get far on his road home.'

This was pleasant hearing for me, but I scarcely thought of myself. I
was consumed with a passion of fury against the murdering yellow devil.
With Laputa I was not angry; he was an open enemy, playing a fair game.
But my fingers itched to get at the Portugoose--that double-dyed
traitor to his race. As I thought of my kindly old friends, lying
butchered with their kinsfolk out in the bush, hot tears of rage came
to my eyes. Perfect love casteth out fear, the Bible says; but, to
speak it reverently, so does perfect hate. Not for safety and a king's
ransom would I have drawn back from the game. I prayed for one thing
only, that God in His mercy would give me the chance of settling with
Henriques.

I fancy I missed some of the conversation, being occupied with my own
passion. At any rate, when I next listened the two were deep in plans.
Maps were spread beside them, and Laputa's delicate forefinger was
tracing a route. I strained my ears, but could catch only a few names.
Apparently they were to keep in the plains till they had crossed the
Klein Labongo and the Letaba. I thought I caught the name of the ford
of the latter; it sounded like Dupree's Drift. After that the talk
became plainer, for Laputa was explaining in his clear voice. The force
would leave the bush, ascend the Berg by the glen of the Groot Letaba,
and the first halt would be called at a place called Inanda's Kraal,
where a promontory of the high-veld juts out behind the peaks called
the Wolkberg or Cloud Mountains. All this was very much to the point,
and the names sunk into my memory like a die into wax.

'Meanwhile,' said Laputa, 'there is the gathering at Ntabakaikonjwa.[1]
It will take us three hours' hard riding to get there.'

Where on earth was Ntabakaikonjwa? It must be the native name for the
Rooirand, for after all Laputa was not likely to use the Dutch word for
his own sacred place.

'Nothing has been forgotten. The men are massed below the cliffs, and
the chiefs and the great indunas will enter the Place of the Snake.
The door will be guarded, and only the password will get a man through.
That word is "Immanuel," which means, "God with us."'

'Well, when we get there, what happens?' Henriques asked with a laugh.
'What kind of magic will you spring on us?'

There was a strong contrast between the flippant tone of the Portugoose
and the grave voice which answered him.

'The Keeper of the Snake will o