d to come--Eustace went on:

"You were not always a `loyal,' Xalasa?"

"_Whau_!" cried the man, bringing his hand to his mouth, in expressive
native fashion. "When the fire trumpet first sounded in the midnight
sky, I answered its call. While the chiefs of the Ama Ngqika yet sat
still, many of their children went forth to war at the `word' of the
Paramount Chief. Many of us crossed into the Gcaleka country and fought
at the side of our brethren. Many of us did not return. _Hau_!"

"Then you became a `loyal'?"

"_Ihuvumente_ [The Government] was very strong. We could not stand
against it. Ha! _Amasoja_--_Amapolisi_--_bonke_. [Soldiers--police--
all] I thought of all the men who had crossed the Kei with me. I
thought of the few who had returned. Then I thought, `Art thou a fool,
Xalasa? Is thy father's son an ox that he should give himself to be
slain to make strength for Sarili's fighting men?' _Hau_! I came home
again and resolved to `sit still.'"

"But your eyes and ears were open among the Ama-Gcaleka. They saw--they
heard of my brother, Umlilwane?"

"Thy brother, Umlilwane, was alive at the time the white _Amagcagca_
[Rabble] knocked me down and kicked me. He is alive still."

"How do you know he is alive still?" said Eustace, mastering his voice
with an effort, for his pulses were beating like a hammer as he hung
upon the other's reply. It came--cool, impassive, confident:

"The people talk."

"Where is he, Xalasa?"

"Listen, Ixeshane," said the Kafir, glancing around and sinking his
voice to an awed whisper. "Where is he! _Au! Kwa 'Zinyoka_."

"_Kwa 'Zinyoka_! `The Home of the Serpents!'" Well he remembered the
jeering, but ominous, words of the hideous witch-doctress at the time
his unfortunate cousin was being dragged away insensible under the
directions of his implacable foe, Hlangani. "_He will wake. But he
will never be seen again_." And now this man's testimony seemed to bear
out her words.

"What is this `Home of the Serpents,' Xalasa?" he said.

"_Au_!" returned the Kafir, after a thoughtful pause, and speaking in a
low and apprehensive tone as a timid person in a haunted room might talk
of ghosts. "It is a fearsome place. None who go there ever return--
none--no, not one," he added, shaking his head. "But they say your
magic is great, Ixeshane. It may be that you will find your brother
alive. The war is nearly over now, but the war leaves every man poor.
I have