“And what will you use?” asked Leonard.
“Fear not, Baas. Do these men bear lights?”
“Yes.”
“Then in two minutes I will make me a weapon.”
And, untying the hide rope from the stick, he began to fumble with it busily.
“Now I am ready, Baas,” he said presently. “Where shall we stand?”
“Here,” answered Leonard, leading him to the door. “We will crouch in the shadow, one on either side of this door, and when the priests have entered and closed it, and begin to look round for me, then we can spring upon them. Only, Otter, there must be no bungling and no noise.”
“I think that there will be none, Baas; they will be too frightened to cry at first, and after that they will become dumb.”
“Otter,” whispered Leonard, as they stood in the dark, “did you kill the Water-Dweller?”
“Yes, yes, Baas,” he chuckled in answer. “I caught him with the hook that I made ready. But he did not die easily, Baas, and if I had not been able to swim well he would have drowned me.”