The Log of the Flying Fish: A Story of Aerial and Submarine Peril and Adventure

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER TWENTY.

  THE HISTORY OF CERTAIN DISTRESSED DAMSELS.

  Meanwhile Seketulo, the chief in command of king M'Bongwele's householdcavalry, returned to the village in due course, and lost no time indismissing his men, chuckling to himself as he reflected that, afterall, he had beaten his monarch in the race homeward.

  Time passed on; the sun set; the evanescent twilight faded out of thesky; the stars twinkled forth in all the mellow radiance characteristicof the tropics; and still the adventurous M'Bongwele and his wondrousprize came not. Hour after hour lagged slowly away; and at length theexpectant villagers, who had poured into the open air to witness thetriumphant arrival of the king, returned to their huts--their transiententhusiasm overcome by their habitual apathy and indolence--andsurrendered themselves willingly enough to the blandishments of sleep.All, with the exception, that is to say, of the guard detailed to watchover the prisoners, the anxious Lualamba, and Seketulo. These were allwakeful enough, the latter perhaps even more so than any of the others.For, as the night waxed and the great full moon rolled slowly upwardinto the sky, the powerful chief, who had won for himself the enviedposition of commander of the king's cavalry (a position equivalent tothat of commander-in-chief of the whole army), felt the hope growingwithin him that the foolhardy king and those with him had been carriedoff to the nether regions for a permanency by the wondrous Thing ofwhich they had so audaciously sought to secure the possession. And inthat case (M'Bongwele being without sons, and having, in order to avoidpossible future complications, carefully slaughtered all his brothersand other relations on his accession to the throne) there would be avacancy in that particular country for a king, which vacancy Seketulobelieved himself powerful enough to secure and fill.

  Giving free rein to these ambitious ideas and aspirations, the chiefpaced thoughtfully to and fro in a retired corner of the village untilabout ten o'clock that night, when his impatience could no longer becurbed, and he felt that he _must_ sally forth to ascertain, ifpossible, the fate of M'Bongwele and his party. Accordingly, mountinghis horse, he took his way out of the village, passing through theprincipal gateway, and heading for the ruins at a gallop. He wasgreatly disconcerted, on reaching his destination, to discover that the_Flying Fish_ still peacefully reposed in her usual berth; and hisdisgust was supreme when he further noticed, crouched on her lofty deck,a disconsolate-looking group, which his fears only too truly assured himmust be the king and his companions. His first impulse was to retireand leave them to their merited fate; but the unwelcome reflectionsuggesting itself to him that they might possibly be discovered andrescued in the morning, he altered his purpose, and, making a virtue ofwhat was almost a necessity, advanced with the intention of proffering arespectful inquiry as to whether any unfortunate accident had delayedthe royal return. He was, however, forestalled by the king and hisparty, who, the instant they saw him, hailed his appearance with joyousshouts and an almost piteous entreaty to him to replace the ladder.This he, still making a virtue of necessity, at once attempted to do;but the clumsy construction proved too much for his strength. A happyidea, however, now flashed through the mind of one of the party; and,unstringing their bows, they joined the strings together into onecontinuous line, which, luckily for them, reached the ground; andSeketulo bending the lower end on to the ladder, the latter was soon, bythe exertions of all hands, reared into position. The party, thoroughlycrestfallen, now lost no time in making their way to the ground, whenM'Bongwele at once requisitioned Seketulo's horse, and galloped offhomeward at top speed, the chief and the rest of the party being left toplod back to the village at their leisure and as best they could.

  Notwithstanding this most dismal failure, M'Bongwele still entertainedhopes of being able to possess himself of the coveted ship; and earlynext morning every available man and woman was marched to the scene ofthe preceding day's discomfiture to attempt the task of _carrying theFlying Fish to the village_! This attempt, it is scarcely necessary tosay, also resulted in complete failure, and with this failure kingM'Bongwele was at last compelled to recognise himself as beaten. Itbecame clear to him that the mysterious beings whose persons he had sorashly seized possessed certain peculiar and wonderful powers; and theonly course now open to him seemed to be to make the best terms he couldwith them for their co-operation in the furtherance of his schemes. Andhe felt heartily glad--pluming himself at the same time upon hisprudence--that he had not taken advantage of their seemingly helplesscondition, when brought to the village, to attempt the putting of aperiod to their existence.

