Real Gold Part 16

"And when at last I was getting nearer to you, I began to lose heart altogether, and I'd eaten all the food I brought with me; and I'd had so little sleep, because I was obliged to overtake you before you started.

If I had not--"

He stopped short, and Perry stared at him.

"Go on," he said at last. "If you hadn't what?"

"If I hadn't caught up to you, it would have been all over."

"Nonsense! Why? You'd have gone back."

"No. I'd been one whole day without anything to eat, and I couldn't have got back, tired as I was, in less than four days. I should have lain down and died."

"But you'd have met somebody," said Perry.

"Up here? No. There's a caravan of llamas comes down about twice a year, and now and then a traveller comes along, but very seldom. How many people did you meet?"

"Not one."

"No, and you were not likely to. I knew this, and it made me keep on walking to overtake you, for it was my only chance."

"But did you think about what a risky thing you were going to do before you started?"

"No," said Cyril sadly; "all that came after, and there was no going back."

"But what a way your father and mother must be in. What will they think?"

"Oh, don't, don't, don't!" groaned Cyril. "Think I haven't gone over it all, times enough? I never thought how much there was in it, or what trouble it would make till it was too late. Do you think I'd have come to be near you for a minute last night, if I'd known that the colonel was going to shoot at me?"

"Of course not."

"And that's the way with lots of things: one don't think about them till it's too late. Hush, here he comes."

For while the boys were busy talking, they had climbed up the side of the valley, and come close up to the fire before they were aware of it.

"Humph!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the colonel sternly. "So you've given up being a savage then, young fellow, eh?"

"Yes, sir," said Cyril humbly.

"You'll join us at breakfast, then, eh?"

"I don't feel as if I could eat anything, thank you, sir."

"No, I shouldn't think you did; I don't think I should have much of an appet.i.te if I had behaved to my father and mother as you have behaved to yours. But there, you are my friend's son, and I must be hospitable, I suppose. Come and have breakfast, and then the sooner you are off back, the better."

Perry stared at his father so hard that the colonel noticed it.

"Well, boy," he said, "what is it?"

"I was thinking about what you said, father."

"About his going back? Well, what about it?"

"How is he to go all the way back by himself?"

"The same way as he came, sir, of course."

"He couldn't do it, father. His feet are sore, and he'd have to carry all the provisions he'd want on the way."

"Provisions! To carry? Why, he hasn't got any.--Have you, sir?" Cyril shook his head. "Then how do you expect to get back?"

"I don't know," said the boy sadly. "No!" thundered the colonel. "Of course you don't know. Nice sort of a young scoundrel you've proved yourself. Scoundrel? No: lunatic. You can't go on with us, because, out of respect for your father, I won't have you; and you can't go back alone, because you have no stores. What do you mean to do--lie down and die?"

"Perhaps I'd better," said Cyril bitterly; "there seems to be nothing else I can do."

"Well, don't lie down and die anywhere near where I'm camping, sir, because it would be very unpleasant, and spoil my journey. What time do you start back, now you can go decently?"

"Now, sir," said Cyril, and he turned sharply and took a step to go, but the colonel caught him by the shoulder.

"Come and have your breakfast first, sir. If you can behave badly to your father and mother, I cannot, by ill-treating their son. No nonsense: come and sit down, and I'm very glad to see that you are beginning to realise what a mad trick it is of which you have been guilty.--Ready, Manning?"

"Yes, sir," came back from the fire, and a minute later they were all seated in silence, partaking of the hot coffee and fried bacon made ready for them by Manning, who gave Cyril a bit of a grin as he saw the change in his appearance.

The colonel ate heartily, but Perry's appet.i.te was very poor; and Cyril could hardly master a morsel, in spite of the colonel's manner becoming less harsh.

"Come, boy," he said, "eat. You've a long journey back, and you'd better make much of the provisions, now you have a chance. I'll send your father a line in pencil for you to bear, and to exonerate me from causing him so much uneasiness. By the way, how many days do you think it will take you to get back?"

Cyril tried to answer indignantly, but the words seemed to stick in his throat; and Perry's face grew red at what he considered to be his father's harsh treatment of the lad whom he looked upon as his friend.

There was a painful silence, then, for some minutes, during which the colonel went on with his breakfast, and Perry sat with his eyes dropped, unable to get any farther.

All at once, Cyril spoke out in a half-suffocated voice, as he looked up indignantly at the colonel. "Isn't it too hard upon me, sir," he cried, "to keep on punishing me like this? You know I cannot go back, or I should have gone long ago."

"I want to punish you, sir, because I want to make you feel what a mad thing you have done, and how bitterly cruel you have been to a father who trusted in your honour as a gentleman, and a mother whose affection for you was without bounds."

"But, don't I know all that?" cried Cyril, springing up and speaking pa.s.sionately now. "Hasn't it been torturing me for days past; and wouldn't I have gone back if I could, and owned how wrong I had been?"

"Only you had found that, when once you had foolishly put your foot on the slippery decline, you could not get back to the starting-point, and have gone on gliding down ever since," said the colonel, speaking quietly. "Yes, my lad, I believe you have been bitterly sorry for your foolish escapade since you started, and you have been severely punished.

There, I will say no more about it."

"And you will help me to get back, sir?"

"If an opportunity occurs. As soon as we meet an Indian who can be trusted, you can take two of the mules, and a sufficiency of provisions to last till you get back. I am a man short now, or one of these should return with you at once. I am sorry for your people, but I cannot turn back now, and I'm sure your father would not ask it of me."

"Thank you, sir," said Cyril humbly.

"There," cried the colonel, "I have done my duty by you, boy. You have had your punishment, and you have taken it bravely. I have no more to say, especially as you are not yet out of the wood, but have your father to meet."

"Yes, sir, I have my father to meet," said Cyril.