“Billali,” I said, “once, thou knowest, I did save thy life.  Now pay back the debt, my father, and save me mine and my friend’s, the Lion’s.  It shall be a pleasant thing for thee to think of when thine hour comes, and something to set in the scale against the evil doing of thy days, if perchance thou hast done any evil.  Also, if thou be right, and if She doth but hide herself, surely when she comes again she shall reward thee.”

“My son the Baboon,” answered the old man, “think not that I have an ungrateful heart.  Well do I remember how thou didst rescue me when those dogs stood by to see me drown.  Measure for measure will I give thee, and if thou canst be saved, surely I will save thee.  Listen:  by dawn to-morrow be prepared, for litters shall be here to bear ye away across the mountains, and through the marshes beyond.  This will I do, saying that it is the word of She that it be done, and he who obeyeth not the word of She food is he for the hyaenas.  Then when ye have crossed the marshes, ye must strike with your own hands, so that perchance, if good fortune go with you, ye may live to come to that black water whereof ye told me.  And now, see, the Lion wakes, and ye must eat the food I have made ready for you.”

Leo’s condition when once he was fairly aroused proved not to be so bad as might have been expected from his appearance, and we both of us managed to eat a hearty meal, which indeed we needed sadly enough.  After this we limped down to the spring and bathed, and then came back and slept again till evening, when we once more ate enough for five.  Billali was away all that day, no doubt making arrangements about litters and bearers, for we were awakened in the middle of the night by the arrival of a considerable number of men in the little camp.

At dawn the old man himself appeared, and told us that he had by using She’s dreadful name, though with some difficulty, succeeded in getting the necessary men and two guides to conduct us across the swamps, and that he urged us to start at once, at the same time announcing his intention of accompanying us so as to protect us against treachery.  I was much touched by this act of kindness on the part of that wily old barbarian towards two utterly defenceless strangers.  A three—­or in his case, for he would have to return, six—­days’ journey through those deadly swamps was no light undertaking for a man of his age, but he consented to do it cheerfully in order to promote our safety.  It shows that even among those dreadful Amahagger—­who are certainly with their gloom and their devilish and ferocious rites by far the most terrible savages that I ever heard of—­there are people with kindly hearts.  Of course, self-interest may have had something to do with it.  He may have thought that She would suddenly reappear and demand an account of us at his hands, but still, allowing for all deductions, it was a great deal more than we could expect under the circumstances, and I can only say that I shall for as long as I live cherish a most affectionate remembrance of my nominal parent, old Billali.