ged him into stone. She was afraid of his possible
violence, but in the unsettling of all his convictions he was struck
with the frightful thought that she preferred to kill her father all
by herself; and the last stage of their struggle, at which he looked
as though a red fog had filled his eyes, loomed up with an unnatural
ferocity, with a sinister meaning; like something monstrous and
depraved, forcing its complicity upon him under the cover of that awful
night. He was horrified and grateful; drawn irresistibly to her--and
ready to run away. He could not move at first--then he did not want
to stir. He wanted to see what would happen. He saw her lift, with
a tremendous effort, the apparently lifeless body into the hut, and
remained standing, after they disappeared, with the vivid image in his
eyes of that head swaying on her shoulder, the lower jaw hanging down,
collapsed, passive, meaningless, like the head of a corpse.

Then after a while he heard her voice speaking inside, harshly, with an
agitated abruptness of tone; and in answer there were groans and
broken murmurs of exhaustion. She spoke louder. He heard her saying
violently--"No! No! Never!"

And again a plaintive murmur of entreaty as of some one begging for a
supreme favour, with a last breath. Then she said--

"Never! I would sooner strike it into my own heart."

She came out, stood panting for a short moment in the doorway, and then
stepped into the firelight. Behind her, through the darkness came the
sound of words calling the vengeance of heaven on her head, rising
higher, shrill, strained, repeating the curse over and over again--till
the voice cracked in a passionate shriek that died out into hoarse
muttering ending with a deep and prolonged sigh. She stood facing
Willems, one hand behind her back, the other raised in a gesture
compelling attention, and she listened in that attitude till all was
still inside the hut. Then she made another step forward and her hand
dropped slowly.

"Nothing but misfortune," she whispered, absently, to herself. "Nothing
but misfortune to us who are not white." The anger and excitement died
out of her face, and she looked straight at Willems with an intense and
mournful gaze.

He recovered his senses and his power of speech with a sudden start.

"Aissa," he exclaimed, and the words broke out through his lips with
hurried nervousness. "Aissa! How can I live here? Trust me. Believe in
me. Let us go away from here.