Part 13 (2/2)
To give an adequate idea ofthose that folloould auished myself I had undertaken to recover the stolen steed in bold and doughty fashi+on, and had allowed myself to be drawn into the most transparent booby-trap ever devised for the deception offulfilled Beryl's parting injunction, here was I, strapped up helplessly, reasy Kafir blanket, only able to breathe--and that with difficulty--through its unspeakably nauseous folds Heavens! I wonder I was not sick Kicked and punched too, and a butt for every kind of jeer and insult froh of course I could not understand the burden of the latter But where was it going to end?
Why had they not ht Could it be that they were taking ht do it at their leisure, and hide away my body in some hole or cave where there was not the s witness against themselves? It looked like it--and the idea enuine fear
All thoughts of rescue--of immediate rescue--I was forced to put aside; delayed rescue would be too late My co us in the dark, and it was quite dark now;voices of those who held me, the latter must be fairly numerous No, the situation was hopeless-- abjectly hopeless Half-dead with fatigue and semi-suffocation, my mind a prey to the most acute humiliation and self-reproach, I stumbled on-- how I did so I hardly know At last I could bear it no longer They ht kill me if they liked, but not another step would I stir until that horrible suffocating gag was re of this must have struck the at the cattle thongs hich I was bound, and lo; the filthy blanket was dragged offdraughts
”No talk--no call out,” said a voice at my side ”You talk--you call out, then--so”
It was not too dark to see the significant drawing of the hand across the speaker's throat by which the injunction was eed it advisable to obey--for the present at any rate
In this e kept on through the night; it seehts against the star-geh ere threading a long defile More than once I stu the use of my hands to save myself, fell flat on my face, to the brutal amusement of the ruffians in whose power I was I deemed it inadvisable to look about me too much, but could make out quite a dozen forathered from the huht went to confirht air was constantly poisoned by a reek of rancid grease and musky, foetid hun
At last a brief halt was , for soon one of thereat calabash, and the sound of the splashi+ng liquid as it was poured into boas as very h, forced march; the dash and excitement which had preceded it, had done their work I was silish-speaking Kafir came towards me with a smaller bowl He put it to ain and dashed the contents into hed
It was tooat that s were not
Throwing myself backward as I sat I let out with these in such wise as to plant both feet, with the force of a battering ra tor He rebounded like an indiarubber ball, rolled half a dozen yards, and lay writhing and groaning and gasping--while I, of course, made up my mind to instant death
But to my surprise the other Kafirs seemed to think it the best joke in the world, for they burst out laughing ied coony I reerous, and to that extent felt reassured Yet, hen my victim should have recovered? That would be the tiood humour, I uttered the word ”_Manzi_”
They stared; then one fellow got up and taking the calabash, shook it
Yes, there was still a little, and pouring it into a bowl brought it to hter over the amusement I had just afforded the the steep side of afroained a good altitude Refreshed by my drink of water I was able to travel better, and I looked soerly about, with an eye to possibilities, resolved, too, to keep one for any opportunity On the one hand our way see by cliffs; on the other, space Finally the whole gang struck inward bethat looked like narrowing rock walls, and came to a halt
And now, as the fire which had been pro place was beneath a gigantic overhanging slab of rock, forht of a patch of stars with dark tree-tops waving gently against theuided to the back of the recess, and bidden to sit down, an invitation I had no desire to dispute, after my late exertions But they had, apparently, no idea of loosening the thongs, and ue did not rise to the point of requesting it
In sooth, I began to wish I had treated my erstwhile tormentor with a little less violence I could have used him as a medium of conversation at any rate
Now froed forth a live sheep, tied by the legs; while one of the Kafirs was sharpening a butcher's knife upon a slab of rock Poor beast! Its condition appealed to me in that mine was exactly similar, and the probabilities were that its fate would be mine, with the difference that I should not be eaten afterwards; for it was there and then butchered, and the flaying and quartering being accoly short space of ti fire, and indeed the hissing and sputtering, and the odours of the roast, filled rateful savour I could do with a mutton chop or two, after the scanty fare and hard exertion of the recent twelve hours
Soon the feasting began, and there was a great chewing, and cracking of bones The while I sat and endeavoured calmly to size up the whole situation And its accessories were about as wild and gri annals of any romance Here was I, helpless, in the power and at the mercy of a score or so of as cut-throat a set of naked and ochre-sht here to this probably unknown fastness of theirs, and for what? From motives of self-preservation alone they could not afford to restoreonce been in this, which was probably one of their most secure retreats, and I was conscious of a dire and terrible sinking of heart Yet there was no war between ourselves and these people They would hardly, therefore, go such lengths as to kill ainst this caht There is no declared war between society and the dangerous and crireat city Yet he who should venture into the innermost haunts of these and place himself in their poould be extre friends; andthat a well-fedone, be he savage or civilised, I waited until these had nearly finished their repast before intins and such feords as I knew, that I should like sohed, then one took a strip ofit up in a sort of bob-cherry fashi+on But I was not to be taken in so easily as that, and uttered the word for hot At this they laughed harder than ever, and having waited long enough, I soon got outside thefed in so unappetising, not to say disgusting, a fashi+on But the whole episode seeun to augur great things, when an interruption occurred which was inauspicious in the extreme This was caused by a new arrival, none other than the evil-looking rascal whom I had rendered temporarily _hors de co to the pain he was suffering, had now overtaken the this fellow did was to seize a knife which was lying idle, and rush over tohideously with vengeful ferocity Instinctively I prepared to receive him in the same way as before, whereat he hesitated, and this I believed saved reat hubbub of voices, and a swaying to and fro of the crowd, as ht it would have ended in a free fight, but at length the fellow suffered hi, by the fire, to ht upon suchdisposed of this he caain The other Kafirs were for the hted pipes, and were puffing away contentedly, conversing in a deep-toned, subdued hum Indeed, but for my perilous situation the scene was one of wild and vivid picturesqueness--the great overhanging rocks reflecting the glow of the fires or throwing out weird, uncouth silhouettes froes, and the outlandish but not unpleasing tones of their strange tongue; the rolling eyeballs and the gleam of white teeth, as one or other of the here?” began the fellow
”I didn't coo,” I answered
”Let you go? Ha! See there” And he pointed to so behind me