inted.' And again Captain Arcoll indulged his sense
of humour. Then he became grave, and returned to his examination.

'A rising, with diamonds as the sinews of war, and Henriques as the
chief agent. Well and good! But who is to lead, and what are the
natives going to rise about?'

'I know nothing further, but I have made some guesses.'

'Let's hear your guesses,' he said, blowing smoke rings from his pipe.

'I think the main mover is a great black minister who calls himself
John Laputa.'

Captain Arcoll nearly sprang out of his chair. 'Now, how on earth did
you find that out? Quick, Mr Crawfurd, tell me all you know, for this
is desperately important.'

I began at the beginning, and told him the story of what happened on
the Kirkcaple shore. Then I spoke of my sight of him on board ship,
his talk with Henriques about Blaauwildebeestefontein, and his hurried
departure from Durban.

Captain Arcoll listened intently, and at the mention of Durban he
laughed. 'You and I seem to have been running on lines which nearly
touched. I thought I had grabbed my friend Laputa that night in
Durban, but I was too cocksure and he slipped off. Do you know, Mr
Crawfurd, you have been on the right trail long before me? When did
you say you saw him at his devil-worship? Seven years ago? Then you
were the first man alive to know the Reverend John in his true colours.
You knew seven years ago what I only found out last year.'

'Well, that's my story,' I said. 'I don't know what the rising is
about, but there's one other thing I can tell you. There's some kind
of sacred place for the Kaffirs, and I've found out where it is.' I
gave him a short account of my adventures in the Rooirand.

He smoked silently for a bit after I had finished. 'You've got the
skeleton of the whole thing right, and you only want the filling up.
And you found out everything for yourself? Colles was right; you're
not wanting in intelligence, Mr Crawfurd.'

It was not much of a compliment, but I have never been more pleased in
my life. This slim, grizzled man, with his wrinkled face and bright
eyes, was clearly not lavish in his praise. I felt it was no small
thing to have earned a word of commendation.

'And now I will tell you my story,' said Captain Arcoll. 'It is a long
story, and I must begin far back. It has taken me years to decipher
it, and, remember, I've been all my life at this native business. I
can talk every dialect, and I