"We must rest here," said Lavie, "an hour or two to recover ourselves a little, but no longer. I don't suppose the Hottentots have done much more than discover our absence yet. They have had plenty to do for the present without thinking where we are, and then they will have to make out in which direction we have gone. They will find that out, no doubt, notwithstanding all our precautions, but it will take them some time. And my hope is, that we shall now baffle them altogether." "How do you mean?" asked Ernest. "I mean that we should all take off our shoes, and step into the brook here. We can walk along it, treading only on the stones till we reach that long patch of scrub there. Then I propose that we shall turn eastward, and go for a day's journey in that direction before again travelling south. I think that will throw these Hottentots completely out, and they will give up the pursuit." "Well, I have no objection," said Nick, "and I don't suppose the others have. Anything to get out of the hands of those dingy brutes. How sold they will be! If they could only get hold of one of us, how they would pay it off on him!" "I am afraid they will pay it off on my poor Lion," said Frank. "Whatever will become of him, poor fellow!" "Oh, they'll use him kindly enough," said Lavie, soothingly. "He is too valuable and useful an animal for them to hurt. As soon as we get to Cape Town we'll send a fellow to ransom him. A dozen large beads or brass buttons will soon induce them to give him up." "Well, at all events we'll hope so," said Warley. "Well, now, Charles, I am rested if the others are--enough, that is, to go on." "All right," said the doctor. "Now, the first thing is to take off our shoes and stockings." This was soon done, and the party stepping down into the bed of the rivulet, walked in Indian file one after another, taking particular care to leave no footprints in the soft earth. Presently they came to a place where the short scrub, with which the slopes were covered, descended to the water's edge. They stepped out upon this, and proceeded eastward for a considerable distance, taking the greatest pains to leave no trace behind. After half a mile or so of this cautious walking, Lavie considered the danger to be at an end. Again resuming the sharp trot at which they had previously proceeded, in another hour they reached some caves in a high range of limestone cliffs, where they resolved to rest for the night. They were too much wearied to keep watch. In five minutes all four were sound asleep.