Kaffir country and in the land of my own folk was a kind of

qualified liberty. At any moment, I felt, Providence might
intervene to set me free. It was in the bond that Laputa should

shoot me if we were attacked; but a pistol might miss. As far
as my shaken wits would let me, I began to forecast the future.

Once he got the jewels my side of the bargain was complete.
He had promised me my life, but there had been nothing said

about my liberty; and I felt assured that Laputa would never
allow one who had seen so much to get off to Arcoll with his

tidings. But back to that unhallowed kraal I was resolved I
would not go. He 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 looked down into the gorge.
'There is no road there,' I said. 'We must go down to the

foot and come up the stream-side. It would be better to leave
your horse here.'

He started down the cliff, which from above looks a sheer
precipice. Then he seemed to agree with me, took the rope

from the schimmel's neck, and knee-haltered his beast. And at
that moment I had an inspiration.

With my wrist-rope in his hand, he preceded me down the
hill till we got to the red screes at the foot of the kloof. Then,

under my guidance, we turned up into the darkness of the
gorge. As we entered I looked back, and saw figures coming

over the edge of the green cup - Laputa's men, I guessed.
What I had to do must be done quickly.

We climbed up the burn, over the succession of little
cataracts, till we came to the flat space of shingle and the long

pool where I had been taken that morning. The ashes of the
fire which Machudi's men had made were plain on the rock.

After that I had to climb a waterfall to get to the rocky pool
where I had bestowed the rubies.

'You must take off this thong,' I said. 'I must climb to get
the collar. Cover me with a pistol if you like. I won't be out

of sight.'
Laputa undid the thong and set me free. From his belt he

took a pistol, cocked it, and held it over his left hand. I had
seen this way of shooting adopted by indifferent shots, and it

gave me a wild hope that he might not be much of a marksman.
It did not take me long to find the pool, close against the

blackened stump of a tree-fern. I thrust in my hand and
gathered up the jewels from the cool sand. They came out

glowing like living fires, and for a moment I thrilled with a
sense of reverence. Surely these were no common stones which

held in them the very heart of hell. Clutching them tightly, I
climbed down to Laputa.

At the sight of the great Snake he gave a cry of rapture.
Tearing it from me, he held it at arm's length, his face lit with

a passionate joy. He kissed it, he raised it to the sky; nay, he
was on his knees before it. Once more he was the savage

transported in the presence of his fetich. He turned to me with
burning eyes.

'Down on your knees,' he cried, 'and reverence the Ndhlondhlo.
Down, you impious dog, and seek pardon for your sacrilege.'

'I won't,' I said. 'I won't bow to any heathen idol.'
He pointed his pistol at me.

'In a second I shoot where your head is now. Down, you
fool, or perish.'

'You promised me my life,' I said stubbornly, though
Heaven knows why I chose to act thus.

He dropped the pistol and flung himself on me. I was
helpless as a baby in his hands. He forced me to the ground

and rolled my face in the sand; then he pulled me to my feet
and tossed me backward, till I almost staggered into the pool.

I saved myself, and staggered instead into the shallow at the
foot of it, close under the ledge of the precipice.

That morning, when Machudi's men were cooking breakfast,
I had figured out a route up the cliff. This route was

now my hope of escape. Laputa had dropped his pistol, and
the collar had plunged him in an ecstasy of worship. Now, if

ever, was my time. I must get on the shelf which ran sideways
up the cliff, and then scramble for dear life.

I pretended to be dazed and terrified.
'You promised me my life,' I whimpered.

'Your life,' he cried. 'Yes, you shall have your life; and
before long you will pray for death.'

'But I saved the Collar,' I pleaded. 'Henriques would have
stolen it. I brought it safe here, and now you have got it.'

Meantime I was pulling myself up on the shelf, and loosening
with one hand a boulder which overhung the pool.

'You have been repaid,' he said savagely. 'You will not die.'
'But my life is no use without liberty,' I said, working at the

boulder till it lay loose in its niche.
He did not answer, being intent on examining the Collar to