death," she muttered. "Up yonder the quick
die day by day and down there"--and she pointed along the course of the
river beyond the pool to where the forest began some two hundred yards
from her hut--"the ghosts of them have their home. Listen!"

As she spoke, a sound reached their ears that seemed to swell from
the dim skirts of the forests, a peculiar and unholy sound which it
is impossible to define more accurately than by saying that it seemed
beastlike, and almost inarticulate.

"Listen," repeated the Bee, "they are merry yonder."

"Who?" asked Hadden; "the baboons?"

"No, _Inkoos_, the _Amatongo_--the ghosts that welcome her who has just
become of their number."

"Ghosts," said Hadden roughly, for he was angry at his own tremors, "I
should like to see those ghosts. Do you think that I have never heard
a troop of monkeys in the bush before, mother? Come, Nahoon, let us be
going while there is light to climb the cliff. Farewell."

"Farewell _Inkoos_, and doubt not that your wish will be fulfilled. Go
in peace _Inkoos_--to sleep in peace."

CHAPTER III

THE END OF THE HUNT

The prayer of the Bee notwithstanding, Philip Hadden slept ill that
night. He felt in the best of health, and his conscience was not
troubling him more than usual, but rest he could not. Whenever he closed
his eyes, his mind conjured up a picture of the grim witch-doctoress,
so strangely named the Bee, and the sound of her evil-omened words as
he had heard them that afternoon. He was neither a superstitious nor a
timid man, and any supernatural beliefs that might linger in his mind
were, to say the least of it, dormant. But do what he might, he could
not shake off a certain eerie sensation of fear, lest there should be
some grains of truth in the prophesyings of this hag. What if it were
a fact that he was near his death, and that the heart which beat so
strongly in his breast must soon be still for ever--no, he would not
think of it. This gloomy place, and the dreadful sight which he saw that
day, had upset his nerves. The domestic customs of these Zulus were not
pleasant, and for his part he was determined to be clear of them so soon
as he was able to escape the country.

In fact, if he could in any way manage it, it was his intention to make
a dash for the border on the following night. To do this with a good
prospect of success, however, it was necessary that he should kill a
buffalo, or some other head of game. Then, as he kne