, which was
bringing them to such a miserable end.

"Where does the passage run? Have you looked?" he asked.

"Not yet, but the voice in me said--I mean, I dreamed--that it goes down
to the river-side. If you leant on me do you think that you could walk?"

"Not one inch," he answered. "Here where I am I shall die."

"No, no, don't talk like that. We may be saved now that I have found
a way. Oh, if only you could--if only you could walk, or if I had the
strength to carry you!" and she wrung her hands and began to weep, so
weak was she.

Her father looked at her searchingly. Then he said:

"Well, love, I cannot, so there's an end. But you can, and you had
better go."

"What! And leave you? Never."

"Yes, and leave me. Look, there is but a little oil left and only a
few candles. The biscuits are done and neither of us can swallow
that biltong any more. I suppose that I am dying, and your health and
strength are failing you quickly in this darkness; if you stop here
you must soon follow me. And what is the alternative? The madman
outside--that is, if you could find strength to pull down the wall,
which I doubt. You had best go, Benita."

But still she said she would not.

"Do you not see," he added, "that it is my only chance of life? If you
go you may be able to bring me help before the end comes. Should there
be a passage the probability is that, although they know nothing of
it, it finishes somewhere by the wall of the first enclosure where the
Makalanga are. If so, you may find the Molimo, or if he is dead, Tamas
or one of the others, and they will help us. Go, Benita, go at once."

"I never thought of that," she answered in a changed voice. "Of course,
it may be so, if the passage goes down at all. Well, at least I can look
and come back to tell you."

Then Benita placed the remainder of the oil close by her father's
side, so that he could refill the lamp, for the use of his hands still
remained to him. Also, she set there such crumbs of biscuit as were
left, some of the biltong, a flask of Hollands, and a pail of water.
This done, she put on her long cloak, filled one of its pockets with
biltong, and the other with matches and three of the four remaining
candles. The fourth she insisted on leaving beside her father's bed.
When everything was ready she knelt down at his side, kissed him, and
from her heart put up a prayer that they might both live to meet again,
although she knew well that this they coul