"I could not sleep, thinking of you, Sahib," the latter said, as they came up. "So I came across here, partly to help you dig up the caskets, and partly that I might see you, and assure myself that, so far, all had gone well."
"Thank you, Pertaub. You have, I see, brought a pickaxe. It will save us half an hour's work; and besides, I am glad to say goodbye again.
"All has gone well. This is the young lady."
"She is well disguised," Pertaub said, bowing his head to Annie. "She looks so like a boy that, even now you tell me, I can scarce believe she is a white girl. Truly you can go on without fear that anyone will suspect her."
Leading the way to the spot where the caskets had been buried, Dick looked on while Surajah and Ibrahim dug them up. They were then wrapped up in rugs, and strapped securely behind their owners' saddles. Then, after a warm adieu to the kind old man, they turned their horses' heads, and rode back out of the woods.
After riding for three hours at a canter, Dick saw that, although Annie still spoke cheerfully, her strength was failing her, and on arriving at a wood, he said:
"We will wait here till the heat of the sun has abated. We have done very well, and the horses, as well as ourselves, will be glad of a few hours' rest."
He alighted from the saddle, gave his horse to Ibrahim, and then lifted Annie from her seat. As he set her down on her feet, and loosed his hold of her, she slipped down on to the ground. Dick and Surajah at once raised her, and placed her so that, as she sat, she could lean against a tree.
Here Dick supported her, while Surajah ran and fetched his water bottle. Annie drank a little, and then said, with a nervous laugh:
"It is very silly of me. But I feel better now. My legs seemed to give way, altogether."