stanets. She was
once more the mouthing demoniac of a short half-hour ago.

The writhings and hisses of the serpent had become perfectly frantic.
Suddenly the reptile was seen to spring free of her grasp and to fling
itself straight at the man whose face it had first struck at.

"The wizard! The wizard!" roared the warriors. "_Hau_! It is Vudana!
Vudana, the son of Sekweni, _Hau_!"

"Vudana, the wizard! Seize him!" shrieked the sorceress. "Seize him,
but slay him not. He must confess! He must confess! On your lives,
slay him not!"

The first part of her mandate had already been obeyed. Those in his
immediate neighbourhood had flung themselves upon the doomed man and
disarmed him almost before the words of denunciation had left the hag's
lips. The second part was in no danger of being disobeyed now. Better
for the victim if it had.

The latter was a man just past middle age, with a quiet and far from
unpleasing cast of features. He was not a chief, but had a reputation
for shrewdness and foresight beyond that of many an accredited leader.

"Ha, Vudana! Vudana, the wizard!" cried Ngcenika mockingly. "Vudana,
who did not believe in the efficacy of my magic. Vudana, who pretended
to manufacture `charms' as effective as mine. Vudana, whose poor
attempts at magic have been effective to destroy mine in the case of all
who believed in them. Call the names of those who fell," she cried,
addressing the crowd. "They are all believers in Vudana, not in me!
Where are they now? Ask the Amanglezi--even the Amafengu, before whose
bullets they fell. Ask the jackal and the vulture, who have picked
their bones. Ask Mfulini, the son of Mapute, whose weapon was turned by
the magic of the white man! Was he a believer in Vudana's `charms'?"
she added in a menacing voice, rolling her eyes around.

"He was not," shouted the warrior named, springing forward. "Where is
the man who bewitched my broad _umkonto_. Let him confess and say how
he did it."

"It is well, Mfulini," said the witch-doctress grimly, knowing that the
other trembled for his personal safety now that she had dexterously
turned suspicion upon him. "Thou shall be the man to make him confess."

"I have nothing to confess," said Vudana. He lay on his bark, held
powerless by several men while waiting for a _reim_ to be brought
wherewith to bind him. He knew that he was doomed--doomed not merely to
death, but to one of the differing forms of frigh