hink thou couldst not have been far from this place at sundown
yesterday?"

He answered in English.

"Do the _Amakosi_ think the young missis has got into the water?"

"They do," I said, still keeping to the vernacular. "Now, Water Rat,
prove worthy of thy name. Dive down, explore yon water to its furthest
depths for her we seek. Then shall thy reward be great."

"That will I do, Iqalaqala," he answered--greatly to my surprise I own,
for I had been mocking him by reason of his name.

"And the snake?" I said. "The snake that dwells in the pool. Dost
thou not fear it?"

I had been keenly watching his face, and the wonder that came into it
looked genuine.

"Why as to that," he answered, "and if there be a snake yet I fear it
not. I will go."

He stood looking down upon the water for a moment; he needed to lose no
time in undressing, for save for his _mutya_ he was unclad. Now he
picked up two large stones and holding one in each hand, he poised
himself at a point about ten feet above the surface. Then he dived.

Down he went--straight down--and the water closed over him. We stood
staring at the widening circles, but could see nothing beneath the
surface. Then it suddenly dawned upon us that he had been under water
an abnormally long time.

"He'll never come up again now," declared Falkner. "No man living could
stick under water all that time," he went on after a wait that seemed
like an hour to us. "The beast has either got hold of him, or he's got
stuck somehow and drowned. Oh good Lord!"

For a black head shot up on the further side of the hole, and a couple
of strokes bringing it and its owner to the brink, he proceeded calmly
to climb out, showing no sign of any undue strain upon his powers of
endurance.

"Thou art indeed well named, Ivondwe," I said. "We thought the snake
had got thee."

"Snake? I saw no snake," he answered. "But I will go down again.
There is still one part which I left unsearched."

He sat for a moment, then picked up two stones as before. He walked
round to an even higher point above the water, and this time dived
obliquely.

"By Jove, he must have come to grief now," said Falkner. "Why he's been
a much longer time down."

As we waited and still Ivondwe did not reappear, the rest of us began to
think that Falkner was right. It seemed incredible that any man could
remain under so long unless artificially supplied with air. Then just
as we had given him up I