fir kraals. These guns were new, serviceable Mausers, and the
men who bore them looked as if they knew how to handle them. There
must have been long months of training behind this show, and I
marvelled at the man who had organized it. I saw no field-guns, and
the little transport they had was evidently for food only. We did not
travel in ranks like an orthodox column. About a third of the force
was mounted, and this formed the centre. On each wing the infantry
straggled far afield, but there was method in their disorder, for in
the bush close ranks would have been impossible. At any rate we kept
wonderfully well together, and when we mounted a knoll the whole army
seemed to move in one piece. I was well in the rear of the centre
column, but from the crest of a slope I sometimes got a view in front.
I could see nothing of Laputa, who was probably with the van, but in
the very heart of the force I saw the old priest of the Snake, with his
treasure carried in the kind of litter which the Portuguese call a
machila, between rows of guards. A white man rode beside him, whom I
judged to be Henriques. Laputa trusted this fellow, and I wondered
why. I had not forgotten the look on his face while he had stared at
the rubies in the cave. I had a notion that the Portugoose might be an
unsuspected ally of mine, though for blackguard reasons.

About ten o'clock, as far as I could judge by the sun, we passed
Umvelos', and took the right bank of the Labongo. There was nothing in
the store to loot, but it was overrun by Kaffirs, who carried off the
benches for firewood. It gave me an odd feeling to see the remains of
the meal at which I had entertained Laputa in the hands of a dozen
warriors. I thought of the long sunny days when I had sat by my
nachtmaal while the Dutch farmers rode in to trade. Now these men were
all dead, and I was on my way to the same bourne.

Soon the blue line of the Berg rose in the west, and through the corner
of my eye, as I rode, I could see the gap of the Klein Labongo. I
wondered if Arcoll and his men were up there watching us. About this
time I began to be so wretched in body that I ceased to think of the
future. I had had no food for seventeen hours, and I was dropping from
lack of sleep. The ache of my bones was so great that I found myself
crying like a baby. What between pain and weakness and nervous
exhaustion, I was almost at the end of my tether, and should have
fainted dead away