“Now, Master Selim, speak, what is to be done?” asked little Niani in a low voice.
“Let Simba and Moto answer; but we must not go without Kalulu, for rather than go without him I will go back and die with him.”
“I don’t intend to go either without him,” said Abdullah. “I would count it a deed worthy of paradise to die with him, and by his side. Here, give me the knife, I will go and cut his bonds.”
“No, no, master,” said Simba, “I want to go back for a particular purpose, besides rescuing Kalulu. Thou, Moto, stay here, and if any alarm is made, then do thou run east, and in the morning turn south. Here, Niani, come with me. Give me that knife.”
They both disappeared on the other side of the tree, and Simba, crawling on his hands and knees, followed by Niani, made towards where Kalulu lay stretched in anguish of body and mind. When he had advanced sufficiently near, Simba whispered the boy’s name with a warning—“Hush!”
Simba was presently close to Kalulu; and, after informing him of his purpose, soon freed him from his painful position, and Kalulu sat up, though feeling almost too sore and cramped to move.
Simba waited patiently for the first feeling of numbness to wear away, then whispered to him:
“Kalulu, dost thou remember Soltali’s words? Soltali said that Tifum’s head should be taken from off his body. I am going to take it now. Wilt thou come?”
The instant these words were suggested all feeling of soreness vanished, and the boy sprang up and was about to shout his gladness, when the big hand of Simba was placed over his mouth, and he whispered:
“Nay, not a word, not a breath, as thou dost value our lives. Our friends are behind that tree; they are waiting for us. Thou must obey me now, if success is what thou dost hope for.”