I
should be within an hour or two of Arcoll's posts. So far, I had done
nothing for the cause. My message had been made useless by Henriques'
treachery, and I had stolen the Snake only to restore it. But if I got
off with my life, there would be work for me to do in the Armageddon
which I saw approaching. Should I escape, I wondered. What would
hinder Laputa from setting his men to follow me, and seize me before I
could get into safety? My only chance was that Arcoll might have been
busy this day, and the countryside too full of his men to let Laputa's
Kaffirs through. But if this was so, Laputa and I should be stopped,
and then Laputa would certainly kill me. I wished--and yet I did not
wish--that Arcoll should hold all approaches. As I reflected, my first
exhilaration died away. The scales were still heavily weighted against
me.

Laputa returned, closing the door behind him.

'I will bargain with you on my own terms. You shall have your life,
and in return you will take me to the place where you hid the collar,
and put it into my hands. I will ride there, and you will run beside
me, tied to my saddle. If we are in danger from the white men, I will
shoot you dead. Do you accept?'

'Yes,' I said, scrambling to my feet, and ruefully testing my shaky
legs. 'But if you want me to get to Machudi's you must go slowly, for
I am nearly foundered.'

Then he brought out a Bible, and made me swear on it that I would do as
I promised.

'Swear to me in turn,' I said, 'that you will give me my life if I
restore the jewels.'

He swore, kissing the book like a witness in a police-court. I had
forgotten that the man called himself a Christian.

'One thing more I ask,' I said. 'I want my dog decently buried.' 'That
has been already done,' was the reply. 'He was a brave animal, and my
people honour bravery.'

CHAPTER XVII

A DEAL AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

My eyes were bandaged tight, and a thong was run round my right wrist
and tied to Laputa's saddle-bow. I felt the glare of the afternoon sun
on my head, and my shins were continually barked by stones and trees;
but these were my only tidings of the outer world. By the sound of his
paces Laputa was riding the Schimmel, and if any one thinks it easy to
go blindfold by a horse's side I hope he will soon have the experience.
In the darkness I could not tell the speed of the beast. When I ran I
overshot it and was tugged back; when I walked my wrist was dis