"I remember very little to tell you. I recollect being fastened to a stake in the river-bed and the water rising and rising till it was above my head. My last thoughts were about yourself and Jack. Then everything became a blank, and I knew nothing more until I found myself amongst the papyrus on the river-bank, with Hercules tending me like a nurse."
"You see I am the right sort of mganga" interposed Hercules; "I am a doctor as well as a conjurer."
"But tell me, Hercules, how did you save him?"
"Oh, it was not a difficult matter by any means," answered Hercules modestly; "it was dark, you know, so that at the proper moment it was quite possible to wade in amongst the poor wretches at the bottom of the trench, and to wrench the stake from its socket. Anybody could have done it. Cousin Benedict could have done it. Dingo, too, might have done it. Perhaps, after all, it was Dingo that did it."
"No, no, Hercules, that won't do," cried Jack; "besides, look, Dingo is shaking his head; he is telling you he didn't do it."
"Dingo must not tell tales, Master Jack," said Hercules, laughing.
But, nevertheless, although the brave fellow's modesty prompted him to conceal it, it was clear that he had accomplished a daring feat, of which few would have ventured to incur the risk.
Inquiry was next made after Tom, Bat, Actæon, and Austin. His countenance fell, and large tears gathered in his eyes as Hercules told how he had seen them pass through the forest in a slave-caravan. They were gone; he feared they were gone for ever.
Mrs. Weldon tried to console him with the hope that they might still be spared to meet again some day; but he shook his head mournfully. She then communicated to Dick the terms of the compact that had been entered into for her own release, and observed that under the circumstances it might really have been more prudent for her to remain in Kazonndé.
"Then I have made a mistake; I have been an idiot, in bringing you away," said Hercules, ever ready to depreciate his own actions.