in their assegais as far as they would go? He would in that case
be slaughtered like a rat in a trap, denied even the option of selling
his life. Could he not get back far enough into the hole to be beyond
the reach of spears? No. For even if it went back far enough--as to
which he was in ignorance--he dared not trouble the water to anything
like the extent such a change of position would involve. He must take
his chance.

He heard the splash draw near, then the rustle of the overhanging boughs
as the searchers put them aside. The savages had gained his late
hiding-place. They stood upon the very spot which he had up till a
minute or two ago occupied. He expected each moment to feel the sharp
dig of the spear-points cleaving his vitals.

Not thus, however, was his suspense destined to be interrupted, but in a
different manner, hardly less startling, hardly less fatal. From those
on the bank there thrilled forth a warning cry, loud, quick, terrible--

"_Xwaya ni 'zingwenya_!" ("Look out! Alligators!")

There was silence for a moment. Gerard heard a quick, smothered
ejaculation of dismay; then a sound of splashing, and once more the
bushes were put aside. His enemies had precipitately abandoned the
search, and were intent on securing their own safety. And now the
horror of his own position came fully home to him. This new and truly
hideous peril was one he had not foreseen. The alligator is scarce
enough in the rivers of Zululand, still it exists, or did at that time.
So intent had he been on escaping from his human enemies, that he had
not given a thought to the existence of the grisly denizens of these
long, smooth reaches. And here he was at their mercy. Even this very
hole which had afforded him so opportune a refuge might be the den of
one of these voracious monsters. And with the thought, it was all that
poor Gerard could do to keep his nerves in hand, to retain his
self-possession. With this new horror and his long immersion he began
to feel chilled to the bone. That dark death-trap was like a tomb. His
teeth chattered and his knees shook beneath him. His head seemed
whirling round and round. He expected to feel himself seized by those
horrible grinding jaws, gnashed to fragments while utterly powerless to
make a struggle against his loathsome assailants. An unspeakably
terrible fate!

Meanwhile the first sharp warning cry had changed into a wild uproar.
Shouting, stamping with their