  Meanwhile, Seketulo, though greatly chagrined at the turn of affairs, byno means abandoned hope. He felt that though disappointment had foronce overtaken him, it by no means followed that such would always bethe case; and if his ambitious dreams could not be realised in one way,they still might be in another. The king, unfortunately, had not beencarried off to perdition; but, figuratively speaking, that seemed to behis ultimate and speedy destination. For, had he not pitted his ownpower against that of the mysterious strangers, and lost the game? Hehad inflicted a most grievous outrage upon them, and had ineffectuallyattempted to seize their wonderful ship; yet not a particle of gain oradvantage of any description had been secured, and the wrath of thesestrangers had yet to be faced; the penalty of his audacious deeds hadyet to be paid. Did not all this point to M'Bongwele's speedy downfall?And if such a state of things should happily be in the near future,would it not be worth his (Seketulo's) while to approach the strangersin a friendly spirit and (after cautiously feeling his way) with offersof assistance? He decided that it undoubtedly would, and that he wouldforthwith adopt that line of policy, cautiously, yet without losing asingle favourable opportunity.

  So far as M'Bongwele was concerned, he found himself in a greater straitthan ever. He had not only failed completely in his ambitious schemes,but he had also lost prestige with his own people and had made enemiesof the strangers. His situation was distinctly worse than if he haddone nothing at all; and how to make his way out of the imbroglio heknew not, nor could any of his ministers advise anything. He nowfervently wished he had adopted other and more friendly measures withhis visitors; but it was too late; he fully recognised that, with theodium of failure fresh upon him, any attempt at conciliation would beutterly hopeless; the only course still open to him appearing to be thatof "masterly inactivity." This would, at all events, leave time forevents to shape themselves, and afford him an opportunity of regulatinghis conduct in accordance therewith; and this course he accordinglydetermined to pursue; at the same time issuing the most imperativeorders that the prisoners were to be treated with the utmost courtesyand consideration consistent with their safe-keeping.

  In accordance with these orders, the prisoners found that, after thesecond day of their seizure, they had very little of which to complainbeyond the actual loss of their liberty. They were abundantly suppliedwith provisions of all kinds within the resources of the village; thefour young women originally detailed to watch over them during theirdrugged slumber were permanently appointed to attend upon them, do theircooking, keep their hut clean, and so on; and they were allowed to takeunrestricted exercise within the bounds of the compound. Theirattendants and guards were allowed to answer any questions except suchas related to the king's recent attempt to possess himself of theirproperty; and hints were freely offered to the effect that M'Bongwelewas most anxious to secure their friendship, and would gladly affordthem an audience whenever they might desire it. But they had nointention whatever of seeking an audience with the king; they had a veryshrewd suspicion of what had actually taken place; and having by thistime formed a tolerably accurate estimate of the royal character, theyfelt convinced that their only chance of advantageously dealing withM'Bongwele lay in forcing upon _him_ the character of a suitor to_them_.

  Thus matters stood for nearly a fortnight from the date of theirseizure--Seketulo doing his best to effectually ingratiate himself inthe strangers' favour before venturing to tend
er his proposed offer ofassistance; and M'Bongwele waiting with daily growing impatience forovertures from his prisoners--when an event occurred which, simplethough it seemed at the moment, was destined to have an importantbearing on the fortunes of certain other white prisoners then in theking's power.

  It happened thus. The quartette were sitting under the verandah oftheir hut one morning, whining away the very last remains of theircarefully hoarded stock of tobacco, when a soft thud, followed by a lowstartled cry of pain and terror from one of their female attendantscaused them to glance hastily round. The sight which then met theireyes was startling enough to make them spring instantly to their feet.A snake fully seven feet long, and of the most deadly venomous kind(which had evidently just dropped out of the thatch of the hut), hadflung its coils round the bare leg of one of the women, and, before helpcould be rendered, had struck its fangs deep into the flesh. The cruelheart-shaped head, with its wicked eyes glowing like a couple ofcarbuncles, was already drawn back to repeat the stroke when Lethbridgesprang forward, and, seizing a small pliant rattan which happened to behandy at the moment, dealt the reptile a swift downward cut across thebody, dividing the creature almost in two; following up the blow by arapid dart of his hand, grasping the reptile by the neck and tearing thequivering coils away from the wounded limb. Another second, and thehead was being fiercely ground into the dust under the thick solidleather of his boot-heel, the wounded body twisting and writhing in themost horrible contortions meanwhile.

