Читать книгу The Black Troopers, and other stories онлайн

41 страница из 47

'It will be useless my starting to fetch the police if either of those two fellows escape out of your sight; and they are slippery as eels. Do you think you will be able to keep them safely?' said Stevenson to us.

I was very tired, and so was Harris; and the idea of sitting up all night was not pleasant. However, there was no help for it, and we promised to watch alternately during his absence. 'Where do you expect to find the troopers?' I asked; 'and how will you get to them?' I said.

'That is the question,' replied the superintendent. 'Lieutenant Walters, I heard, was to reach the Junction, twenty miles up on this side of the river, at sunset to-day; but the blacks are camped not far from the road I must go by, as it is too dark to travel through the bush. I must therefore cross the river here and go up by the other side, and then swim the river again—not a pleasant prospect truly. If I attempt to cross on horseback here, at the punt, the blacks there will instantly suspect the truth; so swim it I must, somewhere in our neighbourhood. Nice, isn't it?'