g-place in the forest and
destroyed him. A Boer farmer on the plateau had his skull, and used to
drink whisky out of it when he was merry.

The sight of the pursuit was the last straw. I gave up hope, and my
intentions were narrowed to one frantic desire--to hide the jewels.
Patriotism, which I had almost forgotten, flickered up in that crisis.
At any rate Laputa should not have the Snake. If he drove out the
white man, he should not clasp the Prester's rubies on his great neck.

There was no cover in the green cup, so I turned up the ravine on the
right side. The enemy, so far as I could judge, were on the left and
in front, and in the gully I might find a pot-hole to bury the necklet
in. Only a desperate resolution took me through the tangle of juniper
bushes into the red screes of the gully. At first I could not find
what I sought. The stream in the ravine slid down a long slope like a
mill-race, and the sides were bare and stony. Still I plodded on,
helping myself with a hand on Colin's back, for my legs were numb with
fatigue. By-and-by the gully narrowed, and I came to a flat place with
a long pool. Beyond was a little fall, and up this I climbed into a
network of tiny cascades. Over one pool hung a dead tree-fern, and a
bay from it ran into a hole of the rock. I slipped the jewels far into
the hole, where they lay on the firm sand, showing odd lights through
the dim blue water. Then I scrambled down again to the flat space and
the pool, and looked round to see if any one had reached the edge of
the ravine. There was no sign as yet of the pursuit, so I dropped
limply on the shingle and waited. For I had suddenly conceived a plan.

As my breath came back to me my wits came back from their wandering.
These men were not there to kill me, but to capture me. They could
know nothing of the jewels, for Laputa would never have dared to make
the loss of the sacred Snake public. Therefore they would not suspect
what I had done, and would simply lead me to Laputa at Inanda's Kraal.
I began to see the glimmerings of a plan for saving my life, and by
God's grace, for saving my country from the horrors of rebellion. The
more I thought the better I liked it. It demanded a bold front, and it
might well miscarry, but I had taken such desperate hazards during the
past days that I was less afraid of fortune. Anyhow, the choice lay
between certain death and a slender chance of life, and it was easy to
decide.

P