Presently he saw Rachel, who was alone, for she had not waited to
call Noie, hurrying towards the seashore, along the edge of that kloof
down which ran the stream where the crocodiles lived. Presently, when she
had gone too far to return to the house if she caught sight of him, he
followed after her, and, leaving his horse, at last came up with her
seated on a rock by the pool in which she had bathed on the morning of the
massacre.
Walking softly in his veld-schoens, or shoes made of raw hide, on the
sand, Rachel knew nothing of his coming until his shadow fell upon her.
Then she sprang up and saw him, smiling and bowing, the ostrich-plume hat
in his hand. Her first impulse was to run away, but recovering herself she
nodded in a friendly fashion, and bade him "Good day," adding:
"What are you doing here, Mr. Ishmael, hunting?"
"Yes," he answered, "that's it. Hunting you. It has been a long chase, but
I have caught you at last."
"Really, I am not a wild creature, Mr. Ishmael," she said indignantly.
"No," he answered, "you are more beautiful and more dangerous than any
wild creature."
Rachel looked at him. Then she made, as though she would pass him, saying
that she was going home. Now Ishmael stood between two rocks filling the
only egress from this place.
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