some other tribe, and probably had been reconnoitring in the neighbourhood, and, catching sight of Boxall, he had hoped to gain some advantage by making him prisoner. Ben, on the other hand, who was convinced that our companion had been carried to the camp, was anxious to be certain whether this was the case or not. I warned him of the risk we should run if discovered in the neighbourhood.
“Well, they can’t do more than kill us,” he answered. “If they make prisoners of us, we must do our best to escape; and if the blackamoors have got hold of Mr Boxall, and we find him, we shall be able to help him to get off too.”
“But if we don’t find him, we shall have had all our risk for nothing,” said Halliday.
“Nothing venture, nothing win,” answered Ben. “Just let me go, and I’ll take good care that these Arab rascals don’t get hold of me.”
At length Halliday and I, won over by honest Ben’s arguments, agreed to let him do as he proposed; it being settled that we should wait for him close to the well.
“Thank you, gentlemen,” he said. “I will make a ‘circumbendibus’ of the camp; and if so be I can’t get sight of Mr Boxall, I will be back here in an hour at the furthest. If I am caught or knocked on the head by the Arabs, it will all be in the way of duty; and you will say a good word for Ben Blewett if you ever get home.”
Shaking hands with us warmly, as if he were going on a forlorn hope, he stole off round the well towards the Arab camp.
It did not occur to us at the time, but we had really chosen as dangerous a spot as any in the neighbourhood. In the first place, wild beasts prowling about at night were very likely to approach the spot to drink; and then, as a pathway led down to the well from the opposite side, the Arabs of the camp were sure, at early dawn, to come down to fill their water-skins,—so that should we, while waiting for Ben, fall asleep, we must inevitably be surprised. Fatigued by our long march, however, we could not resist the temptation of stretching our limbs on the sand, regardless of the risk we were running—but of which, as I have observed, neither of us thought at the time. We did our best to keep awake, however, and after, as we supposed, an hour had elapsed, began anxiously to look out for Ben.
The time passed by. “I say, Charlie, I am sure Ben has been gone more than an hour,” said Halliday in a drowsy tone. I scarcely understood what he said; I tried to arouse myself—he repeated his remark.
“We must wait for him, at all events,” I answered. “So, I say, keep awake, and rouse me up should you find me dropping off to sleep.” But poor Halliday was even more sleepy than I was; and in another minute we must both have dropped off.