  Two out of Lethbridge's three companions stood helplessly aghast whilstthis tragedy was in progress; but the professor, ever alert in theinterests of science, promptly compelled the wounded girl to lie down,and instantly applied his lips to the wound made by the poisonous fangsof the snake, sucking vigorously until he had induced as copious a flowof blood as could reasonably be expected from the two tiny punctures.Then, fumbling in his waistcoat pocket, he drew forth a small stick oflunar caustic (with which he had some time previously provided himselfin anticipation of possible snake-bites) and effectually cauterised thewound. The result of which prompt treatment was that the girl, afterenduring some three hours' slight suffering and inconvenience from thepain and subsequent swelling of the wound, recovered, and in a day ortwo was as well again as ever.

  This incident was, as might be expected, much talked about in thevillage, and it very soon reached M'Bongwele's ears. That monarchhappened, just then, to be plunged into a state of serious domesticaffliction; and, inspired by the above occurrence with a brilliant idea,he, after much painful cogitation, resolved to seek the aid of hisprisoners. Briefly stated, the difficulty was this. His youngest andfavourite wife had just added another to his already too numerous familyof daughters, thus disgusting and seriously disappointing the king, whohad confidently looked forward to being this time blessed with a son.This was by no means the first disappointment of the kind that themonarch had been called upon to endure; and it had been his wont, onsuch occasions, to banish the offending wife from his presence,replacing her with a new one. He proposed to follow the same rule uponthe present occasion; and the only difficulty which lay in his wayconsisted in suitably filling up the vacancy. There were, of course,hundreds of sable damsels within the limits of his dominions who wouldgladly have accepted the responsibilities of the position, but thatwould no longer suit king M'Bongwele; the women of his own race had, oneand all, so far as he had tried them, failed disgracefully in their dutyof providing him with an heir, and he was now determined to tryelsewhere. He happened to have in his possession, as prisoners, fourwhite women, one of whom was somewhat elderly, whilst the remainingthree were young, and, though by no means sufficiently _embonpoint_ tobe strictly handsome, from an African savage's point of view, stillattractive enough to justify his choice of either of them as a wife.The difficulty with these women was that they were unfortunately allinsane--a circumstance which (in accordance with one of the manysuperstitious beliefs of the natives, and quite apart from the equallyimportant objection of consequent unsuitability) effectually precludedany resort to threats or compulsion for enabling the king to carry outhis plans. And it was for the purpose of securing these unfortunatecreatures' restoration to reason that M'Bongwele now resolved to invokethe potent aid of his new prisoners. When making up his mind to thiscourse he was at first greatly puzzled as to how he should approach theindividuals he had so basely betrayed, and how explain and excuse hisconduct; but at last the happy idea suggested itself of ignoring hisill-behaviour altogether; and acting upon this, and without givinghimself time for further consideration, he hurried off to the hut andpresented himself before his prisoners.

  Seating himself jauntily upon one of the bedsteads, he opened thenegotiations by explaining that he had come to express his admirationof, and his thanks for, the wonderful manner in which the woman had beensaved from the deadly effects of the snake-bite; and then, withoutaffording an opportunity for interruption, he went on to state, in fulldetail, his further business.

  The indignation excited in the breasts of his listeners by the coolimpudence of the king soon subsided under the influence of theinteresting news that four white women were captives in the village; andwhen M'Bongwele closed his explanation and proffered his request, theprofessor, instead of loading his captor with reproaches, followed thelatter's example of ignoring all cause for unpleasantness, and simplystated that no promise of any kind could be made until the four friendshad been afforded an interview with the afflicted women. To thisproposition the king eagerly assented, overjoyed at so unexpected ameasure of success, indeed he volunteered to personally conduct thequartette into the presence of his female prisoners; but this waspromptly negatived, the professor declaring that if he and his friendswent to see the women at all they must go entirely unattended, and atsuch time as might be most convenient to themselves. It would havesuited M'Bongwele very much better to have been present at thisinterview, for he was suspicious to a really absurd degree; but, findingthe white men firm upon this point, and, apparently, wholly indifferentin the matter, and being also unable to discover any cause for suspicionin their conduct, he at length yielded his assent and retired, givingthe necessary instructions to the guard as he passed out of the hut.

