als were pegged out alive on the
ant-hills, and the professor would sit with his watch in his hand,
counting the minutes until they ceased from writhing. It was part of
the duty of the ten to catch animals and bring them alive to him in
camp for that purpose. No, they did not know why he did it, except
that it was white man's knowledge. No, natives did not do that way,
except now and then to their enemies. The professor always made
threats he would do so to them if they ran away from him, or disobeyed,
or misbehaved. Certainly they believed him! Why should they not
believe him? Did not Germans always keep their word when they talked
of punishment?

We decided after that to let Schillingschen lie bound, whether or not
the iron wire cut his wrists. We did not trouble to go back to inquire
whether he needed drink, but let him wait for that until supper-time.
The remainder of that afternoon we spent discussing who should have the
disagreeable and not too easy task of taking the professor to the lake
and sending him on his way. We sat with our backs against a rock, with
the firearms beside us and a good view of all the countryside, very
much puzzled as to whether to leave Coutlass behind in camp (with Brown
and the whisky) or send him (with or without Brown) and one or two of
us on the errand. He was a dangerous ally in either case.

Evening fell, and the good smell of supper came along the wind to find
us still undecided. We returned to the tent thinking that perhaps
something Schillingschen himself might say would help us to decide one
way or the other.

"Better see if the brute wants a drink," said Fred, and I went in ahead
to offer him water.

He was gone! Clean gone, without a trace, or a hint as to how he
managed it! I called the others, and we hunted. The sides of the tent
were pegged down tight all around. The front, it is true, was wide
open, but we had sat in full view of it and not so much as a rat could
have crept out without our seeing. There were no signs of burrowing.
He was not under the bed, or behind the boxes, or between the sides of
the tent and the fly. The only cover for more than a hundred yards was
the shallow depression along which we had come to the capture of the
camp, and that was the way he must have taken. But that, too, had been
practically in full view of us all the time.

We counted heads and called the roll. Coutlass was close by. It did
not look as if he had played