Читать книгу The Black Troopers, and other stories онлайн

24 страница из 47

'Then you may depend that rascal Peel is concerned in the matter,' said Harris, sitting up in bed.

'I forgot to tell you,' said Stevenson, 'that I came upon that fellow yesterday as I was drawing a carcase across the run, and leaving the poisoned baits in its track. It was in a scrub which my horse could hardly get through; and I had no idea that any human being was near me at the time. He might have speared me easily enough too, for I was unarmed and dismounted, and he touched me on the shoulder as I was stooping to place the bait to the ground. The fellow has some gratitude, I suppose; for, much as he hates white men, he knows he owes his life to me.'

'Twenty times over!' said Harris; 'for he would have been finished long ago but for you.'

'You told us, doctor,' continued the superintendent, 'that you extracted some slugs from his arm and shoulder the day you first saw him. How long, do you think, had those wounds been there?'

'About ten days or so, I should think.'

'What were the slugs like? a bullet cut up?'