I hope
you will have a more agreeable afternoon than I shall. Why don't you
take a ride outside the wall? Your horses are fat and want exercise, and
I do not think that you need be afraid of the Matabele." Then without
waiting for an answer, he rose and left them.
Mr. Clifford looked after him doubtfully.
"Oh, I know," said Benita, "it seems horribly mean, but one must do
shabby things sometimes. Here are the bundles all ready, so let us be
off."
Accordingly they went, and from the top of the wall Benita glanced back
to bid goodbye to that place which she hoped never to see again. Yet she
could not feel as though she looked her last upon it; to her it wore
no air of farewell, and even as she descended the perilous stairs, she
found herself making mental notes as to how they might best be climbed
again. Also, she could not believe that she had done with Mr. Meyer. It
seemed to her as though for a long while yet her future would be full of
him.
They reached the outer fortifications in safety, and there were greeted
with some surprise but with no displeasure by the Makalanga, whom they
found still drilling with the rifles, in the use of which a certain
number of them appeared to have become fairly proficient. Going to
the hut in which the spare goods from the waggon had been stored, they
quickly made their preparations.
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