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Prester John-Part29_John Buchan(1875-1940)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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there would be no defence. About one o'clock Arcoll, tired of



inaction and conscious that he had misread Laputa's tactics,

resolved on a bold stroke. He sent half his police to the Berg



to reinforce the commandoes, bidding them get into touch

with the post at Blaauwildebeestefontein.



A little after two o'clock a diversion occurred. Henriques

succeeded in crossing the road three miles east of Main Drift.



He had probably left the kraal early in the night and had tried

to cross farther west, but had been deterred by the patrols.



East of Main Drift, where the police were fewer, he succeeded;

but he had not gone far till he was discovered by the Basuto



scouts. The find was reported to Arcoll, who guessed at once

who this traveller was. He dared not send out any of his white



men, but he bade a party of the scouts follow the Portugoose's

trail. They shadowed him to Dupree's Drift, where he crossed



the Letaba. There he lay down by the roadside to sleep, while

they kept him company. A hard fellow Henriques was, for he



could slumberpeacefully on the very scene of his murder.

Dawn found Laputa at the head of the Klein Letaba glen,



not far from 'Mpefu's kraal. He got food at a hut, and set off

at once up the wooded hill above it, which is a promontory of



the plateau. By this time he must have been weary, or he

would not have blundered as he did right into a post of the



farmers. He was within an ace of capture, and to save himself

was forced back from the scarp. He seems, to judge from



reports, to have gone a little way south in the thicker timber,

and then to have turned north again in the direction of



Blaauwildebeestefontein. After that his movements are

obscure. He was seen on the Klein Labongo, but the sight of



the post at Blaauwildebeestefontein must have convinced him

that a korhaan could not escape that way. The next we heard



of him was that he had joined Henriques.

After daybreak Arcoll, having got his reports from the



plateau, and knowingroughly the direction in which Laputa

was shaping, decided to advance his lines. The farmers,



reinforced by three more commandoes from the Pietersdorp

district, still held the plateau, but the police were now on the



line of the Great Letaba. It was Arcoll's plan to hold that river

and the long neck of land between it and the Labongo. His



force was hourly increasing, and his mounted men would be

able to prevent any escape on the flank to the east of



Wesselsburg.

So it happened that while Laputa was being driven east



from the Berg, Henriques was travelling north, and their lines

intersected. I should like to have seen the meeting. It must



have told Laputa what had always been in the Portugoose's

heart. Henriques, I fancy, was making for the cave in the



Rooirand. Laputa, so far as I can guess at his mind, had a plan

for getting over the Portuguese border, fetching a wide circuit,



and joining his men at any of the concentrations between there

and Amsterdam.



The two were seen at midday going down the road which

leads from Blaauwildebeestefontein to the Lebombo. Then



they struck Arcoll's new front, which stretched from the

Letaba to the Labongo. This drove them north again, and



forced them to swim the latter stream. From there to the

eastern extremity of the Rooirand, which is the Portuguese



frontier, the country is open and rolling, with a thin light

scrub in the hollows. It was bad cover for the fugitives, as they



found to their cost. For Arcoll had purposely turned his police

into a flying column. They no longer held a line; they scoured



a country. Only Laputa's incomparable veld-craft and great

bodily strength prevented the two from being caught in half an



hour. They doubled back, swam the Labongo again, and got

into the thick bush on the north side of the Blaauwildebeestefontein



road. The Basuto scouts were magnificent in the open,

but in the cover they were again at fault. Laputa and Henriques



fairly baffled them, so that the pursuit turned to the west in

the belief that the fugitives had made for Majinje's kraal. In



reality they had recrossed the Labongo and were making for

Umvelos'.



All this I heard afterwards, but in the meantime I lay in

Arcoll's tent in deep conscious" target="_blank" title="a.无意识的；不觉察的">unconsciousness. While my enemies were



being chased like partridges, I was reaping the fruits of four

days' toil and terror. The hunters had become the hunted, the



wheel had come full circle, and the woes of David Crawfurd

were being abundantly avenged.






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