Chapter Thirty.
How I talked with my new Friend.
As I heard the sound of the pursuit a horrible sensation of dread came over me. I felt that we must be taken, and, in addition, vague ideas of trouble and bloodshed floated through my brain, with memories of the fight in the gorge, and I shuddered at the idea of there being more people slain.
The effect was different upon Jimmy, the distant cries seeming to excite him. He stopped every now and then to jump from the ground and strike the nearest tree a tremendous blow with a waddy he had obtained from our guide.
The latter checked him, though, laying a hand upon his arm as he said to me, after listening intently:
“You don’t want to fight. These people are too strong. You must escape.”
“But you will come with us?” I said once more, with the vague fancy coming back that this was he whom I sought, but terribly changed.
He said something in reply in the savage tongue, stopped, and then went on.
“I forget—I don’t know. I am the doctor—a savage—what did you say?”