g from the king. I also shall be of their company, for they know
that I have learned their secret, and would murder me if I tried to
leave them. Now you who are chief of the border and guardian of that
drift, must hide at night with some men among the rocks in the shallows
of the drift and await our coming. First Nanea will cross driving the
cows and calves, for so it is arranged, and I shall help her; then will
follow Umgona and Nahoon with the oxen and heifers. On these two you
must fall, killing them and capturing the cattle, and afterwards I will
give you the rifle."

"What if the king should ask for the girl, White Man?"

"Then you shall answer that in the uncertain light you did not recognise
her and so she slipped away from you; moreover, that at first you feared
to seize the girl lest her cries should alarm the men and they should
escape you."

"Good, but how can I be sure that you will give me the gun once you are
across the river?"

"Thus: before I enter the ford I will lay the rifle and cartridges upon
a stone by the bank, telling Nanea that I shall return to fetch them
when I have driven over the cattle."

"It is well, White Man; I will not fail you."

So the plot was made, and after some further conversation upon points of
detail, the two conspirators shook hands and parted.

"That ought to come off all right," reflected Hadden to himself as he
plunged and floated in the waters of the stream, "but somehow I don't
quite trust our friend Maputa. It would have been better if I could
have relied upon myself to get rid of Nahoon and his respected uncle--a
couple of shots would do it in the water. But then that would be murder
and murder is unpleasant; whereas the other thing is only the delivery
to justice of two base deserters, a laudable action in a military
country. Also personal interference upon my part might turn the girl
against me; while after Umgona and Nahoon have been wiped out by Maputa,
she _must_ accept my escort. Of course there is a risk, but in every
walk of life the most cautious have to take risks at times."

As it chanced, Philip Hadden was correct in his suspicions of his
coadjutor, Maputa. Even before that worthy chief reached his own
kraal, he had come to the conclusion that the white man's plan, though
attractive in some ways, was too dangerous, since it was certain that if
the girl Nanea escaped, the king would be indignant. Moreover, the men
he took with him to do the killing i