  The next morning, about eleven o'clock, having previously talked thiscurious matter carefully over together, they paid their promised visit;the women's prison (to which they were carefully escorted by theirentire guard) being situated close to the principal opening in thepalisading which surrounded the village; the same guard being apparentlymade to serve for both the prison and the gateway. The building was analmost exact facsimile of their own place of confinement, both in shapeand dimensions; but at the very threshold the visitors encounteredevidences of female delicacy and refinement in the shape of finely wovengrass curtains or _portieres_ across the otherwise unclosed entrance,and these trifling elegances were multiplied a hundred-fold in theinterior, converting the little building into a veritable miniaturepalace in comparison with their own unadorned domicile.

  But these little interior adornments did not attract the visitors'notice until later on; their whole attention was at once claimed, upontheir entrance, by the occupants of the building, or at least by thefairer portion of them. There were eight altogether--four white andfour black, the ebony damsels evidently filling the position ofattendants. Of the white women three were young--that is to say, theyapparently ranged between nineteen and twenty-five years of age--whilstthe fourth seemed to be somewhere between forty and fifty. This ladywas of medium height, with a figure slightly inclined toward stoutness,brown hair with just a single streak of silver discernible here andthere amongst it, a complexion still in fairly good preservation, a pairof keen but kindly grey eyes, an excellent set of teeth, shapely handsand feet, and a pleasant smile which at once prepossessed the beholderin its possessor's favour. Of the three younger women, two, agedrespectively twenty-one and nineteen, were sisters; whilst the third,aged twenty-five, was their cousin, the elderly lady being
aunt to allthree.

  On entering the hut, in response to the cry of "Come in" which followedtheir knock on the framework of the portal, the visitors at once foundthemselves face to face with the four ladies, who had risen to theirfeet to meet them; the sable attendants crouching at the rear end of theapartment with a grin of sympathetic curiosity overspreading theirshining visages.

  "You are most welcome, gentlemen," said the elderly lady, advancing andoffering her hand to each of her visitors in succession. "We have beenexpecting you. Allow me to perform the ceremony of introduction. I amMrs Scott, widow of Brigadier-general Scott of her majesty's forces inIndia. This lady is Miss Sabine, my niece and the only daughter ofMajor-general Sabine; and these are respectively Miss Rose and MissLucilla Lumsden, the daughters of an Indian judge."

  The gentlemen bowed low as each name was mentioned, and, upon Mrs Scottmaking a somewhat significant pause, the baronet took up his parable,remarking:

  "We are greatly honoured and delighted, ladies, at thus unexpectedlymaking your acquaintance in this out-of-the-way spot, and we sincerelyhope that the acquaintanceship will redound to our mutual advantage. Iam Sir Reginald Elphinstone. This gentleman is Colonel Lethbridge; thisis Lieutenant Mildmay, of her majesty's navy; and, last but by no meansleast, this gentleman is Professor von Schalckenberg, an eminent Germanscientist, a most delightful companion, and a man clever enough, Ifirmly believe, to help us all out of our present difficulties."

  A general shaking of hands ensued; and then Mrs Scott laughinglyinvited the gentlemen to seat themselves on the four bamboo palletswhich occupied opposite sides of the apartment, apologising at the sametime for the lack of suitable sitting accommodation.

  "And now," said Mrs Scott laughingly, "to which of you gentlemen are weto look for the cure of our madness?"

  "It is expected, I believe," said Sir Reginald, "that we shall each aid,to the best of our ability, in the good work. But," he continued in alower and more cautious tone of voice, "is it not rather imprudent ofyou to behave in so very sane a manner before these women?"

  "Oh," said Mrs Scott, "they are all right. They are perfectlytrustworthy--indeed, they are actively aiding and abetting us in theexceedingly disagreeable but necessary deception we are practising uponking M'Bongwele. The wretch!" she continued, starting indignantly toher feet. "Would you believe it? He actually has the audacity andimpudence to--to--to--"

  "To aspire to a matrimonial alliance with one, if not all, of you. Yes,I am aware of his ambition," said the baronet with a smile; "and whilstwe are here to-day, at his request, to remove the obstacle which yourmost deplorable insanity interposes, I hope that the ultimate resultwill be your speedy deliverance, with our own, from his power. We are,like yourselves, prisoners, but we are by no means hopeless of escape,and I pledge you my word that we will not leave until we can take youall with us."

  Mrs Scott shook her head somewhat doubtfully. "We are all infinitelyobliged to you for your generous promise," she said with a sigh; "but Igreatly fear you are somewhat overrating your powers. The difficultiesof escape--in the first place, from this village, and, in the nextplace, from the country itself--are so formidable that we have almostgiven up all hope. May I ask what strange accident brought you hither?"

