"We were hidden, too, till they came at us," he said; "and very lucky it was, for some of us would probably have been hit, bad shots though they are."
"No, Frank, not before all these men," she remonstrated.
"What do I care for the men?" he laughed. "Do you think if they had their sweethearts with them they would mind who was looking on?
"There, I must be content with that for the present. We must push on again."
Dominique had returned now with his men, and the party started again at a trot, as soon as the firearms had all been reloaded.
"We shan't have any more trouble, shall we?" Bertha asked.
"Not for the present," he said. "We have fairly routed the blacks who came here with you, and the villagers, and they certainly won't attack us again until they are largely reinforced; which they cannot be until we get down towards the sea, for there are no villages of any size in the hills."
After keeping up the pace for a mile, Frank ordered the men to drop into a walk again.
"Now, Frank, about my mother?" Bertha asked again as soon as she had got her breath; and Frank related all that had taken place up to the time that the Osprey sailed.
"Then she is all alone in town? It must be terrible for her, waiting there without any news of me. It is a pity that she did not go home. It would not have mattered about me, and it would have been so much better for her among her old friends. They would all have sympathised with her so much."