“You will see. Now, Ukozi. Where is that which we seek?”
“Au! It shines—like the sun. To find it something else that shines will be necessary. Something that shines—like the moon.”
I laughed to myself over this “dark” saying, and produced a half-crown—a new one.
“Here is what shines like the moon at full,” I said.
He held out both hands, looked at it for a moment as it lay in the hollow thus formed, then said:
“Halfway between this and where you left the other white people is a redwood tree—of which two sticks point over the path. From the path on the other side, a slope of smooth rock falls away. Just below this—resting upright between two stones—one pointed, the other round—is that which you seek.”
Briefly I translated this to my companion. Her reception of it showed a practical mind.
“What if he wants to send us off on a fool’s errand while he climbs down to the crevice there and gets hold of the real coin?” she said.
“Well, of course, nothing’s impossible. But, do you know, I believe him. I would in fact risk a considerable bet on it.”
“Well, I am in your hands, Mr Glanton,” she said. “You know these people thoroughly. I, not at all.”