But when I speak of it she gives me a look and is gone,
and I see no more of her all day, and when I see her she refuses even to
answer me--so perverse, so foolish is she in her ignorance; for, as you
can see for yourself, she has no more sense or concern about what is
most important than some little painted fly that flits about all day
long without any object."

CHAPTER XV

The next day we were early at work. Nuflo had already gathered, dried,
and conveyed to a place of concealment the greater portion of his garden
produce. He was determined to leave nothing to be taken by any wandering
party of savages that might call at the house during our absence. He had
no fear of a visit from his neighbours; they would not know, he said,
that he and Rima were out of the wood. A few large earthen pots, filled
with shelled maize, beans, and sun-dried strips of pumpkin, still
remained to be disposed of. Taking up one of these vessels and asking
me to follow with another, he started off through the wood. We went a
distance of five or six hundred yards, then made our way down a very
steep incline, close to the border of the forest on the western side.
Arrived at the bottom, we followed the bank a little further, and I then
found myself once more at the foot of the precipice over which I had
desperately thrown myself on the stormy evening after the snake had
bitten me. Nuflo, stealing silently and softly before me through the
bushes, had observed a caution and secrecy in approaching this spot
resembling that of a wise old hen when she visits her hidden nest to lay
an egg. And here was his nest, his most secret treasure-house, which he
had probably not revealed even to me without a sharp inward conflict,
notwithstanding that our fates were now linked together. The lower
portion of the bank was of rock; and in it, about ten or twelve feet
above the ground, but easily reached from below, there was a natural
cavity large enough to contain all his portable property. Here, besides
the food-stuff, he had already stored a quantity of dried tobacco leaf,
his rude weapons, cooking utensils, ropes, mats, and other objects. Two
or three more journeys were made for the remaining pots, after which
we adjusted a slab of sandstone to the opening, which was fortunately
narrow, plastered up the crevices with clay, and covered them over with
moss to hide all traces of our work.

Towards evening, after we had refreshed ourselves with a long siesta,