eland, and an elephant, but no lions yet. I was following the spoor of a
lion just now, but it got up between the rocks and bolted away before I
could shoot. I think that it must have been after you."

"Perhaps," said Rachel. "There are some about here; I have heard them
roaring at night."

"Then," he went on, "while I was staring at you running across this
island, I heard the sound of the water and saw it rushing down the donga,
and saw too that you must be drowned, and--you know the rest."

"Yes, I know the rest," she said, looking at him with shining eyes. "You
risked your life to save mine, and therefore," she added with quiet
conviction, "it belongs to you."

He stared at her and remarked simply:

"I wish it did. This morning I wished to kill a lion with my new _roer_,"
and he pointed to the heavy gun at his side, "above everything else, but
to-night I wish that your life belonged to me--above anything else."

Their eyes met, and child though she was, Rachel saw something in those of
Richard that caused her to turn her head.

"Where are you going?" she asked quickly.

"Back to my father's farm in Graaf-Reinet, to sell the ivory. There are
three others besides my father, two Boers and one Englishman."

"And I am going to Natal where you come from," she answered, "so I suppose