Part 21 (2/2)

These were the thoughts that carried me far into the night. Trust was again on sentry; and as I watched the man, I observed that he was nodding by the fire. Plainly, he was three parts asleep. Were my hands not bound behind my back, it would be a simple matter to escape. And as this thought came into my head--lo and behold!--_I was free_!

Someone had approached quite silently from behind me, from the direction of the thickets. In a trice, a sharp knife had cut my bonds. And--as I have stated--I was free.

CHAPTER XXIII--HOW AMOS GAINED POSSESSION OF THE MAP

The thing was done so swiftly that I had no time even to look round. I sat regarding the burly figure of Joshua Trust, very definitely outlined before the red glow of the fire; and I know that the man never suspected for a moment what had happened.

Someone whispered in my ear:

”Keep an eye on Trust. Draw back into the thickets as silently as you can. There you will find me waiting for you.”

I had no need to look at him. I knew the voice of John Bannister, even though he did no more than whisper. I was resolved to carry out his instructions to the word.

Bannister withdrew. I neither heard nor saw him go, but I felt instinctively that he was no longer at my back.

I sat watching Joshua Trust, and saw that the man's chin had dropped upon his chest. It was plain to see that, though he tried his best to keep awake, he was so sleepy that he could not do so. But, knowing that there would be trouble of a certainty if Amos caught him sleeping on his post, he might awaken with a start at any moment, and for that reason I thought that I had best take the chance that offered.

I had been sitting upright, and still kept my hands behind my back, though they were no longer bound together. Moving my att.i.tude as little as possible, I drew myself backwards, inch by inch. By this cautious method it took me the better part of three minutes to gain the margin of the undergrowth--a distance of ten yards at the very most. There I was suddenly lifted off my feet, carried a short distance and released, to grasp my old friend by the hand.

And so he had found me at last, though it seemed to me for all the world as if it was I who had discovered him. He had fulfilled the oath he had sworn to my mother many months before; and from this moment we were never again to be parted throughout our great adventure.

His story I had learned from William Rushby; but Bannister as yet knew nothing of what had happened to me, since he had not seen me from the day when I was kidnapped upon the Littlehampton road. But there was no time then to talk to one another. With as small delay as possible, we must get well beyond the reach of Amos and his friends.

That night we journeyed in one another's company for several hours through the darkness of the woods. We could not see where we were going, for it was not possible to see a hand before one's face, and we were scratched most painfully and often upon the thorn-trees that were plentiful amid the underwoods. But this was of no great account, if our own safety were ensured; for, sooner or later, Joshua must see that I was gone, and would at once give the alarm; and if we were not well out of the way by then, it was quite possible that we might be overtaken, and our plight would be as bad as ever.

So we hurried blindly on our way, until at last John Bannister deemed that we were safe. Then it was that I learned for the first time how utterly exhausted he was. He had had no sleep, he told me, for two nights, and he was still weak from the fever which had robbed him of more than half his strength.

”Let us sleep, d.i.c.k,” said he. ”To-morrow there will be time enough for you to tell me all I want to know.”

And thereupon we lay down to sleep together, side by side, in the dense wood in which I had wandered for so long alone; and, strange as it may seem, we slept hand in hand.

I experienced a sense of security and peace such as I had never known, it seemed to me, for years. He and I were at last together; and on the morrow he must hear all my story, just as I myself had once been wont to listen to his wondrous tales of enterprise and daring. I know that I was happy, and I also know the reason: I had often dreamed--as boys will let their fancy run away with them--that he and I were sojourning together in some savage place, beset by many dangers. And I always knew that, if he were with me, there would be naught to fear; we would come forth unscathed from every peril that threatened life or limb.

In all conscience, we had enough of danger now, on every side of us, in the darkness of the Wood. And yet I slept, contented and at peace.

Daylight awoke us, for we were both creatures of the Wild. Marking the position of the sun, we set forward towards the west, hoping to gain that night the ravine where we had left William Rushby.

Bannister told me that he feared for Rushby's life, since he was sure that Amos and the others would return to the ravine with all possible speed, so soon as ever they discovered that I had escaped from their clutches. I thought by now that I had a fair knowledge of the topography of the Wood; but I soon found that Bannister knew as much, or even more, than I. In the night we must have fled towards the south; for we had not gone far upon the route that we had chosen before we came upon the Brook of Scarlet Pebbles.

”I know where we are,” cried Bannister, at once. ”We are about five miles to the south of the Big Fish itself. I can tell that by the size of the stones in the stream. We had better change our course towards the south.”

”But that will take us away from the ravine,” said I, ”which lies due west of the Wood, some distance to the north of the Spaniard's Tomb!”

”You're right, there,” said Bannister. ”It may be a long way round; but the longest way is often the quickest, d.i.c.k. In a few hours we should be clear of the Wood, although too far to the south. But we shall have open country before us, and should march four miles an hour.”

I had, by now, told Bannister my story of all that had happened to me since I first fell into the hands of Amos Baverstock. He asked few questions, though these were always to the point; and when I had told him everything, he said nothing, but just placed one of his great hands upon my shoulder, and patted me so affectionately that the action conveyed far more to me than any words he might have used. I knew that he cared for me more than he dared trust himself to say, and, moreover, he approved of all that I had done.

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