stored-up interest I had vowed to pay.



Chapter 26: We Hold A Council Of War.


For some time I was in doubt whether the agonies Cludde had
suffered would not prove fatal. He lay long unconscious, and when
his eyes at last opened he shrieked aloud, with so wild a look in
his eyes that I feared his reason was gone. But I, who had not left
his side since he was loosed from the tree, spoke to him quietly,
assuring him that he was safe, and gave him water to drink, and by
and by he was soothed to quietude and slept like a tired child. And
then I lay beside him, worn out with the stress and agitations of
this long day, and together (strange chance!) we who had been
mortal enemies found repose on the bosom of mother earth.

Night came down upon us, and the stars were blinking in the dark
vault above when we awoke. Uncle Moses brought us food--birds the
negroes had snared and roasted, and root plants they had grubbed
up; and as we ate we talked.

"Bold," said Cludde huskily, "you've returned good for evil. You
don't want my thanks; you hate me."

"I wonder if I do," I said, and pondering the matter, I came to the
conclusion that I rather despised than hated him; but I did not
tell him so. "How did you come to this strait?" I asked him.