ep."

Of one thing, Umslopogaas added, he was thankful, namely that Rezu
had never succeeded in getting his arms round him, since he was quite
certain that if he had he would have broken him "as a baboon breaks a
mealie-stalk." No strength, not even his, could have resisted the iron
might of that huge, gorilla-like man.

I agreed with him who had noted Rezu's vast chest and swelling muscles,
also the weight of the blows that he struck with the steel-hafted
axe (which, by the way, when I sought for it, was missing, stolen, I
suppose, by one of the Amahagger).

Whence did that strength come, I wondered, in one who from his face
appeared to be old? Was there perchance, after all, some truth in the
legend of Samson and did it dwell in that gigantic beard and those long
locks of his? It was impossible to say and probably the man was but a
Herculean freak, for that he was as strong as Hercules all the stories
that I heard afterwards of his feats, left little room for doubt.

About one thing only was I certain in connection with him, namely, that
the tales of his supernatural abilities were the merest humbug. He was
simply one of the representatives of the family of "strong men," of whom
examples are still to be seen doing marvellous feats all over the earth.

For the rest, he was dead and broken up by those Amahagger blood-hounds
before I could examine him, or his body-armour either, and there was
an end of him and his story. But when I looked at the corpse of poor
Robertson, which I did as we buried it where he fell, and saw that
though so large and thick-set, it was cleft almost in two by a single
blow of Rezu's axe, I came to understand what the might of this savage
must have been.

I say savage, but I am not sure that this is a right description of
Rezu. Evidently he had a religion of a sort, also imagination, as was
shown by the theft of the white woman to be his queen; by his veiling
of her to resemble Ayesha whom he dreaded; by the intended propitiatory
sacrifice; by the guard of women sworn to her service who slew the
priest that tried to kill her, and afterwards committed suicide when
they had failed in their office, and by other things. All this indicated
something more than savagery, perhaps survivals from a forgotten
civilisation, or perhaps native ability on the part of an individual
ruler. I do not know and it matters nothing.

Rezu is dead and the world is well rid of him, and those who want to
learn mo