t have given him news of me, was
carried up the stream in the tide of the disorderly army. Therefore,
he and his men rode back with all haste to the Berg by way of Main
Drift, and reached Bruderstroom before Laputa had crossed the highway.

My information about Inanda's Kraal decided Arcoll's next move. Like
me he remembered Beyers's performance, and resolved to repeat it. He
had no hope of catching Laputa, but he thought that he might hold up
the bulk of his force if he got guns on the ridge above the kraal. A
message had already been sent for guns, and the first to arrive got to
Bruderstroom about the hour when I was being taken by Machudi's men in
the kloof. The ceremony of the purification prevented Laputa from
keeping a good look-out, and the result was that a way was made for the
guns on the north-western corner of the rampart of rock. It was the
way which Beyers had taken, and indeed the enterprise was directed by
one of Beyers's old commandants. All that day the work continued,
while Laputa and I were travelling to Machudi's. Then came the evening
when I staggered into camp and told my news. Arcoll, who alone knew
how vital Laputa was to the success of the insurrection, immediately
decided to suspend all other operations and devote himself to
shepherding the leader away from his army. How the scheme succeeded
and what befell Laputa the reader has already been told.

Aitken and Wardlaw, when I descended from the cliffs, took me straight
to Blaauwildebeestefontein. I was like a man who is recovering from
bad fever, cured, but weak and foolish, and it was a slow journey which
I made to Umvelos', riding on Aitken's pony. At Umvelos' we found a
picket who had captured the Schimmel by the roadside. That wise beast,
when I turned him loose at the entrance to the cave, had trotted
quietly back the way he had come. At Umvelos' Aitken left me, and next
day, with Wardlaw as companion, I rode up the glen of the Klein
Labongo, and came in the afternoon to my old home. The store was
empty, for japp some days before had gone off post-haste to
Pietersdorp; but there was Zeeta cleaning up the place as if war had
never been heard of. I slept the night there, and in the morning found
myself so much recovered that I was eager to get away. I wanted to see
Arcoll about many things, but mainly about the treasure in the cave.

It was an easy journey to Bruderstroom through the meadows of the
plateau. The farmers' co