get ear of local magistrate before you; p'raps he sit up tree to shoot
you; p'raps nasty temper make him mad. But he gone any way, and I hope
he no meet Asiki, poor fellow, 'cause if so, who know? P'raps they knock
him on head, or if they think him you, they make him prisoner and keep
him quite long while before they let him go again."

"Well," said Alan, "he has gone of his own free will, so we have no
responsibility in the matter, and I can't pretend that I am sorry to
see the last of him, at any rate for the present. Let that poor beggar
loose, there seems to have been enough flogging in this place, and after
all he isn't much to blame."

Jeekie obeyed, apparently with much reluctance, and just then they saw
one of their own people running towards the camp.

"'Fraid he going to tell us Asiki come attack," said Jeekie, shaking his
head. "Hope they give us time breakfast first."

"No doubt," answered Alan nervously, for he feared the result of that
attack.

Then the man arrived breathless and began to gasp out his news, which
filled Alan with delight and caused a look of utter amazement to appear
upon the broad face of Jeekie. It was to the effect that he had climbed
a high tree as he had been bidden to do, and from the top of that tree
by the light of the first rays of the rising sun, miles away on the
plain beyond the forest, he had seen the Asiki army in full retreat.

"Thank God!" exclaimed Alan.