XX.
JACOB MEYER SEES A SPIRIT
For a while they were silent, then Benita said:
“Father, is it not possible that we might escape, after all? Perhaps that stair on the rampart is not so completely blocked that we could not climb over it.”
Mr. Clifford, thinking of his stiff limbs and aching back, shook his head and answered:
“I don’t know; Meyer has never let me near enough to see.”
“Well, why do you not go to look? You know he sleeps till late now, because he is up all night. Take the glasses and examine the top of the wall from inside that old house near by. He will not see or hear you, but if I came near, he would know and wake up.”
“If you like, love, I can try, but what are you going to do while I am away?”
“I shall climb the pillar.”
“You don’t mean——” and he stopped.
“No, no, nothing of that sort. I shall not follow the example of Benita da Ferreira unless I am driven to it; I want to look, that is all. One can see far from that place, if there is anything to see. Perhaps the Matabele are gone now, we have heard nothing of them lately.”