It came to this then: if they were to go, it
must be on the horses.
Descending the cone Benita went to find her father, to whom as yet she
had said nothing of her plans. The opportunity was good, for she knew
that he would be alone. As it chanced, on that afternoon Meyer had gone
down the hill in order to try to persuade the Makalanga to give them
ten or twenty men to help them in their excavations. In this, it will
be remembered, he had already failed so far as the Molimo was concerned,
but he was not a man easily turned from his purpose, and he thought that
if he could see Tamas and some of the other captains he might be able
by bribery, threats, or otherwise, to induce them to forget their
superstitious fears, and help in the search. As a matter of fact, he was
utterly unsuccessful, since one and all they declared that for them to
enter that sacred place would mean their deaths, and that the vengeance
of Heaven would fall upon their tribe and destroy it root and branch.
Mr. Clifford, on whom all this heavy labour had begun to tell, was
taking advantage of the absence of his taskmaster, Jacob, to sleep
awhile in the hut which they had now built for themselves beneath the
shadow of the baobab-tree. As she reached it he came out yawning, and
asked her where she had been.
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