  "Assuredly," answered the baronet. "And when I have informed you of thefacts, you will see that the difficulties of escape are, after all, notso very enormous, and I trust that you will all take heart once more."

  Sir Reginald then proceeded to give a detailed description of the_Flying Fish_; and of his own and his companions' adventures in her;winding up with an account of their capture--so far as they were awareof its details--and a recital of the grounds upon which they foundedtheir hopes of escape.

  The ladies listened to Sir Reginald's singular story with anastonishment which they vainly strove to conceal, and had it beenuncorroborated, they would probably have suspected in him a touch of thesame malady with which they were supposed to be afflicted; but, asmatters were, they had no choice but to credit the tale, and very muchgratified they were to learn that there existed a means of conveyanceaffording, if they could but once gain access to it, a safe, easy, andspeedy escape from the realms of king M'Bongwele.

  Sir Reginald, having brought his story to an end, requested that he andhis companions might be favoured with an account of the manner in whichthe ladies had fallen into the hands of the savages, which request MrsScott complied with, somewhat in the following terms:

  "It is, to a great extent, my fault that these poor girls findthemselves in the unfortunate position which they occupy to-day. I havebeen a widow for nearly seven years; but, having been early left anorphan, with no friends in England and many in India, I did not, as manynewly-made widows do, turn my face homeward immediately on my husband'sdeath; on the contrary, I determined rather to remain in the country ofmy adoption, and, being left in tolerably comfortable circumstances,made arrangements to reside alternately in Delhi and Simla. Thesearrangements I duly carried into effect, and nothing occurred to disturbthem until about a year ago, when my brother, Sir James Lumsden, died,leaving his motherless daughters--Rose and Lucilla here--in my care,with an earnest entreaty that I would convey them, at my earliestconvenience, home to their grandfather, who owns a very fine place inHampshire, and who would, doubtless, be glad to receive them. I, ofcourse, very willingly undertook the duty--not the less so, perhaps,from the fact that I was myself somewhat ailing, and had been stronglyurged by my medical adviser to try the effect of change and a long seavoyage. Our preparations were soon completed, and we journeyed down toBombay, at which place I happened to meet my brother-in-law, GeneralSabine. He, poor man, was in a great difficulty just then, being underorders to proceed at once to Afghanistan, and not knowing what to dowith his daughter, who, I ought to explain, has been motherless from herinfancy. The best way I could see out of the difficulty was for her totake the trip home to Europe with us, and, upon my making the proposal,it was joyfully adopted. So far all was well; but at this point ourdifficulties were to begin. We, unfortunately, took passage for Londonin a sailing ship for my health's sake. We, or the ship rather, had tocall at the Cape, and, three weeks after we sailed, the captain died.The chief mate then assumed the command of the vessel, and in a few daysafterwards we found that he was giving way to drink. That was,doubtless, the cause of the disaster which followed, for on a dark andstormy night, whilst the chief mate--or captain, rather, I suppose Iought to call him--was lying in his berth in a state of almost helplessintoxication, and the ship was flying before the rising gale under allthe sail the sailors could spread, _we struck_! the masts snapped shortoff at the deck, and in a moment all was confusion and panic. The mate,or captain, staggered up on deck to see what was the matter, and he hadscarcely reached the poop when a breaker swept down upon the wreck andwashed the unhappy wretch overboard, never to be seen again. The nextofficer--a brave energetic young fellow--then took command, and by hiscoolness and courage soon restored order among the crew. He commandedthe lead-line to be dropped overboard, and by its means ascertained thatthe ship was being rapidly driven shoreward by the force of the waves.Meanwhile the shocks of the ship striking against the ground graduallygrew less and less severe, until they ceased altogether, and the vesselbecame motionless save for an occasional sickening lurch when anexceptionally heavy wave struck her. By this time it was ascertainedthat the hold was nearly full of water, a circumstance from which theyoung officer in charge came to the conclusion that the hull wasirretrievably damaged, and he then gave orders to lower the boats. Thistask the sailors with great difficulty accomplished, and then, therebeing at the moment no immediate prospect of the wreck going to pieces,the boats were secured under the shelter of the ship, and it wasdetermined to defer until daylight our attempt at landing, when thedangers of the enterprise could be distinctly seen and more easilyavoided. About two hours elapsed between the first striking of thevessel and the launching of the boats, during which time I and my nieces
were on deck in our night-dresses, supplemented by such wraps as we hadbeen able to hastily snatch on the moment of the first alarm. But whenthe boats had been safely lowered into the sea and secured, MrSnelgrove (the young officer who had last assumed the command) came tous, and, in the kindest manner possible, begged us to retire to ourcabins, assuring us that we might do so with perfect safety, and that wemight depend on him to summon us in good time to attempt a landing withthe rest of the crew. We accordingly took his advice, glad to get backto the shelter of the saloon, where we at once discarded our wetgarments and proceeded to make ourselves as comfortable as thecircumstances permitted. Day broke at length, and then Mr Snelgrovemade his appearance in the saloon, informing us that the weather hadmoderated, the sea gone down a good deal, and the tide had ebbed,rendering it a favourable moment to attempt a landing, which he believedmight be effected without much danger; he further added that the seamenwere then passing provisions and water into the boats, and that he wouldallow us ten minutes wherein to select and pack a small bundle of suchclothing and effects as might be deemed by us most necessary. At lengththe eventful moment arrived for us to pass down into the boats, andthough we were assured by the sailors that there was no danger, I neverwas so thoroughly frightened in my life, for the sea was still veryrough, leaping, curling, and foaming all round us. However, we allmanaged to embark without accident, and then our boat (which was thesecond to make the attempt) pushed off and made for the shore. Thebreakers were appalling, and the boat was turned round with her bowpointing seaward, and `backed'--I think they called it--toward theshore. The sea broke over us several times, half filling the boat; buttwo men were kept constantly baling with buckets, and at length--thanksto Mr Snelgrove's admirable management--we safely reached the beach,but wet to the skin as a matter of course. Meanwhile, the first boat,in charge of the boatswain, had discharged her cargo on the beach, andwas now sent back with four men to the wreck to bring on shore theremainder of the crew and whatever of value they could lay their handsupon. This going to and fro between the beach and the ship lastednearly all day, and by nightfall we had quite a large quantity ofprovisions, water, canvas, spars, and other matters, and last, but notleast, all my nieces' and my own boxes. The sailors constructed twotents in a sheltered spot high up on the beach--one for themselves andone for us--and we at length retired to spend our first night in thecharacter of castaways.

