"You have no need to do so," said Lavie. "Whatever I may have undergone has been more than compensated by our meeting to-day, not to speak of the appointment which my kind friend has obtained for me. In fact, if I had not undertaken the journey, we must have remained in hopeless captivity." "Did your Bechuana guide play false?" asked the missionary. "No, I have no right to say so. Whether he would have been as faithful as he was, had matters fallen out differently, may be a matter of doubt. I half fancy he had received some private instructions from Chuma, which he did not carry out, for what may seem a very strange reason. He was frightened out of his senses by our dog, Lion!" "Lion!" exclaimed Warley. "Why, he has been dead for weeks and months, hasn't he?" "Not he! He is as much alive as you or I. He is at one of the huts along with Kama and Kobo at this moment." "I thought I saw him swept away by the flood during that night on the Gariep." "So you did, I dare say; but he must have contrived to swim ashore. Anyhow, we met him two days' journey from the Bechuana village, tracking us, I fancy, by his instinct, and he would have joined us there before long, if I had not fallen in with him; but he would not leave me, when we had once met, and I thought the best thing under the circumstances would be to take him with me to Cape Town. But Kama, who had never seen an animal like him, and who had heard of his having been swept away by the torrent, believed, I am convinced, that he was a sort of tutelary spirit, who would be sure to detect any knavery and avenge any false dealing on his part. It amused me, I must say, a good deal; but any way, from the day Lion joined our company to that on which we reached Cape Town, he never attempted any tricks." "And then you and Captain Wilmore resolved to go in quest of us," said De Walden. "I understand that But how did you find out where we were? Did you go to the Bechuanas, and hear it from Chuma?" "No; we were making our way to the village, when we fell in with a man who was known to Kama, and who, it seemed, knew me too, though I had quite forgotten him." "What! Kobo, I suppose?" exclaimed Warley. "Yes, that, I believe, is his name. He told us that you all had escaped in his company from Chuma, who had quarrelled with you, or with Mr De Walden. He said he had left you on an island on the Yellow River awaiting his return, and we had better accompany him to the place. So we did, but there was no trace of you to be found." "No," said Warley. "We didn't stay twenty-four hours on the island after Kobo's departure. We have been playing at cross purposes with him. How did you find out at last where we were?" "We met your messenger returning from his errand to the Bechuanas, and learned that the quarrel had been made up. Nevertheless, all things considered, it is quite as well that we didn't go there."