of them.

He had passed the last of them, uttering a pleasant farewell greeting.
In a moment more the friendly gloom would shut him from their view. His
heart swelled with an intense and earnest thankfulness, when--What was
that long stealthy movement, away on his right? One glance was
sufficient. A line of armed savages was stealing up to cut him off.

On that side the boulders rose, broken and tumbled, with many a network
of gnarled bough or knotty root. On the other, brushwood, then a wide
_dwala_, or flat, bare, rock surface sloping away well-nigh
precipitously to another gorge below. One more glance and his plans
were laid. He started to run.

With a wild yell the warriors dashed in pursuit, bounding, leaping, like
demon figures in the dusk. Down the slope fled the fugitive, crashing
through long grass and thorns. Now the _dwala_ is gained, and he races
across it. The pursuers pause to fire a volley at the fleeing figure in
the open, but without effect, then on again; but they have lost ground.

They soon regain it, however. In this terrible race for life--for two
lives--John Ames becomes conscious that he is no match for these human
bloodhounds. Thorns stretch forth hooked claws, and lacerate and delay
him, but _they_ spring through unscathed, unchecked. They are almost
upon him. The hissed forth "I--jji! I--jji!" is vibrating almost in
his ears, and assegais hurtle by in the gathering gloom. His heart is
bursting, and a starry mist is before his eyes. The cover ends. Here
all is open again. They are upon him--in the open. Yet stay--what is
this? Blank! Void! Space! In the flash of a moment he takes in the
full horror of the plunge before him, for he cannot stop if he would,
then a sickening whirr through empty air, and a starry crash. Blank--
void--unconsciousness!

And a score of Matabele warriors, left upon the brink of the height, are
firing off excited comments and ejaculations, while striving to peer
into the dark and silent depths beneath.

"_Au_! He has again escaped us," ejaculated Nanzicele. "He is
_tagati_."

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

"ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN."

Nidia stared at the savage, her eyes dilated with the wildest dismay.
The savage, for his part, stared at her, with a countenance which
expressed but little less astonishment than her own. Bringing his hand
to his mouth, he ejaculated--

"_Whau! Umfanekiso_!" [The picture.]

Her glance fell upon the naked