plainly as though they were shouted in my ears, came old Masuka's words,
"The Place of the Three Rifts!"

So I stood and gazed, my hand to my mouth, in amazement, in awe. This,
then, was "The Place of the Three Rifts," Here it was that strange
things were to come upon me--so had predicted the old Mosutu.

Now day had faded into night, and already the shadows of forest and
plain were blended together. Already the voices of the darkness were
raised--the howl of ravening hyenas; the shrill cry of jackals; the
wild, yelling bay of wild dogs, ordering the plan of their hunt! and,
withal, the croaking of innumerable frogs in the adjoining reed-bed, the
screech of the tree-crickets, and the whirr of the night-hawk. And
beneath the misty loom of the tall cliffs it seemed to me that the
voices of dark ghosts were calling one to another. "The Place of the
Three Rifts!" _Whau_! I would rather engage the wagon-fort of the
Amabuna again single-handed than face what might be before me ere
morning should break upon that fearsome wizard glen.

While I stood thus, with a strange _tagati_ spell upon me, as firmly
rooted as one of the trees growing around, a glow burned in the sky
afar, and the land grew light again, as a broad, full moon rose beyond
the rim of the world, soaring slowly aloft, a great golden ball. And
now the fear began to leave me, for I could see again. Moreover, it is
only in the darkness that evil ghosts love to move; or, at any rate, are
at their worst. Yet ever, in the tones of the wild creatures of the
plain--in the cavernous echo of the sentinel baboon's resounding bark,
high up among the crags--it seemed that wizard voices were calling--
grim, threatening, unceasing.

Now I moved forward, as though to root up the dread that was upon me.
Moreover, I feared to face that dreadful pass--full of _tagati_ and all
evil things--in the darkness. And even then there broke from its
portals such a wild, wailing, ghost-like howl, which rose in innumerable
clamours, surging in a hundred voices around the caves and corners of
the rocks--now roaring, now in strange and whistling scream. _Hau_!
All the terrors of this spell of wizardry returned. Right in the
moon-path, between each jutting elbow of the cliff portals, was a huge
beast--ghost-like unto a hyena, yet four times larger, and more
evil-looking than the largest of those foul and loathsome creatures in
mortal life. Squatted on its haunches, its horrible h