Part 27 (1/2)
”But how strange! They have taken him prisoner then. Look here; we're not going to have him with us.”
”It doesn't look as if he is a prisoner,” said Ingleborough; ”they all seem too friendly. I believe the scoundrel has deserted from the town and come to join the Boers. What has old Norton been about?”
”Is it possible?”
”Oh, it's possible enough, if old Norton has been to sleep. Rats desert sinking s.h.i.+ps!”
”Kimberley isn't a sinking s.h.i.+p!” said West indignantly.
”I don't know so much about that, lad! There is a very small force ready to defend it; it's a long way from help; and, as we see here, the enemy is swarming down upon it from all directions. You see, it's so far from our forces and so near to the Free State border.”
”Ah, there he is plainly enough, laughing with the commandant! Look, he clapped him on the shoulder!”
”Yes, I give him credit for anything!” said Ingleborough. ”I shouldn't wonder if he was in full correspondence with the Boers and is ready to sell us as well as buy diamonds. As likely as not, he has slipped away with his swag so as to escape before the fighting begins. But how Norton can have let him get away is more than I can understand!”
”Well, it's plain enough that he's here!” said West; ”and I can't help feeling glad that he is not a prisoner, for if he had been put with us it must have come to a quarrel. Look here, seeing what the treacherous thief is, we ought to denounce him to the commandant.”
”Don't do anything of the kind! What good would it do?”
”But he is such a despicable wretch!”
”What's that to you?”
”Ingleborough!”
”Oh yes, I know what you're ready to say; but you've got something else to do besides playing the virtuous part of denouncing Master Anson as a diamond-dealer. Besides, I don't believe the Boers would think any the less of him if they believed you.”
”They couldn't help believing our evidence!” said West.
”Nonsense! It isn't your business!”
”It's every honest man's business!” cried West hotly.
”Not if he is on Government service with a despatch to deliver in Mafeking,” said Ingleborough, with a peculiar look at his companion.
”Hah!” cried West; ”you are right again! But--oh!”
”Oh, what?”
”Why, he was present when we volunteered to carry the despatch!”
”To be sure, so he was!” cried Ingleborough excitedly.
”Then as soon as he knows we have been captured he'll denounce me to the commandant as the bearer of the message, and oh, Ingle, we shall be searched again!”
”Yes,” was the thoughtful reply; ”and you've got it on you. We might change jackets, but that would be no good. Could you rip it out of yours?”
”Yes, of course, in a few moments.”
”Then you'd better.”