old, as much of it as the blessed thing would carry
or the oxen drag. And then what must that born idiot Van Raalte do but
quarrel with one of the indunas about some trumpery thing, and slash the
man across the face with his sjambok! Of course the fat was in the fire
at once; we were set upon, seized, bound hand and foot with reins, and
flung just anyhow into a hut.

"That occurred during the afternoon. About an hour before sunset they
came and dragged out Van Raalte, and carried him away, leaving me where
I was; and shortly afterward I heard a man start screaming as I wish
never again to hear a man scream, so long as I live. The screaming
lasted for hours, until past midnight I should think; and all the while
I was lying there in that hut, as helpless as a baby, and sweating with
horror at the awful, hair-raising sounds that pierced my ears. At
length, however, the shrieks grew weaker and more intermittent, and
finally they died away altogether. The night seemed endless, for what
with the horror that seized me as I lay there listening and trying to
imagine what was happening, and the excruciating pain of my tightly
bound limbs, sleep was an impossibility; but the morning dawned at last,
the village awoke, and an hour or two later I was unbound and led forth.
They took me to a place about a quarter of a mile away, and showed me--
something which they told me was all that remained of Van Raalte. I
will not attempt to describe to you what I saw, but--well, let it pass!
It was a full quarter of an hour before I recovered sufficiently from
the sickness that followed to permit of intelligible speech on my part,
and then they took me back to the village, where the induna was awaiting
my return.

"`White man,' he said, `have you seen?'

"`I have seen,' I replied, and with much difficulty conquered the
tendency toward sickness that again came upon me.

"`Good!' said he. `Now I give you your choice. Either leave this
village, now, just as you are, without wagon, oxen, weapons, or goods of
any kind, promising never to return; or--'

"`I will leave,' said I. And I did, there and then, more than thankful,
I can tell you, that the alternative had been given me.

"I couldn't tell you--there are no words strong enough to describe it--
what I endured while making my journey home from Mashonaland. I had no
weapons wherewith to procure food, and I was obliged to live upon just
what I could pick up, chiefly roots. But tw