shall die, and that speedily. Take him to his hut, until the
preparations are made; and be careful that he does not escape, or your
own lives shall be the penalty. Take the other whites, and keep them in
safe custody also. We will determine in the council what is to be done
with them presently."

The four Englishmen were dragged off under Kobo's charge, the latter
heaping every possible insult upon them during their conveyance to the
hut, and ordering the men under his charge to bind them with rhinoceros
thongs, which cut them so severely, that even the attendants seemed
inclined to remonstrate at such needless severity. But Kobo silenced
them by threatening to report their lukewarmness to the chief. Then
desiring that the guns and everything belonging to them should be
removed, and placed for security in his hut, he withdrew with a parting
menace, to take his place at the council about to be held in the chief's
residence.

The lads were too deeply moved at the approaching execution of their
friend, and the danger impending over themselves, to feel the disgust
and indignation at Kobo's double-faced treachery, which at another time
it would have provoked. They listened reverently to the words addressed
to them by De Walden; who warned them that their position was one of the
greatest peril, and though he earnestly hoped that their lives might be
spared, they would do wisely to be prepared for the worst. "God's
providential care for you," he said, "has been shown so often and so
signally of late, that I need not bid you to trust wholly in Him. But
it would be no kindness in me not to warn you that your present peril is
very great--as great perhaps as it was in the Hottentot village, though
at first sight it might not seem to be so."

"Not all of us are in imminent danger, I hope," said Warley. "I know
they are angry with me, almost as much as they are with you, but they
have no grounds of quarrel with Frank or Gilbert."

"I thought you might suppose so," returned the missionary, "and that was
the reason why I spoke. It is plain that they mean to put me to a
speedy death--"

"Surely they dare not," interposed Frank. "They know that Charles will
be returning, before long, with messengers from the English governor at
Cape Town. He is not likely to endure the murder of a British subject
without a shadow of justice or reason. And when he hears--"

"Ay, Frank, that is just it," said De Walden. "They will take