal, protesting creak.
At the sight of the immense wealth that lay piled up within the chest
I felt a thrill of greedy pleasure, and looked from one to another of
the shining baubles, undecided as to which I should first lay hands
upon. I passed reluctantly over a great mask of fine and curious
workmanship, a parcel of delicate repoussé plates, such as the King’s
ambassadors wear, and a multitude of small, quaintly wrought pendant
ornaments, and fixed upon the manillas, as at once the most portable
and the most solid, for the first consignment. They were tied up, as I
have mentioned, in bundles of about a dozen, all ready for transport,
so I hoisted out a couple of bundles and carried them across to where
the rope was hanging down. The weight of these insignificant-looking
bundles of rings considerably astonished me, and I saw that it would
take us a good many journeys to transport the whole treasure to the
island.
When I had made fast the two bunches to the grass rope, I gave the
word to Bukári to haul, and the first instalment of our booty went
jingling up the rough wall. By the time they were unfastened and the
rope dropped again, I had two more bunches ready, and when these were
hoisted, two more, and so the work went on briskly for about twenty
minutes, until a very perceptible diminution appeared in the contents
of the chest, and I judged that a considerable pile had accumulated
above.
Now it occurred to me that it would be wise to dispose of what we had
lifted before taking out any more, and I suggested this course to
Bukári.
“No, no,” he objected. “Since we are here let us get it all up, and
then we shall only have to bury it.”
“But,” said I, “we might be interrupted, and then we should lose it
all, whereas if we bury what we have, we shall, at least, make sure of
that.”
“Perhaps thou art right,” said he; “come up then and let us hide what
we have without delay.”
I closed the chest, pinned the hasp, and hastily replaced the skulls,
in case the place should be visited in our absence, and hauling myself
up by the ropes, pulled them up after me.
I was surprised at the quantity we had raised.
The floor of the tunnel was covered with the bunches of manillas, and
I saw at once that we had a heavy day’s work before us in transporting
them to the island. Bukári was full of eagerness and childish glee,
and was already gathering up the bunches and feverishly cramming them
into the bags, but, of course, when he had filled one to the brim and
essayed to lift it on to his head, he was no more able to move it than
if it had been the Great Pyramid; so he regretfully emptied out
two-thirds, and with the remainder he was just able to stagger.
When we reached the mouth of the tunnel with our small but ponderous
burdens, we first took the precaution to fill the bags up with leaves,
so that if we met anyone we might seem to be carrying loads of kola.
Then we let ourselves very carefully down the steep hillside until,
after a world of labour, we reached the level. I had kept the
direction well in my mind, and was able to lead my companion pretty
nearly by the route that I had followed on my return from the island;
in fact, I managed so well that in not more than half an hour after
leaving the tunnel we broke out of the undergrowth on the river bank
within sight of the island. I worked my way through the shallows until
the opening in the trees came in sight, and then taking my bearings by
the oil-palm and the tree, I crossed the river, with Bukári in my
wake, and found the moss-covered knoll at once. Here we emptied out
our bags, stowing the shining spoil in a heap under a clump of bushes,
and immediately set out on our return, picking up a few shell-fish as
we crossed the river. On our way back I cut a few sticks which, when
we arrived, I laid on the mass of embers to which our fire had sunk,
and set the affaní to roast, while we loaded our sacks afresh; for it
was now within two hours of noon, and we were getting hungry again.
We made in all five journeys before we had cleared off all that we had
raised, and as we each carried about a hundred pounds--the utmost that
we could stagger under--the quantity of gold that was ultimately piled
under the bushes on the island would be roughly a thousand pounds
weight, or near upon half a ton.
When we had delivered the last load on to the island we set to work
without delay to bury what we had brought, and this, seeing that my
knife was our sole implement, proved to be no small labour. I
commenced by cutting out a square of the thick moss about two feet
across, which I rolled up like a turf; then I stirred the black mould
with my knife while Bukári rooted with his fingers, burrowing like a
mole until we had excavated a space large enough to hold the treasure.
Into this we cast the manillas, packing them in as neatly as we could,
and when the last of them had been crammed in, we replaced as much of
the earth as there was room for, stamping it down hard with our feet,
and threw the remainder amongst the bushes. Lastly, I laid the slab of
moss back in its place, and when I had squeezed and coaxed it a
little, it joined so neatly at the edges that the surface looked as if
it had never been disturbed.
As we returned, I stopped at the tree to make a more permanent and
distinctive mark, so that I might feel that the first stage of our
labour was completed, and with the point of my knife I cut my initials
in large conspicuous letters on the smooth grey bark. This done we
resumed our journey in quite high spirits, picking out of our bags the
affaní that we had collected in the river, and eating them raw as we
went.
“The sun is getting low, Bukári,” said I. “We shall not be able to
raise much more of the gold to-day, for the daylight will soon be
gone.”
“Daylight and darkness are all the same to me,” replied the Moshi
grimly, “and it would seem that the night is the best time for our
work, for then we know that the wizards are asleep.”
I was not so sure of this, but I did not contradict Bukári, who
continued--
“We will change places when the daylight goes. I will take the gold
from the chest and thou shalt pull it up to the tunnel.”
“Very well,” I replied, “it shall be so; but, of course, we shall have
to sleep some time.”
“There will be time for sleep,” he rejoined, “when the chest is empty
and the gold is buried.”
We had now reached the foot of the cliff, and being by this time well
used to the ground, we soon climbed up and entered the tunnel. I cast
on the fire a faggot that I had picked up, and we took our way,
without pausing, towards the treasure chamber.
We had nearly reached the farther end, and the dim daylight was
already visible, when Bukári stopped abruptly and grasped me by the
arm; and at the same moment I became aware of a faint sound from the
direction of the treasure chamber.
Suddenly there arose a loud and confused shouting as of several men
calling out at once, and instantly Bukári turned and ran back,
exclaiming--
“Come away! It is the wizards! They are calling for a ladder.”
I turned and fled after my companion as fast as I could in the
darkness, and when I reached the mouth of the tunnel I saw him already
half-way down the cliff. The sound of those voices had in an instant
dissipated his reckless courage, and when I overtook him he was in a
state of complete panic.
“What are we to do?” he gasped. “They will be out directly, and we
shall be taken back to the mine. Curse the gold! Why did we ever
meddle with it?” And he flung his arms about with such furious
gesticulations that he struck the trunk of a tree and burst open his
half-healed wound, from which the blood began to trickle down on to
the ground.
I could have killed him, at that moment, without remorse, so angry was
I at this childish outburst of passion, for now, as we walked, a trail
of blood on the ground plainly marked the line of our flight.
“Idiot!” I exclaimed. “Is our peril not enough by reason of thy
infirmity without adding to it by thy folly? Let me bind thy wound,
and if thou behavest again like a child I will leave thee.”
He submitted meekly to my rather rough surgery, for I meant to stop
the bleeding at whatever cost to his feelings, and when I had replaced
the rag as tightly as I thought safe, I took him by the hand and
plunged into the forest. For a quarter of an hour we pushed and
scrambled through the undergrowth, bearing towards the river; then at
length we emerged on to the narrow track, and here I cut a long thin
stick, and giving him one end I grasped the other, and set off at a
run.