"
"He will say that we have deserted him, and that will be true."
"You can leave a letter with the Molimo explaining that it was my fault,
that I was getting ill and thought that I should die, and that you knew
it would not be fair to ask him to come, and so to lose the treasure,
to every halfpenny of which he is welcome when it is found. Oh! father,
don't hesitate any longer; say that you will take me away from Mr.
Meyer."
"So be it then," answered Mr. Clifford, and as he spoke, hearing a
sound, they looked up and saw Jacob approaching them.
Luckily he was so occupied with his own thoughts that he never noted the
guilty air upon their faces, and they had time to compose themselves a
little. But even thus his suspicions were aroused.
"What are you talking of so earnestly?" he asked.
"We were wondering how you were getting on with the Makalanga," answered
Benita, fibbing boldly, "and whether you would persuade them to face the
ghosts. Did you?"
"Not I," he answered with a scowl. "Those ghosts are our worst enemies
in this place; the cowards swore that they would rather die. I should
have liked to take some of them at their word and make ghosts of
them; but I remembered the situation and didn't. Don't be afraid, Miss
Clifford, I never even lost my temper, outwardly at any rate.
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