"Why should you expect me to take care of one who can't take care of himself? Why blame me? If Mr. Palander is lost, it is by his own folly. Twenty times I have found him absorbed in his figures, and have brought him back to the caravan. But the evening before last he disappeared, and I have not seen him since. Perhaps if you are so clever, you can spy him out with your telescope." The bushman would doubtless have become more irritable still, if Sir John had not pacified him. Matthew Strux had not been able to get in a word, but now turned round unexpectedly to the Colonel, saying,-- "I shall not abandon my countryman. I suppose that if Sir John Murray or Mr. Emery were lost, you would suspend operations; and I don't see why you should do less for a Russian than for an Englishman." "Mr. Strux," cried the Colonel, folding his arms, and fixing his eyes on his adversary, "do you wish to insult me? Why should you suppose that we will not seek this blundering calculator?" "Sir!" said Strux. "Yes, blundering," repeated the Colonel. "And to return to what you said, I maintain that any embarrassment to the progress of the operations from this circumstance would be due to the Russians alone." "Colonel," cried Strux, with gleaming eyes, "your words are hasty." "My words, on the contrary, are well weighed. Let it be understood that operations are suspended until Mr. Palander is found. Are you ready to start?" "I was ready before you spoke a word," answered Strux sharply. The caravan having now arrived, the disputants each went to his waggon. On the way Sir John could not help saying,-- "It is lucky that the stupid fellow has not carried off the double register." "Just what I was thinking," said the Colonel. The Englishmen proceeded more strictly to interrogate Mokoum. He told them that Palander had been missing for two days, and had last been seen alongside of the caravan about twelve miles from the encampment; that after missing him, he at once set out to seek for him, but being unsuccessful in all his search, had concluded that he must have made his way to his companions. Mokoum proposed that they should now explore the woods to the north-east, adding that they must not lose an hour if they wanted to find him alive, knowing that no one could wander with impunity for two days in a country infested like that with wild beasts. Where any one else could find a subsistence, Palander, ever engrossed by his figures, would inevitably die of starvation. At one o'clock, guided by the hunter, they mounted and left the camp. The grotesque attitudes of Strux, as he clung uneasily to his steed, caused considerable diversion to his companions, who, however, were polite enough to pass no remark.