to feed, that they might turn into butterflies. This was

I could not use my hands, so he fed me with the blade of his knife. Such porridge without salt or cream is beastly food, but my hunger was so great that I could have eaten a vat of it.

Suddenly it appeared that the Kaffir had something to say to me. As he fed me he began to speak in a low voice in English.

'Baas,' he said, 'I come from Ratitswan, and I have a message for you.'

I guessed that Ratitswan was the native name for Arcoll. There was no one else likely to send a message. 'Ratitswan says,' he went on, "'Look out for Dupree's Drift." I will be near you and cut your bonds; then you must swim across when Ratitswan begins to shoot.'

The news took all the weight of care from my mind. Colin had got home, and my friends were out for rescue. So volatile is the mood of 19 that I veered round from black despair to an unwarranted optimism. I saw myself already safe, and Laputa's rising scattered. I saw my hands on the treasure, and Henriques' ugly neck below my heel.

'I don't know your name,' I said to the Kaffir, 'but you are a good fellow. When I get out of this business I won't forget you.'

'There is another message, Baas,' he said. 'It is written on paper in a strange tongue. Turn your head to the bush, and see, I will hold it inside the bowl, that you may read it.'

I did as I was told, and found myself looking at a dirty half- sheet of notepaper, marked by the Kaffir's thumbs. Some words were written on it in Wardlaw's hand; and, characteristically, in Latin, which was not a bad cipher. I read - 'Henricus de Letaba transeunda apud Duprei vada jam nos certiores fecit.'* *'Henriques has already told us about the crossing at Dupree's Drift.'