"Bien," Rideau acquiesced; and after a detailed account of his adventures, which Dane surmised was wholly fictitious, he took his leave.
"The savage has his virtues as well as his failings," said Maxwell, looking after him. "That man, however, is neither French nor negro, and such as he usually combine the vices of both sides of their ancestry. What do you think of his proposal, Hilton?"
"I should have dismissed him with four expressive words. Why did you promise to consider it at all?"
Maxwell smiled dryly.
"Because I intend to do so. I will give you my reasons this evening when, after a day's consideration, I shall have them ready in a more definite shape. In the meantime, we had better continue the mining."
CHAPTER XIII
PESTILENCE
The result of the day's work was encouraging, though it cost Dane an effort to concentrate his attention upon his task. Rideau's swarthy face haunted him; he would have felt more cheerful had his companion decided to defy him. Maxwell, however, said little, and appeared to find pleasure in working with concentrated energy.
Evening came at last, and thick darkness closed about the lonely tent. Neither of the men ate much, and when the frugal meal had been cleared away, Maxwell once more spread his map on the table.
"We have to make an eventful decision, and it might be well to consider our position," he said, laying his finger on the map. "We are somewhere here, just beyond the fringe of Shaillu's country, with a difficult and dangerous country between us and civilization, and a little-known land, whose inhabitants are supposed to be predatory tribes, to the north."