tful torment meted out
to those accused of his offence. He knew moreover that whether he
accused himself or not the result would be the same, and a warrior light
blazed from his eyes as he replied.

"If the Great Chief wants my cattle, my possessions, they are his; let
him take them. If he wants my life, it too is his; let him take it.
But I will not accuse myself of that which I have never committed."

If Kreli had heard this appeal he made no sign. Witchcraft was an
offence--theoretically at any rate--outside the secular province.
"Smelling out" was a good old custom which had its uses, and one not
lightly to be interfered with. It was doubtful, however, whether he did
hear, for a shout of execration, led by the witch-doctress, drowned the
victim's words.

"He will not confess! _Au_! Where are the hot stones? To the fire!
To the fire!" roared the crowd. The witch-doctress uttered a fiendish
laugh.

"No. To the ants!" she cried.

"_Ewa! Ewa_! To the ants!" they echoed. "Bring him along. _Hau_!
The ants are hungry!"

A noosed _reim_ was thrown round the doomed man's neck, and another made
fast to each of his wrists, and thus, with the whole crowd surging and
yelling around him, he was dragged into the adjoining forest.

"_Hamba-ke, umlungu_!" ["Go on, white man"] said several of the
warriors guarding Eustace, motioning him to proceed. "We are going to
show you a sight. Quick, or we shall be late!"

By no means free from apprehension on his own account, Eustace obeyed.
When they arrived among the eager and excited crowd, the entertainment
had already begun. All made way for the white prisoner and his guards,
and there was a fiendish leer on many a dark face which needed not a
muttered remark or two to explain. The horrible scene he was about to
witness was extremely likely to be his own fate.

The doomed man lay spread eagled on his back; his hands and feet,
stretched to their utmost tension, were fastened to stout pegs driven
into the ground. Two of the Kafirs were busily anointing his naked body
with a sticky compound, which was, in fact, a mixture of honey and
native beer. This they smeared over him with bits of rag: ears, eyes,
nose, coming in for a plentiful share. Already his flesh seemed alive
with moving objects, and then the cause became apparent. The wretched
man was tied down right across a huge ant's nest, which had been broken
in order to receive his body. Already the infuri