ass, which was already beginning to look bleached and parched
here and there for want of rain; and scattered pretty thickly over the
country were the usual patches of bush. On my right the land fell away
to a spacious flat, a thousand acres or more in extent, upon which vast
herds of cattle were grazing, and through which a stream some thirty
feet in width gently meandered.

As I stood noting all these details, three young girls emerged from the
main gate of the town, two of them being dark-brown, while the third was
white--Nell Lestrange! I recognised the dear child instantly, although
she had altered greatly--as I thought, for the better--since I had seen
her last. She was talking and laughing gaily with her companions, I was
glad to see, for that indicated that she was well and happy; yet, even
as this thought flashed through my mind, she fell silent for a moment
and a look of sadness clouded her face. She was bareheaded and
barefooted, the garment which she wore being a sort of frock apparently
modelled from those which she had worn while at Triannon, and made of a
peculiar kind of cloth the nature of which I could not recognise.
Instinctively I stretched out my hands toward her and strove to call her
name, but no sound passed my lips, and, to my intense disappointment, I
found that I could not move. The trio passed me about a hundred yards
distant, and I distinctly heard their voices, but could not catch the
words they spoke, otherwise I might possibly have recognised the
language and thus gained a clue to the locality; and although, just as
they were passing before me, Nell looked straight in my direction, and
even paused for an instant, she immediately went on again, casting a
single glance back over her shoulder and then continuing on her way
until she disappeared beyond a clump of bush near the river. And with
her disappearance the whole scene vanished and I found myself back in
Mafuta's hut, with the disk still gleaming brightly out of the deep
shadow, and Mafuta still squatting on his heels in the centre of the
floor.

"Well, white man," he said, as I came to myself, "have you seen aught?"

"I have," said I, "and I feel bound to admit that you are the possessor
of most extraordinary powers, Mafuta. Yes, I saw the 'ntombozaan; and,
as you said, she seems to be both happy and in the enjoyment of
excellent health. But what I now want to know is where she is. Surely
there are not so many big kraals sca