Their meal finished at length, they reloaded the gun, and although the mist was still very dense, set out upon a journey of exploration, as by now the sun was shining brightly above the curtain of low-lying vapour. Stumbling on through the rocks, they discovered that the water had fallen almost as quickly as it rose on the previous night. The island was strewn, however, with the trunks of trees and other debris that it had brought down, amongst which lay the carcases of bucks and smaller creatures, and with them a number of drowned snakes. The two lions, however, appeared to have escaped by swimming, at least they saw nothing of them. Walking cautiously, they came to the edge of the donga, and sat down upon a stone, since as yet they could not see how wide and deep the water ran.
Whilst they remained thus, suddenly through the mist they heard a voice shouting from the other side of the donga.
"Missie," cried the voice in Dutch, "are you there missie?"
"That is Tom, our driver," she said, "come to look for me. Answer for me, Richard."
So the lad, who had very good lungs, roared in reply: "Yes, I'm here, safe, waiting for the mist to lift, and the water to run down."
"God be thanked," yelled the distant Tom. "We thought that you were surely drowned. But, then, why is your voice changed?"
"Because an English heer is with me," cried Rachel. "Go and look for his horse and bring a rope, then wait till the mist rises. Also send to tell the pastor and my mother that I am safe."
"I am here, Rachel," shouted another voice, her father's. "I have been looking for you all night, and we have got the Englishman's horse. Don't come into the water yet. Wait till we can see."
"That's good news, any way," said Richard, "though I shall have to ride hard to catch up the waggons."
Rachel's face fell.
"Yes," she said; "very good news."
"Are you glad that I am going, then?" he asked in an offended tone.
"It was you who said the news was good," she replied gently.
"I meant I was glad that they had caught my horse, not that I had to ride away on it. Are you sorry, then?" and he glanced at her anxiously.
"Yes, I am sorry, for we have made friends, haven't we? It won't matter to you who will find plenty of people down there at the Cape, but you see when you are gone I shall have no friend left in this wilderness, shall I?"