"Very well," sad the captain; "you probably have some authority over these poor brutes of slaves. I suppose you can speak their language? Tell them they are free. Explain to them that they owe their liberty to us, and ask them to lend us a helping hand. Select a party of the strongest, and take them yourself to the village on the mountain. There you will find our ammunition and stores. Bring them here as quickly as you can, and don't forget the medicine chest. We must lend what help we can."
"Where am I to find you?" asked de Costa.
"Here," said Crouch. "There are only seven of us, and we can't spare a man. We shall need every rifle we've got to capture the stockade."
"I will do my best," said de Costa.
"I trust you will," said Crouch. Then, his face lit up, and his only eye looked the half-caste through and through. "By Christopher," said he, "if you fail me, I'll hunt you down! All Africa won't be big enough to hold you. I'll search the country from the Zambesi to the desert, and I'll find you in the end."
He said these words with his teeth clenched, and his great chin thrust forward. The little half-caste quailed before his glance.
It was then that there came a burst of firing from the north. Crouch stiffened in every limb.
"There!" he cried, "the band's begun to play."
Max followed him for a little distance, then remembered that he had left his rifle on the hill-top. De Costa looked about him, bewildered. Events had happened in such swift succession that he felt that the whole thing might prove a dream from which he would presently awaken. Then he called the slaves together. They obeyed his word from force of habit; and though there was nothing now to prevent them taking to the hills, they followed him meekly into the kraal.