After the meal was over they had a consultation on the best course to be pursued, and finally agreed to travel west for some time and then to turn south towards the frontier. They would thus at least, they thought, farther throw their pursuers off the track, and would then only have to run the ordinary risk of detection from the tribes through whose territory they passed.
They discussed their prospects for the next day's march, but finally decided to take a day's rest. Nita had suffered much from the anxiety, and the very long journey had told on her, and as the spot where they then were was well hidden, it was improbable in the extreme that any of the herdsmen or passers through the valley would be at all likely to come upon them.
After their meal and talk, Carter made a shelter tent of the large blanket for Nita, and wrapping himself up in another rug, lay down a short distance away.
The next day passed quietly. They had not replenished the fire when they lay down, nor was it necessary to light one in the morning, as they had purposely cooked sufficient to last them for a couple of days. Towards evening they observed three or four herdsmen gathered by the stream at the point where Carter had killed the bullock the night before. They were evidently greatly puzzled at the occurrence, and from their gestures while Carter was watching them, he formed the conclusion that the theory of its being carried away by a bear did not find much acceptance among them. "However," he said, on returning to Nita, who had been having a nap, "they won't start off on a search this afternoon, and before morning we shall be well away. We sha'n't want to repeat the offence for some little time, for the store of meat we now have ought to last us for seven or eight days, that is to say if it does not get bad before that, but I should think that up in these high altitudes it would keep for some time."
Two hours before daylight they were on the move. The water-skin was refilled at the river, and they put a bundle of firewood on the top of the sack, as they could be by no means certain of finding water and wood on the way. They were so far up the hillside by the time the sun rose that they had no fear of their appearance being noticed by people in the valley that they had left. They went on merrily, laughing and joking, and were delighted with their progress, though at times the cold was severe in the extreme. They met with no signs of a pass or even the smallest track. Sometimes Carter would ascend to some point which commanded a view of the line that they were following; at others they came to precipices so steep that they had to make a detour of miles before they found a place where a descent could be made into a ravine which, as a rule, was but a water-course covered with boulders of every shape and size.
After some days of perpetual toil, they agreed at their camp-fire at night, that they must now have got far enough west and could strike for the south.
"I suppose you have no idea whatever how far the frontier is, Charlie?"
"Not in the slightest. I don't even know how far it was from Darlinger to the village, for I was insensible during most of the journey."
"It took us six days, Charlie, and I suppose the two villages where we were confined were about the same distance from Darlinger."