These were the thoughts that carried me far into the night. Trust was again on sentry; and as I watched the man, I observed that he was nodding by the fire. Plainly, he was three parts asleep. Were my hands not bound behind my back, it would be a simple matter to escape. And as this thought came into my head--lo and behold!--_I was free_!
Someone had approached quite silently from behind me, from the direction of the thickets. In a trice, a sharp knife had cut my bonds. And--as I have stated--I was free.
CHAPTER XXIII--HOW AMOS GAINED POSSESSION OF THE MAP
The thing was done so swiftly that I had no time even to look round. I sat regarding the burly figure of Joshua Trust, very definitely outlined before the red glow of the fire; and I know that the man never suspected for a moment what had happened.
"Keep an eye on Trust. Draw back into the thickets as silently as you can. There you will find me waiting for you."
I had no need to look at him. I knew the voice of John Bannister, even though he did no more than whisper. I was resolved to carry out his instructions to the word.
Bannister withdrew. I neither heard nor saw him go, but I felt instinctively that he was no longer at my back.
I sat watching Joshua Trust, and saw that the man’s chin had dropped upon his chest. It was plain to see that, though he tried his best to keep awake, he was so sleepy that he could not do so. But, knowing that there would be trouble of a certainty if Amos caught him sleeping on his post, he might awaken with a start at any moment, and for that reason I thought that I had best take the chance that offered.
I had been sitting upright, and still kept my hands behind my back, though they were no longer bound together. Moving my attitude as little as possible, I drew myself backwards, inch by inch. By this cautious method it took me the better part of three minutes to gain the margin of the undergrowth--a distance of ten yards at the very most. There I was suddenly lifted off my feet, carried a short distance and released, to grasp my old friend by the hand.
And so he had found me at last, though it seemed to me for all the world as if it was I who had discovered him. He had fulfilled the oath he had sworn to my mother many months before; and from this moment we were never again to be parted throughout our great adventure.