  "About an hour before daybreak we were rudely awakened--to findourselves in the power of the savages. I am of opinion that we musthave been watched during the whole of the previous day, for the surpriseof the camp was complete; we had been noiselessly surrounded, and,whilst we unfortunate women were spared, the equally unfortunate menwere, for the most part, slain in their sleep; not one had escaped--atleast we never afterwards saw any of them alive. The camp was of courseransacked, and when every man had possessed himself of whatever happenedto take his fancy, we were placed in the centre of the band and conveyedto this place, where we have been detained close prisoners ever since.The scattered contents of the camp must afterwards, I fancy, have beencollected and brought to this village, for a few days later our boxes--broken open and the contents in a dreadfully soiled and disorderedcondition--were brought to us, and upon our replying in the affirmativeto the questions put to us by signs as to whether they were ourproperty, were left in our possession. I have only to add that thewreck, and the horrors which succeeded it, proved too much for poorLucilla in her then somewhat weak state of health, and she fell into alow fever with delirium, which prostrated her for nearly three months,and from the effects of which she has even now not wholly recovered. Itwas during this dreadfully anxious period that those four poor blackcreatures were appointed to attend upon us. They have been most zealousand faithful in their efforts to help us; they have instructed us tosome extent in their simple language; and they have informed us, notonly that they are cast-off wives of the king, but that he was, andstill is, anxious to secure one (if not more) of my nieces for a wife,and that the only hope of escape from such a fate lay in our simulatinginsanity, which, most reluctantly, we have been compelled to do wheneverM'Bongwele or any of his emissaries have visited us. But, beyond ourclose confinement and this horrible ever-impending danger, we have novery great cause for complaint, all our expressed wants being instantlysatisfied so far as the resources of the king will permit."

  Mrs Scott having thus brought her story to an end, the gentlemenexpressed their sympathy and condolences, and the conversation graduallygrew more general. At length, much as they would have liked to prolongthe interview, they felt that they had already lengthened it out almostbeyond the bounds of prudence, so they rose to take leave, uttering afew encouraging remarks, which Sir Reginald rounded off with anexhortation to them to be ever on the watch, and to hold themselves inreadiness for flight at a moment's notice, adding that one or other ofthe gentlemen would visit them as often as possible and keep them wellinformed upon the progress of events.