There was no mistaking the earnestness of the reply, or the man’s eagerness to be cut free of his lashings.
“Release us, and we shall owe you our lives,” he answered. “We are set here to die, and if you give us life and liberty, we will follow you and fight for you. We are allies of the great white chiefs, and you can trust us.”
Without more ado Dick took one of the ghastly knives and cut the man down, doing the same for his comrade a minute later. Stretching them with all care and gentleness on the ground, he set to work to rub their limbs, for it was not so long ago that he had experienced the cruel result of tight lashings. He had known what it was to feel a tingling in his extremities, and then acute pain, as if feet and hands would burst. And later, when the cords were cut loose, the agony of returning life to his limbs, the inability to move finger or toe or to support his weight. And to cure him the inhuman monster who had borne the name of James Langdon had thrashed him till strength had come. Well, the half-caste was dead. Dick had struck him a blow which had crushed in his skull as if it had been an egg-shell, and thinking of it now as he rubbed the limbs of these poor fellows, he could only rejoice, and congratulate himself that he had done bare justice.
“It was man to man,” he thought. “He deserved his death, and he had due warning. It was not as if I had knocked and then struck him in the darkness of the hut. I gave him a chance, and—well, the best man won. Now, how are you both?”
The poor fellows were trembling with joy, and wept freely. By now they had regained to some extent the use of their hands, and they, too, rubbed at their feet till they were able to stand and hobble a few paces.
“We will wait till you are quite able to walk,” said Dick. “We have far to go to-night, and it will be better to sacrifice a few minutes here than to lose them on the road. Do not hurry. Soon you will be strong again.”
“We are fit to go now,” at last said the spokesman of the two. “Where will the white man turn his face?”
“To the Pra. Our troops are there, and if we can meet them we are safe. Do either of you know the road?”
There was an exclamation from both at once.
“We have marched it time and again,” said one. “As slaves we have accompanied the Ashanti armies, and we can find the road even in the dark. But we must be careful. There are thousands of men about, and if we met them we should be killed.”