The day wore on without any fresh discovery being made. By nightfall every nook and corner of the lower forest had been explored, and then the searchers sadly withdrew to wait for the light of another day. The parents of the lost child were almost frantic with anxiety and grief.
Dumani lost no time on his journey. The day was cool, so he was able to drive the cattle swiftly. He arrived at his destination just before sundown, delivered the cattle, and, without resting at all, started on his return journey. His course lay across a broken, undulating country. Downhill he used the long, swinging trot by means of which the Kaffir can cover distances which fill the European with astonishment; uphill he slowly crept, husbanding his failing strength.
The feeling of expectant dread which filled Dumani’s mind buoyed him up and spurred his lagging paces. He had most unwillingly obeyed his master’s orders to leave the farm, and thus give Nomandewu the opportunity he knew she was waiting for. The night was moonless, but the Kaffir boy could have found his course blindfold. The whispering trees seemed full of messages calling him to hurry on and help. Without stopping, he munched from time to time a handful of the boiled maize which he carried in his skin bag. He rested for a few seconds at each of the many streams he crossed, and took a deep draught of water.
The short summer night was just about to merge into dawn when Dumani, weary almost unto death, reached the top of the last ridge. From here the homestead was visible; lights shone from the windows; when he drew nearer he could see the doors standing open and a number of people grouped outside, anxiously scanning the east. Dumani dropped in his tracks behind a stone and crouched, thinking, for a few seconds. He required no further corroboration of his fears; he knew that the thing he had so long dreaded and expected had happened.
Under the influence of that exaltation which is sometimes the result of severe mental strain, the mind of man is capable of strange feats. Dumani’s tense savage soul divined the catastrophe in a flash; his faculties rushed to the correct conclusion as inevitably as steel-filings rush to a magnet brought close to them. The cave—to get there as soon as possible—to find Lucy there, alive or dead. Divesting himself of every vestige of clothing, Dumani the savage grasped his stick and crawled along the ground, as though he were a criminal escaping from the scene of his crime, until he was out of sight of the house. Then he sprang up, ran to the edge of the forest, and plunged in among the trees.
Every trace of his fatigue had vanished, but the thicket was dense and thorny, so his progress was slow and painful. Dawn was shimmering in the east, but night still lurked unsmitten beneath the boskage. More than once he fell headlong, tripped up by the treacherous “monkey-ropes” of which the forest was full. The cruel thorns scarred him until he was covered with blood.
As daylight grew his progress became somewhat easier; now he could avoid bruising himself against the tree-trunks and the lichen-covered rocks. Soon the woods became vocal with the morning songs of the birds; the guttural calls of the questing monkeys seemed to sound from every tree-top. At length he struck the footpath he had been seeking, and which wound up the slope towards the horse-shoe cliff. Then he reached the tumbled pile of boulders bounding the moraine; his goal was now close at hand.
A great dread clutched at his throbbing heart—what sight of horror might not the cavern contain? For a minute he surrendered himself to an apprehension of the direst contingency, and a wild throb of almost delight thrilled him as he anticipated the vengeance he would wreak upon the murderer; he would track her through the world until his hungry hands could tear her limb from limb.
As he ascended the moraine the trees grew sparser and sparser, until at length he caught a glimpse of the crest of the cliff, rosy in the first sunbeam. The glow filled his heart with hope and he hurried forward with renewed strength.