"What did they want to lag behind for?" inquired Colonel Narfield. "If that's the sort of thing they do when they are on rear guard I don't think much of it. Do you mind going to the gate and hurrying them up, Van der Wyck?"
The Afrikander lighted his pipe, grunted in assent, and touched his horse's flanks with his spurs.
Not only did he go as far as the gate, he cantered a good mile down the road; but there was neither sight nor trace of the two lads.
"Allemachte!" he exclaimed. "I hope no harm has come to them."
From the spot where he reined up he could command nearly a couple of miles of the road until the trees cut off the view. There was one intervening depression in the track, so that the old farmer proceeded until he could command a full view of the hollow. Yet no sign of Colin and Desmond rewarded his efforts.
Turning, he rode at a hard gallop back to Kilembonga.
"I could see nothing of them," he reported.
Colonel Narfield sat up.
"What!" he exclaimed anxiously. "Surely the bearers must have seen if anything happened. Blue Fly, tell Tenpenny Nail not to unsaddle the horses and to come here at once."
Tenpenny Nail obeyed the order promptly. For once the almost permanent grin was absent. He was genuinely concerned over the mysterious disappearance of the two chums.