“No fear,” answered Lionel, as he shook hands with his companions. “Depend upon it, I shall be safe with Hendricks before the morning. Good-bye!” and he began to crawl through the opening. He stopped, however, before he was quite through, and backing in said, “Remember to close the hole, Denis, before the morning, so that, if possible, the Zulus might not discover how I got out.”
“I’ll do my best,” said Denis, and Lionel again crawled through the opening. Not the slightest noise was made, so that the guards at the entrance of the hut, even if they had not been asleep, would not have heard him. Denis, as soon as he had gone, lay down with his head to the opening to listen. No sound reached his ears. He then crept partly through, but could see nothing. Not a person was stirring, not even a dog barked. “Lionel will get clear, I hope,” he said, as he drew back into the hut. “He is a wonderfully sharp, clever little fellow. As he lived so long among the Zulus, he knows all their ways. Even if he meets any one, he will be able to pretend to be a young Zulu, provided it is still dark, though of course his dress would betray him in daylight. I almost wish that we had gone too,” said Denis. “If he succeed, so might we.”
“Not so sure of that,” observed Percy. “Three objects moving along the ground would be more likely to be discovered than one; and if I were addressed, I, at all events, could not pretend to be a Zulu boy, whatever you might do. Still, it would have been satisfactory had we all got free; but then, what would have become of poor Gozo? They would have assegaid him in revenge. Depend upon it, we were wiser to remain. Perhaps, after all, Lionel is hiding, and may find it necessary to come back.”
They waited anxiously, almost fearing to hear Lionel’s voice. Time went on, but he did not make his appearance. At last Denis thought that he might venture to stop up the opening; so he began shovelling in the earth and replacing the twigs; he knew, however, should any one examine the outside, it must be discovered that a hole had been made; but it was just possible that it might not be observed, and he amused himself by thinking that if so how puzzled the Zulus would be to account for the disappearance of Lionel.
“I’ll pretend not to know what has become of him, and to be as much astonished as they are,” he said, laughing. “I’ll suggest that he might have vanished through the roof, or that he was not put in at all, or that he has evaporated, although, to be sure, they won’t know what that means, and I don’t know how I could well explain it, as the Kaffir tongue has nothing equivalent to the term. However, I’ll do my best to mystify them.”
“I would rather not make the attempt. I always hold that we ought to tell the truth and stand the consequences,” said Percy. “He had a perfect right to run away, and he exercised that right. I would rather you said what had happened, and that he had gone only for our sakes, to let our friends know what has become of us.”
“Well, we’ll see how things turn out,” said Denis. “Are you not beginning to feel hungry?”
“Indeed I am, and sleepy too,” answered Percy. “I would rather have something to eat; but as we cannot get that, the best thing we can do is to go to sleep. I’ll try, although our couches are not of the most luxurious description.”
Percy lay down, as did Denis. They felt various creatures crawling over them; but they knew that they must bear such annoyances patiently. Their eyes in a short time closed, and they went fast asleep. They were aroused at early dawn by the shouts and cries of hundreds of voices. The Zulu gaoler no longer stopped up the doorway by his black body. They concluded that he was not afraid they would attempt to escape during daylight, as they would certainly be seen.
Denis therefore crawled out of the hut to look about him. The sun was just rising over the hills to the eastward. The whole valley, at the farther end of which they were, was filled with warriors formed into regiments of four or five hundred men each. Some little distance off, in front of his hut, stood the chief, Umbulazi, surrounded by his counsellors and other wise men.