"And, Benita, where have you been so long, and--who is this gentleman
with you? I seem to remember his face."
"He is the white man who was in the waggon, father, an old friend come
to life again. Robert, can't you stop the howling of those Kaffirs?
Though I am sure I don't wonder that they howl; I should have liked
to do so for days. Oh! father, father, don't you understand me? We are
saved, yes, snatched out of hell and the jaws of death."
"Is Jacob Meyer dead, then?" he asked.
"I don't know where he is or what has happened to him, and I don't care,
but perhaps we had better find out. Robert, there is a madman outside.
Make the Kaffirs pull down that wall, would you? and catch him."
"What wall? What madman?" he asked, staring at her.
"Oh, of course you don't know that, either. You know nothing. I'll show
you, and you must be prepared, for probably he will shoot at us."
"It all sounds a little risky, doesn't it?" asked Robert doubtfully.
"Yes, but we must take the risk. We cannot carry my father down that
place, and unless we can get him into light and air soon, he will
certainly die. The man outside is Jacob Meyer, his partner--you remember
him. All these weeks of hardship and treasure-hunting have sent him off
his head, and he wanted to mesmerize me and----"
"And what? Make love to you?"
She nodded, then went on:
"So when he could not get his way about the mesmerism and so forth, he
threatened to murder my father, and that is why we had to hide in this
cave and build ourselves up, till at last I found the way out.
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