.

Mean while Ruyter, for it was he who had been chased, came up in time to
assist in securing his victim.

"What, Ruyter, is it you?" exclaimed Considine in amazement.

When the robber-chief became aware who he had captured, an expression of
deep annoyance or regret crossed his face, but it quickly passed into
one of stern almost sulky determination, as he ordered the two men, in
Dutch, to make the bonds secure. He deigned no reply to the prisoner's
question. He did not even appear to recognise him, but strode on in
front, while the two robbers drove the youth up into the rocky
fastnesses of the mountains.

That night our hero found himself seated in the deepest recesses of a
cavern by the side of his comrade Van Dyk. The arms of both were firmly
bound behind their backs, but their legs were free, their captors
knowing well that a scramble among such giddy and rugged heights without
the use of the hands was impossible. In the centre of the cavern sat
the robbers round a small fire on which some of them were cooking a few
scraps of meat.

"A pretty mess you've led yourself and me into, young fellow!" said the
hunter sternly.

"Indeed I have," replied Considine, with a very penitent air, "and I
would give or do anything to undo the mischief."

"Ja--always the same with wild-caps like you," returned the
other,--"ready to give anything when you've got nothing, and to do
anything when you're helpless. How much easier it would have been to
have given a little heed and shown a little common sense when you had
the chance!"

There was a touch of bitterness, almost fierceness, in the hunter's
tone, which, knowing the man's kindly nature, Considine could not quite
understand.

"Do you know what them reptiles there are saying?" continued Van Dyk
after a brief pause.

"No, their language is mere gibberish to me."

"They're discussin' the best method of puttin' us out of existence,"
said the hunter, with a grim smile. "Some of 'em want to cut our
throats at once and have done with it; some would like to torture us
first; others are in favour of hangin', but all agree that we must be
killed to prevent our tellin' the whereabouts of their hiding-place up
here,--all except one, the one you gave chase to this afternoon. He
advises 'em to let us go, but he don't seem very earnest about it."

"I think I know the reason of his favouring us," said Considine, with a
look of hope.

"Indeed?"

"Yes; he once journeyed