My hands began to bleed on the chain. Doubtless Kisu's hands, too, were bloodied.

One man crept close to us. "This is madness," he said. "I am not with you."

"You must then be killed," I told him.

"I have changed my mind," he said. "I am now with you, fully."

"Good," I said.

"The sound will carry under the water," said another man. Sound does carry better under water than above it, indeed, some five times as well. The sound, of course, does not well break the surface of the water. Thus the sound, though propagated efficiently either beneath or above the surface, is not well propagated, because of the barrier of the surface, either from beneath the surface to above the surface, or from above the surface to beneath the surface.

"It will attract tharlarion, or fish, and then tharlarion," he said.

"We will wait for them to investigate and disperse," I said.

Ayari was near to me. "It is dark," he said. "It is a good night for raiders."

A bit of wood, moved by the chain, splintered up by my feet.

I slid the loop of chain down toward the end of the log, near the end of the other log, to which it was adjacent.

The chain, thus positioned, might exert more leverage. "Pull," I said. Kisu and I, drawing heavily on the chain, splintered the log upward, breaking off some inches of it. With my foot and hands I snapped off some sharp splinters.

"We will now wait for a time," I said.

We heard a tharlarion, a large one, rub up against the bottom of the raft.

I looped the chain in my bloody hands, to strike at it if it should try to thrust its snout through the hole.

"Cover the log. Seem asleep," whispered a man.

We sat about the piece of log, our heads down, some of us lying on the floor of the log raft. I saw the light, a small torch, in the bow of another canoe pass us, one containing ten armed askaris.

They did not pay us much attention.

"They fear raiders," said Ayari.

After a time, when it seemed quiet, I said, "Bring the first man on the chain forward."

He, not happy, was thrust toward me. "I will go first," I said, "but I cannot, as I am toward the center of the chain."

"What about the fellow at the end of the chain?" he inquired.

"An excellent idea," I said, "but he, like you, might be reluctant, and it is you, not he, whose neck is now within my reach."

"What if there are tharlarion?" he asked.

"Are you afraid?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"You should be," I said. "There might be tharlarion."

"I am not going," he said.

"Take a deep breath," I told him, "and keep moving, for others must follow. Make for the mud raft. There are shovels there."

"I am not going," he said.

I seized him and thrust him head first downward through the hole. The next man slid feet first through the hole. The next, heavy, squeezed with difficulty through the aperture between the logs. Another man slipped through. The first man's head broke the surface sputtering. He started toward the mud aft. One after another, I and Kisu, and Ayari, toward the center of the chain, the same forty-six prisoners of the cage slipped free.

"Take shovels and bring the raft," I said.

"Which way shall we go?" asked Ayari.

"Follow me," I said.

"You are going west!" said Ayari.

"We must free ourselves," I said. "In the chain we cannot long escape. If we go west we may deceive inquiring askaris. And west, only a pasang away, lies the smiths' island, where men are added to the chain."

"There will be tools there," said Ayari.

"Precisely," I said.

"Let us go east, or toward the jungles north or south," said a man.

Kisu struck him on the side of the head, knocking him sideways.

I looked at Kisu. "Does it not seem wise to you, Mfalme," I asked him, "to proceed westward?"

He straightened himself. "Yes," he said. "We will go westward,"

His agreement pleased me. Without his cooperation, and the significance of his prestige and status, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to enforce my will on the chain. Without his aid and influence I do not think it would have been possible to have escaped the cage. I had seen, from his striking the fellow in the chain, that he had been in agreement with me as to the advisability of proceeding westward. I had then, using the title of Mfalme, asked him to make this concurrence explicit. His declaration had helped to reassure the men. In asking him I had also, of course, indicated my respect for his opinion, which, incidentally, I did respect, and, in using the title of Mfalme, I had acknowledged that I, for one, would continue to recognize his lofty status in Ukungu. Had I not anticipated his agreement I do not know what I would have done. I suppose then one or the other of us would have had to beat or kill the other.

Soon, leading the chain from the center, its ends behind and on either side of us, I, and Kisu, and some others between us, were wading westward, shovels in hand. Some men behind, on either side, thrust the mud raft along with us.

"You are a clever fellow," said Kisu to me.

"Surely you do agree that our best direction at the moment is west?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"They will not expect us to head west, and there are tools there."

"There is something else there, too," he said, "which I want."

"What is that?" I asked.

"You will see," he said.

"Askaris!" said Ayari. "Ahead!"

"We have been released by other askaris, and sent westward for safety," I told him. "We were even given our tools. There were raiders."

"Who is there? Stop!" called an askari.

We stopped, obediently. Nervously I saw that there were several askaris about, more than I had originally realized, some twenty of them, with their shields and stabbing spears. The white feathers of the headdresses marked their positions. In raids askaris sometimes remove these headdresses. When actually engaged in combat in darkness, of course, it helps them keep their formations and tell friend from foe. Although doubtless there are advantages and disadvantages to the headdress it is, tactically, in my opinion, a liability. Like the shako of the hussar, it makes too good a target.

"Raiders!" called out, Ayari, pointing backward. "We were released by askaris and commanded to march west for protection."

"Raiders!" cried one of the askaris.

"It is a good night for them," said another.

"You will protect us, will you not?" begged Ayari.

"Where are the askaris who released you?" demanded one askari.

"Fighting!" said. Ayari.

"Sound the drums," said the man. An askari rushed away. "Prepare to relieve the beleaguered section," said the man.

"Column of twos!" called another.

The askaris formed themselves into a double column.

"Who will stay to protect us?" inquired Ayari.

"March to the rear," said the officer. "You will be safe there."

"There is a relief," said Ayari.

"Hurry!" said the officer.

We immediately began to wade westward again. The askaris hurriedly began to wade east. Soon we could hear a drum. Its sound would marshal new askaris.

"Hurry," said Ayari.

Twice in our march west we were passed by columns of askaris, and then by two canoes filled with such troops.

"They will soon discover it is a false alarm," said Kisu.

"Hurry," I said.

In a few moments we clambered onto the smiths' island. Askaris moved past us.

"What is going on?" asked one of the smiths, holding a torch, standing outside his sleeping shelter.

He, and his fellows, in the shelter, were then ringed with desperate men.

"Remove our chains," I told him.

"Never," said one.

"We can do it ourselves," said Ayari. Shovels were lifted. The smiths, threatened, hurried, escorted by chained men, to their anvils.