The old farmer firmly exercised his authority.
"You'll have to stay there for a few days," he declared. "By getting up you will not only injure yourself, but no doubt hamper the work of the searchers. I am sending McFrazer as you ordered, and until the native trackers arrive I will patrol the road with the Haussas."
The injured man saw the force of Van der Wyck's contentions. He simply had to give up, although the state of his active mind can well be imagined.
McFrazer, booted and spurred, was ready for his long ride when the Afrikander left the patient's room.
"Would you be thinking it was an aeroplane?" he asked, for he had already heard from the Haussas how far the spoor of the missing youths had been tracked.
Van der Wyck shook his head.
"Impossible," he replied. "There were trees meeting overhead."
McFrazer accepted the denial with characteristic brevity.
"Oh, ay," he replied. "Then I'm just awa'," as if a 150-mile ride were an everyday occurrence.
As a matter of fact the journey to Nyaruma took him exactly fifteen hours, for at twelve miles from Kilembonga the rough track joined a well-constructed post-road from Tabora to Ujiji, where there were relay-horses at convenient distances.