de violence, and so far I've
succeeded. But now you come along, Major, and you hustle a respectable
middle-aged citizen into an aboriginal mix-up. It's mighty indelicate.
I reckon the next move is up to you, for I'm no good at the
housebreaking stunt.'

'No more am I,' I answered; 'but I'm hanged if I'll chuck up the
sponge. Sandy's somewhere outside, and he's got a hefty crowd at his
heels.'

I simply could not feel the despair which by every law of common sense
was due to the case. The guns had intoxicated me. I could still hear
their deep voices, though yards of wood and stone separated us from the
upper air.

What vexed us most was our hunger. Barring a few mouthfuls on the road
we had eaten nothing since the morning, and as our diet for the past
days had not been generous we had some leeway to make up. Stumm had
never looked near us since we were shoved into the car. We had been
brought to some kind of house and bundled into a place like a
wine-cellar. It was pitch dark, and after feeling round the walls,
first on my feet and then on Peter's back, I decided that there were no
windows. It must have been lit and ventilated by some lattice in the
ceiling. There was not a stick of furniture in the place: nothing but
a damp earth floor and bare stone sides, The door was a relic of the
Iron Age, and I could hear the paces of a sentry outside it.

When things get to the pass that nothing you can do can better them,
the only thing is to live for the moment. All three of us sought in
sleep a refuge from our empty stomachs. The floor was the poorest kind
of bed, but we rolled up our coats for pillows and made the best of it.
Soon I knew by Peter's regular breathing that he was asleep, and I
presently followed him ...

I was awakened by a pressure below my left ear. I thought it was
Peter, for it is the old hunter's trick of waking a man so that he
makes no noise. But another voice spoke. It told me that there was no
time to lose and to rise and follow, and the voice was the voice of
Hussin.

Peter was awake, and we stirred Blenkiron out of heavy slumber. We were
bidden take off our boots and hang them by their laces round our necks
as country boys do when they want to go barefoot. Then we tiptoed to
the door, which was ajar.

Outside was a passage with a flight of steps at one end which led to
the open air. On these steps lay a faint shine of starlight, and by
its help I saw a man huddled up at the