shout rolled through the ranks
fiercer and fiercer till the wild roaring chorus was deafening. That
crouching, armed multitude, a moment before so motionless and silent,
sprang erect, swaying to and fro, frenzied with uncontrollable
excitement; a legion of dark demons roaring and howling under the
promptings of superstition and ferocity; bellowing for blood--blood,
blood, no matter whose. Weapons waved wildly in the air, and the
deep-throated shout volleyed forth. "He must be killed!"

The warriors were seated in an immense double semicircle. Gliding with
her half-dancing step to the upper end of this, the witch-doctress began
chanting an incantation in a high nasal key, an invocation to the great
_Inyoka_ [Serpent] who held the kraal and its inhabitants under its
especial favour. As she commenced her round, the shouting of the
warriors was hushed. All stood upright and silent. Different emotions
held sway in each grim, dark countenance. The hearts of many were
sinking with deadly fear, yet each strove to meet the eye of the
terrible witch-doctress boldly and without quailing. They knew that
that fatal round would prove of deadly import to one or more of them ere
it was completed.

"Ho--_Inyoka 'nukulu_!" [Great serpent] chanted the hag, with a
significant shake of the body of the hideous reptile, which she held by
the neck. "Find the wizard! Find the wizard!"

"Find the wizard!" echoed those whom she had already passed by as she
commenced her passage along the line.

"Find the wizard!" they shouted, rapping the ground with their sticks.
Those who had yet to undergo the ordeal kept stem silence.

The chorus grew in volume as the number qualified to swell it increased.
Not merely a lust for blood did that horrid shout represent--it
embodied also a delirious relief on the part of those already safe.

Suddenly Ngcenika made a half pause, raising her voice in the midst of
her yelling chant. The serpent, its black coils writhing and twisting
around her arm, opened its jaws and hissed horribly. Those still
expectant held their breaths; those already relieved shouted and
hammered with their sticks harder than ever. Those directly opposite
the sorceress, at this ill-omened juncture, stood turned to stone.

"Find him, Inyoka!" snarled the hag.

"Find him! Find him!" echoed the deep-toned chorus.

But the pause was only momentary. Not yet was the victim singled out.
Ngcenika resumed her way, only to rep