the Letsitela, I saw that I
was right in my guess. It ran, a brawling mountain stream, in a narrow
rift in the bush. I crossed it almost dry-shod on the boulders above a
little fall, stopping for a moment to drink and lave my brow.

After that the country changed again. The wood was now getting like
that which clothed the sides of the Berg. There were tall
timber-trees--yellowwood, sneezewood, essenwood, stinkwood--and the
ground was carpeted with thick grass and ferns. The sight gave me my
first earnest of safety. I was approaching my own country. Behind me
was heathendom and the black fever flats. In front were the cool
mountains and bright streams, and the guns of my own folk.

As I struggled on--for I was getting very footsore and weary--I became
aware of an odd sound in my rear. It was as if something were
following me. I stopped and listened with a sudden dread. Could
Laputa's trackers have got up with me already? But the sound was not
of human feet. It was as if some heavy animal were plunging through
the undergrowth. At intervals came the soft pad of its feet on the
grass.

It must be the hungry lion of my nightmare, and Henriques' pistol was
in the mud of the Klein Letaba! The only thing was a tree, and I had
sprung for one and scrambled wearily into the first branches when a
great yellow animal came into the moonlight.

Providence had done kindly in robbing me of my pistol. The next minute
I was on the ground with Colin leaping on me and baying with joy. I
hugged that blessed hound and buried my head in his shaggy neck,
sobbing like a child. How he had traced me I can never tell. The
secret belongs only to the Maker of good and faithful dogs.

With him by my side I was a new man. The awesome loneliness had gone.
I felt as if he were a message from my own people to take me safely
home. He clearly knew the business afoot, for he padded beside me with
never a glance to right or left. Another time he would have been
snowking in every thicket; but now he was on duty, a serious,
conscientious dog with no eye but for business.

The moon went down, and the starry sky was our only light. The thick
gloom which brooded over the landscape pointed to the night being far
gone. I thought I saw a deeper blackness ahead which might be the line
of the Berg. Then came that period of utter stillness when every bush
sound is hushed and the world seems to swoon. I felt almost impious
hurrying through t