"He said it was quite impossible for him to pursue the even tenor of his way while you, his boss and patron, were in parlous circs. and durance vile. I’m beginning to think the Bengali has been libelled; go deep enough and you’ll find a man. Anyway, he insisted on going, and I’m sorry to say none of the three has come back." John groaned from utter weariness and disappointment. "What a mess I’ve made of everything!" he said. "If ever we get safely out of this I’ll not go rampaging after stolen rifles again. Look what I’ve brought on everybody!" "Utter rot! Nobody came against his will, and who could foresee all this? We’ve had amazing luck really, and as for getting safely out of it--but look here, old man, you mustn’t shiver like that. I’m a fat-headed chump. Off with your clothes; they’re sopping. We haven’t got a change, but you won’t shock any one’s modesty. I’ll rub you dry with some of Said’s cloths; your things will dry in no time, and I’ll try massage for your sprain. You’ll take a good stiff dose of quinine, too; we can’t have an invalid on our hands." John winced as he rose to strip. Ferrier got his clothes off, rubbed him vigorously with cloths ("Shout when I hurt," he said), then rolled him in a blanket and laid him down by the fire, "To sweat it out, you know." "Just go and look after Bill," said John, feeling comfortably lazy. "Bill’s all right, bless your heart! He’s got no clothes to dry, and he’s tucking into roast hippo like one o’clock. It’s the last of it, by the way. It bucked the men up wonderfully. I wish we had some more." "How do we stand for food?" asked John anxiously. "Never you mind about food. You shall have your dinner when the time comes. The best thing you can do is to go to sleep, and when you wake you can tell me how you managed to escape from the ’bad men.’ Are they very bad, like the little girl who was horrid? No, you needn’t answer; just shut your eyes while I count ten, and you’ll sleep like a top." Two hours later, the man on guard at the gate, one of Ferrier’s askaris, reported that a number of men were marching across the plain towards the causeway. Ferrier went to the gate, and saw that the group consisted of two Swahilis and four of their followers. A great throng of black men stood at the edge of the wood, giving no sign of an intention to move. "A deputation, I presume," thought Ferrier. "Coming to offer us terms!" The men advanced along the causeway, the Swahilis first. When they had come half-way Ferrier told the askari at his side to order them to stop. They came to a halt immediately. "Ask ’em if one of them is Juma," said Ferrier. No: one was Sadi ben Asmani, the other Jumbi ben Abdullah. "Then you may tell Sadi ben Asmani and Jumbi ben Abdullah that I have nothing to say to them, and they had better be off, sharp." When this was interpreted the Swahilis glowered. One of them began to speak, but Ferrier signed to him to be silent.