e was armed,
and I was helpless; he was strong, and I was dizzy with weakness; he
was mounted, and I was on foot: it seemed a poor hope that I should get
away. There was little chance from a wandering patrol, for I knew if we
were followed I should have a bullet in my head, while Laputa got off
on the Schimmel. I must wait and bide events. At the worst, a clean
shot on the hillside in a race for life was better than the unknown
mysteries of the kraal. I prayed earnestly to God to show me His
mercy, for if ever man was sore bested by the heathen it was I.

To my surprise, Laputa chose to show himself on the green
hill-shoulder. He looked towards the Wolkberg and raised his hands.
It must have been some signal. I cast my eyes back on the road we had
come, and I thought I saw some figures a mile back, on the edge of the
Letaba gorge. He was making sure of my return.

By this time it was about four in the afternoon, and as heavenly
weather as the heart of man could wish. The meadows were full of
aromatic herbs, which, as we crushed them, sent up a delicate odour.
The little pools and shallows of the burns were as clear as a Lothian
trout-stream. We were now going at a good pace, and I found that my
earlier weariness was growing less. I was being keyed up for some
great crisis, for in my case the spirit acts direct on the body, and
fatigue grows and ebbs with hope. I knew that my strength was not far
from breaking-point; but I knew also that so long as a chance was left
me I should have enough for a stroke.

Before I realized where we were we had rounded the hill, and were
looking down on the green cup of the upper Machudi's glen. Far down, I
remember, where the trees began, there was a cloud of smoke. Some
Kaffir--or maybe Arcoll--had fired the forest. The smoke was drifting
away under a light west wind over the far plains, so that they were
seen through a haze of opal.

Laputa bade me take the lead. I saw quite clear the red kloof on the
far side, where the collar was hid. To get there we might have ridden
straight into the cup, but a providential instinct made me circle round
the top till we were on the lip of the ravine. This was the road some
of Machudi's men had taken, and unthinkingly I followed them. Twenty
minutes' riding brought us to the place, and all the while I had no
kind of plan of escape. I was in the hands of my Maker, watching, like
the Jews of old, for a sign.

Laputa dismounted and