“Still, I don’t mean to go back without doing something to recover our gold,” said I.
“Wait!” whispered the black, and swung me around back of him again. How he managed this I do not know, for the path was very narrow. Next moment he disappeared, as if the earth had swallowed him up.
Nux gave a laugh, and sat down upon the ground. After a few moments I followed suit, squatting in the place I had been standing, for even from that distance I could see by the flickering firelight the dim forms of the robbers gathered around it.
And now I perceived that Bry’s decision was wise. We were too far from camp to expect assistance in case of an emergency, even if our friends succeeded in finding the entrance to the jungle that was so cleverly concealed under the bush. So whatever was to be done must be done by ourselves—a boy and two black men against four desperate and well-armed villains, who would stop at no crime to retain the gold they had stolen.
Evidently they did not fear pursuit now, for we could hear the murmur of their voices as they laughed and shouted at one another.
We waited in silence for a long time, and as the gloom of the silent forest became intensified by the distant light I began to feel for the first time a thrill that was akin to fear.
Finally I noticed a black body wriggling its way toward us through the brush like some huge snake, and a moment later Bryonia stood before me.
“I creep close an’ hear what dey say, Mars Sam,” he reported. “Dey goin’ watch all night. I watch, too. Tomorrow maybe we catch ’em. You an’ Nux go sleep.”
I protested at once that I was not sleepy; but Bry led us away from the path to a quiet place where he had found a bank of moss, and here he cautioned us to remain quietly. He himself crept once again toward the camp fire, and a moment later was wholly invisible. Nux whispered to me tales of Bryonia’s skill as a woodsman, wherein it seemed he had excelled in his native land; but they grew monotonous, in time, and before I knew it I had fallen fast asleep on the mossy bank.