“Look here,” he said, in a hoarse whisper, “we are in a trap of some kind. When that old scoundrel comes back, do not let him know that we have found out anything. We will walk on with him for a short distance, at all events, and then be guided by circumstances. Stand by when you see me collar him, and slip a sack over his head.” “Can we not go back now?” said Langley. “Certainly not; we would never find our way at night. I guess we must see this circus out. If you have to shoot, aim low.” In a few minutes Ghamba returned. “Come on,” he said. “He is sitting at the fire in front of the cave. I have just seen him.” “Where is the cave?” asked Whitson. “Is it far from here?” “We will reach it very soon; you can see the light of the fire from a few paces ahead.” They walked on for about fifty yards, and there, sure enough, over a rocky slope to their left, and at the foot of a crag about three hundred yards away, could be seen the bright and fitful glow from a fire which was hidden from their view by a low ridge of piled-up rocks. Whitson stood still and questioned Ghamba: “Now tell me,” he asked, through Langley as interpreter, “how we are to approach.” “The pathway leads up on the left side,” replied Ghamba. “We will walk close up to the crag, where there is a narrow passage between it and that big black rock which you see against the light. You two can lead, and I will be close behind. I have just seen him. He is sitting at the fire, eating, and only the women are with him.” The last words were hardly out of the speaker’s mouth before Whitson had seized him by the throat with a vice-like grasp. “Seize his hands and hold them,” he hissed to Langley. Ghamba struggled desperately, but could not release himself. Whitson compressed his throat until he became unconscious, and then gagged him with a pocket-handkerchief. Ghamba’s hands were then tied tightly behind his back with another pocket-handkerchief, and his feet were firmly secured with a belt. An empty sack (from which they had removed their provisions) was then drawn over his head and shoulders, and secured round the waist. “Come on now, quickly,” whispered Whitson, and he and Langley started off in the direction of the fire, after first taking off their boots. They did not approach by the course which Ghamba had indicated, but made their way quietly up the slope, straight against the face of the crag. They reached the heap of rocks, and crept in among them by means of another narrow passage, close to the inner end of which the fire was; and this is what they saw through the twigs of a scrubby bush which effectually concealed them: