ved for revenge and it has come.
Ha! How does this feel?--and this?--and this?"

With each ejaculation "ha!" he had plunged his assegai into the writhing
body of the prostrate witch-doctress. To the white men his aspect was
that of a fiend--standing there in the cavernous gloom, his eyes rolling
in frenzy--literally digging with his spear into the body of his
vanquished enemy, out of which the red blood was squirting in a dozen
great jets. Not until the corpse had entirely ceased to move did he
cease his furious stabs.

"The hell-hag is dead!" he cried, as he at length turned to leave. "The
hell-hag is dead," he repeated, turning the words into a fierce chant of
exultation. "The hell-hag bleeds, and my revenge is sweet. Ha!
Revenge is brighter than the sun in the heavens, for it is red, blood
red. Ha! Mine enemy is dead!"

By this time they had returned to the brink of the pit. But there was
no sign of Hlangani. Something like dismay was on every face. The
fragments of his shattered lantern lay strewn about at the bottom of the
hole, but of the savage himself there was no sign. It was marvellous.
All three men were first-rate shots. It was impossible that any one of
them could have missed him at that distance, let alone all three. How
could he have got away with three bullets in his body?

Cautiously they hunted everywhere with increasing anxiety, but nothing
occurred to reward their search. The latter led them almost back to the
great rock-chamber where the serpents swarmed. Still no sign of
Hlangani.

This was serious in the extreme. They would have their hands full
enough with the wretched maniac, even if they succeeded in bringing him
away at all; and the idea that the fierce Gcaleka, desperately wounded
perhaps, might be lying in wait, in some awkward place, ready to fall
upon them with all the reckless, despairing ferocity of a cornered
leopard, was anything but encouraging. Or, what if he had escaped
altogether, and were to bring back a swarm of his countrymen to cut off
their retreat.

"I tell you what it is," said Hoste. "The sooner we get this poor chap
out, and clear out ourselves, the better."

This was true enough; but how to act upon it was another thing.

Several candles were lighted and stuck about on the rocks, making the
black, gloomy cavern a trifle less sepulchral. Then they advanced to
the pit's brink. The lunatic, crouched on the ground gnawing a bone,
stared stupidly