ree and
stone upon this slope where I used to herd cattle when I was a
child."

"Do so," said the captain. "I can see nothing now the lightning
has gone, and were it not that I have sworn to dip my spear in
the blood of Macumazahn who has fooled us again, I would give up
the hunt."

"I think it would be better to give it up in any case," said a
third voice, "since it is known throughout the land that no luck
has ever come to those who tried to trap the Watcher-by-Night.
Oh! he is a leopard who springs and is gone again. How many are
the throats in which his fangs have met. Leave him alone, I say,
lest our fate should be that of the white doctor in the
Yellow-wood Swamp, he who set us on this hunt. We have his wagon
and his cattle; let us be satisfied."

"I will leave him alone when he sleeps for the last time, and not
before," answered the captain, "he who shot my brother in the
drift the other day. What would Sekukuni say if we let him
escape to bring the Swazis on us? Moreover, we want that white
maiden for a hostage in case the English should attack us again.
Come, you who know the road, and lead us."

There was some disturbance as this man passed to the front. Then
I heard the line move forward. Presently they were going by the
wall within a foot or two of me. Indeed by ill-luck just as we
were opposite to each other the captain stumbled and fell against
the wall.

"There is an old cattle kraal here," he said. "What if those
white rats have hidden in it?"

I trembled as I heard the words. If a horse should neigh or make
any noise that could be heard above the hiss of the rain! I did
not dare to move for fear lest I should betray myself. There I
stood so close to the Kaffirs that I could smell them and hear
the rain pattering on their bodies. Only very stealthily I drew
my hunting knife with my right hand. At that moment the
lightning, which I thought had quite gone by, flashed again for
the last time, revealing the fat face of the Basuto captain
within a foot of my own, for he was turned towards the wall on
which one of his hands rested. Moreover, the blue and ghastly
light revealed mine to him thrust forward between the two stones,
my eyes glaring at him.

"The head of a dead man is set upon the wall!" he cried in
terror. "It is the ghost of--"

He got no further, for as the last word passed his lips I drove
the knife at him with all my strength deep into his throat. He
fell back int