betray us."

So they went to the next shed--in all there were four--and here at the
second man who was sleeping, his head bowed on his chained hands, Soa
stopped suddenly like a pointer dog when he scents game.

"Peter, Peter," she said.

The man awoke--he was a fine fellow about thirty years of age--and
glared round wildly.

"Who called me by my old name?" he said hoarsely. "Nay, I dream, Peter
is dead."

"Peter," said the woman again, "awake, child of Mavoom; it is I, Soa,
who am come to save you."

The man cried aloud and began to tremble, but the other slaves took no
notice, thinking only that he had been smitten with a scourge.

"Be silent," said Soa again, "or we are lost. Loose the bar, Black One;
this is a head-man from the Settlement, a brave man."

Soon the bar was undone, then Otter bade Peter hold out his wrists while
he twisted off the fetters. Presently they were gone, and in the ecstasy
of his recovered liberty the man leaped high into the air, then fell at
Otter's feet as though he would embrace them.

"Get up, you fool," said the dwarf roughly, "and if there are any more
of the men of Mavoom here, show them to us: quick, or you will soon be
fast again."

"There should be forty or more," Peter answered, recovering himself,
"besides a few women and children. The rest of us are dead, except the
Shepherdess alone, and she is yonder."

Then they went down the lines slipping the chains from the Settlement
captives. Soon they had unmanacled ten or more men whom Soa selected,
and others stood round them with their hands still chained. As they went
about the work Soa explained something of the position to Peter, who was
fortunately a native of intelligence. He grasped the situation at once
and earnestly seconded Leonard's efforts to preserve silence and to
prevent confusion.

"Come," said Leonard to Soa, "we have got enough to begin with. I must
be off. You can loose the rest at your leisure; the moon is rising, it
is a quarter to twelve, and we have not a moment to lose. Now, Otter,
before we go, how can we send men to fire the reeds--through the
garden?"

"No, Baas, I have thought of a better way, the way by which I escaped
myself--that is, if these men can swim."

"They can all swim," said Soa; "they were bred on the banks of a river."

"Good. Then they must swim down the dike where I killed the sentry, four
of them. At the end are bars of wood, but in my day they were rotten;
at the wors