Cæsar followed him, and ordered the man to return. The poor fellow was too weak to obey; and thereupon the slave-master raised his whip and three times brought down his lash upon the naked back of the sufferer. The man's cries for mercy carried even to the hills, and it was all Max could do to restrain the burning indignation which kindled in his soul.
Presently the order was given for the slaves to return to the kraal; and the whole party set out across the bridge, driven forward by the whip. If any man, in all God's Kingdom, had merited death by dint of his misdeeds, it was surely this relentless Portuguese.
[CHAPTER XVI--THE OPEN CHEST]
At sundown Max looked about him for somewhere to sleep. He soon found a sandy patch between two great boulders, and here he took off the haversack in which he had carried his provisions. He had filled his water-bottle at the brook.
After he had eaten he lay down, converting his helmet into a pillow. He felt quite secure; he could not possibly be discovered, unless some one actually walked over him--an event that was very unlikely to occur. He was thoroughly tired out after the day's march; for all that, he found himself quite unable to sleep. He could not rid his mind of the sight he had seen that evening: the miserable slaves, dropping like poisoned flies, struck down by the cholera which raged amongst them, and yet goaded by the whip. And if Max's sense of pity had been aroused, he was scarcely less curious to discover the nature of the work that was going forward at the quarry. When, at last, he fell asleep this thought was dominant in his mind.
He awoke suddenly, and found the same question on his lips: why were they blasting at the quarry? He could not have been asleep for more than a few hours, for the moon was but newly arisen. On consulting his watch, he found that it was only half-past twelve.
He failed in his endeavours to go to sleep again; so he sat up, and tried to think the matter out. He had already accomplished part of his mission: he had discovered that Cæsar had not more than six Arabs with whom to defend the stockade. It remained for him, on the following morning, to see if he could find a point upon the ridge whence rifle-fire could be opened upon Makanda. For the time being, however, he resolved to go down into the valley under cover of darkness, to cross the suspension bridge and examine the quarry.
Leaving his haversack, water-bottle and rifle behind him, he armed himself with his revolver, and set forward down the hill, making a wide detour around the kraal. He was then devoutly thankful that Gyp had departed from the land of the living. He found that he was obliged to pass nearer to the settlement than he liked; and had the Great Dane been on watch, no doubt she would have given the alarm.
As it was, he passed in safety, and reached the river bank. He had no difficulty in finding the suspension bridge, which he crossed on tiptoe, as rapidly as possible. On the other side his attention was immediately attracted by the loud groans of the sufferers who had been left to their fate.
It was quite beyond his power to do anything to help these men. He had no medicines; he could not speak their language; and in the majority of cases, the disease was so far gone as to be incurable.