th. Yes; it was meat, uncooked meat--and then--
She dashed the whole to the ground, and stood, with distended eyeballs,
gazing at what lay there, the very personification of staring horror.

For there lay upon the ground two human hands--arms, rather--for they
were attached to the forearm, which had been disjointed at the elbow.
They were clearly those of a native, albeit turned almost white, as
though from the action of water. This was what the damp rag had
contained, these two sodden maimed limbs of a human being.

But with the discovery an idea suddenly struck root in Nidia's mind
which seemed to turn her to stone, so appalling was it in its
likelihood. Were these people cannibals--secret cannibals, perhaps?
The smaller of the two men had, at any rate, a totally different look to
any other native she had ever seen. This, then, was why she had been
brought here, was being kept here. This, too, accounted for the absence
of her custodians. They had gone to fetch others to share in their
feast--that feast herself.

Utterly beside herself now with the horror of this dreadful thought, she
dashed from the hut--one idea in her mind--to get away from this awful
place at whatever cost. But there was another who entertained different
ideas concerning the disposal of her movements, and that was the wolf.

For as she approached the gap in the circular fence which constituted
the exit, the brute lay and snarled. She talked soothingly, then
scoldingly, as to a dog. All to no purpose. It lifted its hideous
head, and snarled louder and more threateningly. But it would not budge
an inch, and she could only pass through that gap over its body.

Perfectly frantic with desperation, Nidia tore a thorn bough from the
fence; and, advanced upon the beast. It crouched, snarling shrilly;
then, as she thrust the spiky end sharply against its face, it sprang at
her open-mouthed, uttering a fiendish yell. But for the bough she would
have had her throat torn out; as it was the sharp spines served as a
shield between her and the infuriated brute, which, with ears thrown
back and fangs bared, squirmed hither and thither to get round this
thorny buckler--its eyes flashing flame, its jaws spitting foam. The
struggle could not last for ever. Her strength was fast leaving her,
and in her extremity a wild shriek of the most awful terror and despair
pealed forth from the lips of the unhappy girl. Then another and
another.

What was t