"Well, he is going to be served hot on his own toast
now, and serve the brute right."

"Who is the false doctor now?" mocked Mavovo in the silence
that followed. "Who is about to sup on arrow-heads, O
Painter-of-white-spots?" and he pointed to the mark that Imbozwi had
so gleefully chalked over his heart as a guide to the arrows of the
archers.

Now, seeing that all was lost, the little humpbacked villain with a
sudden twist caught me by the legs and began to plead for mercy. So
piteously did he plead, that being already softened by the fact of our
wonderful escape from those black graves, my heart was melted in me. I
turned to ask the king to spare his life, though with little hope that
the prayer would be granted, for I saw that Bausi feared and hated the
man and was only too glad of the opportunity to be rid of him. Imbozwi,
however, interpreted my movement differently, since among savages the
turning of the back always means that a petition is refused. Then, in
his rage and despair, the venom of his wicked heart boiled over. He
leapt to his feet, and drawing a big, carved knife from among his
witch-doctor's trappings, sprang at me like a wild cat, shouting:

"At least you shall come too, white dog!"

Most mercifully Mavovo was watching him, for that is a good Zulu saying
which declares that "Wizard is Wizard's fate." With one bound he was on
him. Just as the knife touched me--it actually pricked my skin
though without drawing blood, which was fortunate as probably it was
poisoned--he gripped Imbozwi's arm in his grasp of iron and hurled him
to the ground as though he were but a child.

After this of course all was over.

"Come away," I said to Stephen and Brother John; "this is no place for
us."

So we went and gained our huts without molestation and indeed quite
unobserved, for the attention of everyone in Beza Town was fully
occupied elsewhere. From the market-place behind us rose so hideous a
clamour that we rushed into my hut and shut the door to escape or lessen
the sound. It was dark in the hut, for which I was really thankful, for
the darkness seemed to soothe my nerves. Especially was this so when
Brother John said:

"Friend, Allan Quatermain, and you, young gentleman, whose name I don't
know, I will tell you what I think I never mentioned to you before,
that, in addition to being a doctor, I am a clergyman of the American
Episcopalian Church. Well, as a clergyman, I will ask your leave to
return