er that awful
height even as she had been. He was not unused to heights, but to be
suspended thus between heaven and earth in mid-air--no, to that he was
not used. Beneath him the face of the great rock wall sloped away
_inwards_. Anyone falling from here would strike the ground about
thirty feet from its base. All the world seemed going round with him--
not even the thought that Edala had just done the same thing availed to
pull him together. He must go--must hurl himself off and end this agony
of nightmare--when--

"You down there, Elvesdon? Well, come up, because it's getting late,
and it's time to think of getting back."

The calm, strong, matter of fact tones of Thornhill broke the spell like
magic. This was an everyday performance after all, was the effect they
conveyed. Elvesdon's nerve had returned. He was himself again.

"Let's see. What's the best way of getting off?" he asked, trying to
suppress the tremor in his voice.

"Same as you got on. Grab hold of that root above, there under the
stone, and--don't look down. Look up. That's all right," as Elvesdon,
panting somewhat, stood once more on the summit beside them.

"Well done," cried Edala enthusiastically. "You are the only one
besides myself who has ever looked over the Sipazi krantz. Several have
tried but none of them had the nerve to get as far as the tree. Some
wouldn't even go at all."

"The only sensible ones of the lot," said Thornhill shortly. "It's a
fool's trick, anyway."

"Have you done it yourself, Thornhill?" asked Elvesdon. "I suppose you
have?"

"Not any. Anyone could see that the thing wouldn't stand my weight for
a minute: even if I were such a--" He checked himself, remembering that
his guest had just qualified for the uncomplimentary substantive he had
been on the point of defining. "But I'm going to have a charge of
dynamite brought up here and the thing blown to blazes. It's too silly
risky."

Elvesdon was rather astonished. Thornhill was undergoing the process
known as `working himself up.' Yet when he himself was down there, his
host's tone had been absolutely level. And Thornhill himself was making
up his mind to talk very seriously to Edala on the subject, little
thinking that before any opportunity of doing so should come round, that
might occur which should put any such idea clean out of his mind.

CHAPTER NINE.

THE ZULU AGAIN.

"You're going to do nothing of the kind, father," said Ed