ead, but out
of sight of these. It was their plan to travel by night, reaching the
broken country near the Crocodile Drift on the following morning. Here
they proposed to lie hid that day and through the night; then, having
first collected the cattle which had preceded them, to cross the river
at the break of dawn and escape into Natal. At least this was the
plan of his companions; but, as we know, Hadden had another programme,
whereon after one last appearance two of the party would play no part.

During that long afternoon's journey Umgona, who knew every inch of the
country, walked ahead driving the fifteen cattle and carrying in his
hand a long travelling stick of black and white _umzimbeet_ wood, for in
truth the old man was in a hurry to reach his journey's end. Next came
Nahoon, armed with a broad assegai, but naked except for his moocha and
necklet of baboon's teeth, and with him Nanea in her white bead-bordered
mantle. Hadden, who brought up the rear, noticed that the girl seemed
to be under the spell of an imminent apprehension, for from time to time
she clasped her lover's arm, and looking up into his face, addressed him
with vehemence, almost with passion.

Curiously enough, the sight touched Hadden, and once or twice he was
shaken by so sharp a pang of remorse at the thought of his share in this
tragedy, that he cast about in his mind seeking a means to unravel the
web of death which he himself had woven. But ever that evil voice was
whispering at his ear. It reminded him that he, the white _Inkoos_, had
been refused by this dusky beauty, and that if he found a way to save
him, within some few hours she would be the wife of the savage gentleman
at her side, the man who had named him Black Heart and who despised
him, the man whom he had meant to murder and who immediately repaid his
treachery by rescuing him from the jaws of the leopard at the risk of
his own life. Moreover, it was a law of Hadden's existence never to deny
himself of anything that he desired if it lay within his power to take
it--a law which had led him always deeper into sin. In other respects,
indeed, it had not carried him far, for in the past he had not desired
much, and he had won little; but this particular flower was to his hand,
and he would pluck it. If Nahoon stood between him and the flower, so
much the worse for Nahoon, and if it should wither in his grasp, so much
the worse for the flower; it could always be thrown away. Thus it