could not be anything like as tired as I was, then. I was a
brute not to have known that you must be thoroughly done up, although
you did not say so.

"We have got some food with us. Do you think you could eat, a little?"

She shook her head.

"Not just yet."

"All right. I have brought a couple of bottles of wine I got at one of
the traders' stores, yesterday. You must take a sip of that, and then
we will leave you to yourself for a bit, and you must lie down and
have a good nap."

Dick took a bottle from his holster, opened it, and gave her some in a
tin cup. Then one of the rugs was spread on the ground, with another
one rolled up as a pillow, and then they led the horses farther into
the wood, leaving Annie to herself.

"She won't be able to ride again, tonight," Surajah said, as they sat
down, while Ibrahim took out the provisions that he had, on the
previous day, carried across to the farm.

"No, I must carry her before me. We will shift my saddle a little
farther back, and strap a couple of rugs in front of it, so as to make
a comfortable seat for her. There is no doubt she will not be able to
ride again, by herself. I am sure that, after my first day's riding, I
could not have gone on again for anything.

"We won't start until it begins to get dusk. Of course, she ought to
have a good twenty-four hours' rest, before she goes on, but we dare
not risk that. I don't think there is any chance of pursuit for days;
or, indeed, of any pursuit at all, for by the time they begin to
suspect that we have really deserted, they will know that we have had
time to get to the frontier. Still, I don't want to run the slightest
risk, and at any rate, if we have to halt, it would be better to do so
fifty miles farther on than here.

"When we mount again, we will put the saddlebags from my horse on to
hers, and Ibrahim must lead it. Her weight won't make much difference
to my horse, and if I find it tiring, I will change with you. You may
as well put your saddlebags on to her horse, also."

"It would be better, would it not," Surajah said, "if you change to
her horse, which will have carried nothing?"

"Yes, of course that would be best, so you had better not shift your
saddlebags."

After they had had their meal, they stretched themselves out for a
sleep, and when they woke it was already becoming dusk. The horses had
had a good feed, and were now given a drink of water, from the skin.
They were then saddled again,