a stone, and motioned his companion to
do the same.

"See here, sonny," he said, "I want to have a short talk with you. I am
a bit cross with you as the cause of my having been sucked in by that
d--d murdering old walrus. You ought to know the inhabitants of this
country better than a simple stranger like me, and so I took your lead.
Now, another thing: you nearly bust us both by your blasted foolishness
in going to sleep that day; but let that pass, because perhaps it would
have been worse if we had not been put on our guard; not but that it
would take a d--d smart cannibal to eat Hiram Whitson. But this is what
I am coming to: you, my boy, are a darned sight too fond of hearing your
own tongue clack. Now, take a warning from me, and don't let a word
of what has happened since we left camp for Pietermaritzburg pass your
lips. I did all the shooting, and I'm not a bit ashamed of it; but, by
the eternal God, if you open your lips to a soul, I'll shoot you like
a dog or a cannibal! Remember that, sonny, and say it quietly over
to yourself the first time you feel that you want to blab. Now, shake
hands."

This was probably the longest speech that Whitson had ever made.

About two years after the events narrated, Whitson took his discharge
and returned to America. He left behind him a sealed packet addressed
to his commanding officer, and which was not to be delivered for twelve
months after his departure.

Owing, however, to a strange combination of fortuitous circumstances,
this packet never reached its proper destination; its wrapper, bearing
the address, having been scorched off in a fire which took place in the
house where it was left.

NOTE

Many people have heard or read of the cannibals of Natal, who turned
large tracts of country into a shambles in the early part of this
century, after Tshaka's impis had swept off all the cattle, and then
kept the miserable people continually on the move so that they were
unable to cultivate. One Umdava originated the practice of eating human
flesh. Gathering together the fragments of four scattered tribes, he
trained them to hunt human beings as others hunted game. This gang was
a greater scourge to the country surrounding the present site of
Pietermaritzburg than even Tshaka's murdering hordes. It was broken up
in or about the year 1824, when the Europeans first came to the country,
and the remnants of many scattered tribes returned and settled under
their protection.