Arcoll had failed, and there was to be no check at the drift.

There remained for me only the horrors at Inanda's Kraal.

I resolved to make a dash for freedom, at all costs, and was in the act of telling Arcoll's man to cut my bonds, when a thought occurred to me.
Henriques was after the rubies, and it was his interest to get Laputa across the river before the attack began.

It was Arcoll's business to split the force, and above all to hold up the leader.

Henriques would tell him, and for that matter he must have assumed himself, that Laputa would ride in the centre of the force.