"I have more than one grievance against you, Mr Lamont. First of all,
why didn't you come in and see us last night? We had quite a number of
men dropping in."
"All the more reason why I shouldn't, isn't it? Too much of a crowd,
you know."
"No, I don't. We can never have too much of a crowd of our friends."
He laughed--again, she thought, strangely.
"That's novel doctrine to me, anyway," he said. "I was always under the
impression one could--and very much so. But I don't think your
brother-in-law likes me. Isn't that good enough excuse?"
"No, it isn't. Dick doesn't constitute the whole establishment. But,
here is another thing. I own I've been dying of curiosity over it ever
since. Why was it of so much importance that you should spend the rest
of the day with that snuffy old savage? You were sticking to him closer
than a brother. In fact you were at each other's elbow all the time.
More than one noticed it."
"Oh, did they?" and here she noticed a touch of concern in his tone.
Then, as if he had come to some sudden resolution, "I believe you have
good nerves, Miss Vidal?"
"Yes," wonderingly.
"Well, get Fullerton to take, or send, you and your sister into Buluwayo
without further delay."
Now Clare wondered indeed.
"Why?" she said simply.
"Yes, that's a fair question. But if I explain, will you undertake not
to get panic-stricken, and also to leave events to me--in short, not to
give away what I may tell you, no, not even to your sister."
"Why, of course. But--you don't mean to say these savages are
meditating a war--on us?"
"Yes I do. And not only that, but the whole thing is cut and dried, and
it's only a question when to begin. Now I shall be able to answer your
other question. You thought me no end boorish and ungracious yesterday.
Well, the reason why I stuck to old Qubani like a brother, instead of
being of service to you, was that, if I had not, the whole of Gandela
would at this moment be a heap of ashes, and the race-course piled with
the bodies of every man, woman, and child in the place."
"Good Heavens! You don't mean that?" ejaculated Clare, staring at him.
"Certainly I do. There was an impi stationed here--up here where we are
sitting, and at a signal from Qubani it was to rush the whole show. And
then--"
"What was the signal?"
"He was to throw up the red cap he was wearing. It was to be done
during the prize-giving, so as to be less noticeable."
"And--you prevented him?"
"I should think so. I showed him a six-shooter--I had one in each
pocket--and promised to blow his head off if he didn't give me that red
cap right there. Now a native is nothing if not practical, and the fact
of all in Gandela being massacred was nothing to this one if he wasn't
there to see the fun, as, of course, he wouldn't be. So--he handed over
the red cap. I own, though, it was rather a tense moment while he was
sort of hesitating whether to do so or not."
Clare could only gasp, and stared speechless at this man, whom she had
heard her brother-in-law, and others, describe as something of a
coward--and of whom she, in spite of her better instincts, had thought
sorely and with resentment only yesterday, by reason of what she termed
to herself his `rudeness' in flatly refusing to do what she had asked
him. Good Heavens! And all the time, by his nerve and cool-headedness,
he had saved her and the whole settlement from a hideous death. What a
cool, masterful, resourceful brain was here.
"But, Mr Lamont," she broke forth at last, "how did you know that this
awful thing was contemplated--was to happen?"
"Well, that's something of a story. I heard it among them--heard the
whole scheme in all its details. Of course they don't know that, or I
shouldn't be alive here, talking to you at this moment. Indeed, the
amazement of the old witch-doctor at finding himself euchred imparted a
comic element into a most confoundedly tragical situation."
Clare looked at him in silence. She was turning over in her mind the
events of the previous day. She remembered how the fact of him
appearing in a coat had been commented on as an out-of-the-way
circumstance. Now it all stood explained. It was to conceal the deadly
weapon wherewith he had compelled the treacherous Matabele to abandon
his murderous plan. And what an awful contrast was there--that
gathering, as unsuspecting and light-hearted as though in the midst of
peaceful England, while not a mile away hovered a storm-cloud of
bloodthirsty savages awaiting the signal to overwhelm the whole in a
whirlwind of massacre and agonising death. And this had been averted by
the coolness and resolution of one man.
"You may or may not have noticed that the old ruffian was wearing two
caps, a red and a white?"
"Yes, I remarked on that," said Clare. "I wondered his head didn't
split."
"Well, the white cap was to be the signal that the time was not ripe. I
made him throw up that, and hooray with the rest of us."
"Yes, I remember that too, and how we all laughed."
"Of course I primed him with the state of preparedness we were all in,
though not seeming to be--and that there were Maxims hidden under that
waggon sail instead of soda-water bottles. Good Lord, if the bar-keeper
had sent his boy to get out a fresh box of the same! but he didn't,
luckily."
"Yes, indeed. But what have you done about the affair, Mr Lamont? and
is the old witch-doctor in prison?"
"As yet I've done nothing except come up here the first thing this
morning and verify the whole affair. And I have. There are abundant
traces that a large number of Matabele have occupied this ground for
hours. Look at the thing you picked up--do you know what it is?"
"This?" said Clare, holding out the cow-tails on the string.
"Yes. Well, that is part of the regular war-gear. It is tied round the
leg above the calf--and this thing you found forms an important `_piece
de conviction_.' It is never worn when moving about in the ordinary
way. Well, old Qubani is not detained, because I saw it answered my
purpose best to let him go."