But the young doctor had not yet finished with his patient, by any means; he intended to see him safely into his own home before he left him, and this he did, a half-dozen of the soldiers fetching the man's bed from his house, carefully lifting him thereon, and carrying him in, under Dick's watchful care, aided by Grosvenor as interpreter. This done, he administered a soothing and fever-allaying draught; after which, upon being informed by the young officer that he would probably have no opportunity of seeing his patient again, he hypnotised the man and subjected him to a powerful mental suggestion that all danger was now past, that no complications of any kind would arise, and that he would rapidly get well without further attention. This done, he and Grosvenor rejoined the wagon and resumed their march. The delay occasioned by this incident of the buffalo so retarded their progress that it was close upon noon before they arrived at the margin of the lake; and here they were curtly informed that they were about to be conveyed to the island, and that as it was not proposed to take the wagon or any of the animals with them, they must indicate what few articles they thought they might require during the next few days, and those articles would be conveyed across with them. There was a certain indefinable, sinister suggestiveness in the character of this communication that seemed to imply a doubt in the mind of the official who made it whether the individuals to whom it was made would require anything at all after "the next few days"; but Dick and Grosvenor, acting as usual upon the general principle of taking an optimistic view of everything, gave no sign that they detected anything of a covert character in the intimation, and calmly indicated the trunks containing their clothing, the medicine chest, their rifles and revolvers, and a case of ammunition for the same, all of which were duly placed in a large craft, in shape something between a canoe and a lighter, which they afterward discovered was propelled by sixty paddles. At the last moment it transpired that their black attendants, Mafuta, Jantje, and 'Nkuku were to be left behind on the mainland--which arrangement also appeared to bear a certain sinister significance--whereupon Grosvenor suggested the extreme importance of placing them in charge of the wagon and its remaining contents, part of which--two cases of ammunition, to wit--he explained, consisted of terribly powerful magic, any tampering with which by unauthorised persons must inevitably have the most appallingly disastrous results. This suggestion, Grosvenor was informed, would receive the most careful consideration of the authorities; and he had the satisfaction of believing that not only would this probably result in saving the lives of the blacks, at least for a time, but he also perceived that his hint respecting the "magic" had made a very distinct impression.