blades quivering to bury themselves in the fallen man's body. It
arrested murderous knob-kerries whistling in the air ready to descend
and crash out the fallen man's brains. They stood, those maddened,
bloodthirsty barbarians, paralysed, petrified, as they took up with one
voice their compatriot's dismayed shout.

"_Au! Umtagati! Mawo_!" [Ha! Witchcraft! A wonder!]

They crowded round the prostrate body, but none would touch it. The
blow had been dealt hard and fair, by a hand which had dealt more than
one such blow before, and always with deadly effect. Yet the wound did
not bleed.

The dealer of it stood, contemplating his assegai, with looks of
amazement, of alarm. Instead of driving its great broad blade up to the
hilt in the yielding body of his victim, and feeling the warm blood gush
forth upon his hand, the point had encountered something hard, with the
effect of administering quite a shock to wrist and arm, so great was the
force of the blow and the resistance. And the point of the spear blade
had snapped off by at least an inch.

"Witchcraft!" they cried again. "He is dead, and yet he does not bleed.
_Mawo_!"

He was. Not a movement stirred his limbs; not a breath heaved his chest
ever so faintly. The lips, slightly parted, were as livid as the
features.

For a few moments they stood contemplating their victim in speechless
amazement. Then one, more daring or less credulous than his fellows,
reached forward as if about to plunge his assegai into the motionless
body. The rest hung breathlessly watching the result of the experiment.
But before it could be carried into effect the deep tones of a
peremptory voice suspended the uplifted weapon. Every head turned, and
the circle parted to make way for the new arrival.

He was a tall, muscular Kafir, as straight as a dart, and carried his
head with an air of command which, with the marked deference shown him,
bespoke him a man of considerable rank. His bronzed and sinewy
proportions were plentifully adorned with fantastic ornaments of
beadwork and cow-tails, and he wore a headpiece of monkey skin
surmounted by the long waving plumes of the blue crane.

Without a word he advanced, and, bending over the prostrate body,
scrutinised the dead man's features. A slight start and exclamation of
astonishment escaped him, then, recovering himself, he carefully
examined, without touching it, the place where the assegai had struck.
There it was, visi