Soon we cleared the place and had lifted the stone, with ventilating
holes in it--well was it for Sammy that those ventilating holes
existed; also that the stone did not fit tight. Beneath was a bottle-
shaped and cemented structure about ten feet deep by, say, eight wide.
Instantly through the mouth of this structure appeared the head of
Sammy with his mouth wide open like that of a fish gasping for air. We
pulled him out, a process that caused him to howl, for the heat had
made his skin very tender, and gave him water which one of the Mazitu
fetched from a spring. Then I asked him indignantly what he was doing
in that hole, while we wasted our tears, thinking that he was dead.
"Oh! Mr. Quatermain," he said, "I am a victim of too faithful service.
To abandon all these valuable possessions of yours to a rapacious
enemy was more than I could bear. So I put every one of them in the
pit, and then, as I thought I heard someone coming, got in myself and
pulled down the stone. But, Mr. Quatermain, soon afterwards the enemy
added arson to murder and pillage, and the whole place began to blaze.
Pages:
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590