rom his sight, during the instant that her figure was outlined
against the sky, she stood up, and thrusting her feet through the hole,
forced her body to follow them, and then dropped lightly as a cat to the
floor beneath. But now there was another danger to be faced, and a great
one, namely, that Suzanne might cry out in fear, which doubtless she
would have done, had not the sudden sight of some living creature in the
hut where she thought herself alone, so startled her that for a
moment she lost her breath. Before she could find it again Sihamba was
whispering in her ear, saying:

"Keep silence for your life's sake, Swallow. It is I, Sihamba, who am
come to save you."

Suzanne stared at her, and light came back into the empty eyes, then
they grew dark again, as she answered below her breath:

"Of what use is my life? Ralph is dead, and I was about to take it that
I may save myself from shame and go to seek him, for surely God will
forgive the sin."

Sihamba looked at her and said:

"Swallow, prepare yourself for great joy, and, above all, do not cry
out. Your husband is not dead, he was but wounded, and I drew him living
from the sea. He lies safe at the stead in your mother's care."

Suzanne heard her, and, notwithstanding the caution, still she would
have cried aloud in the madness of her joy, had not Sihamba, seeing her
lips opened, thrust her hands upon her mouth and held them there till
the danger was past.

"You do not lie to me?" she gasped at length.

"Nay, I speak truth, I swear it. But this is no time to talk. Yonder
stand food and milk; eat while I think."

As Sihamba guessed, nothing but a little water had passed Suzanne's
lips since that meal which she and her husband took together beside the
waggon, nor one minute before she could have swallowed anything had her
life been the price of it. But now it was different, for despair had
left her, and hope shone in her heart again, and behold! of a sudden she
was hungry, and ate and drank with gladness, while Sihamba thought.

Presently the little woman looked up and whispered:

"A plan comes into my head; it is a strange one, but I can find no
other, and it may serve our turn, for I think that good luck goes with
us. Swallow, give me the noose of hide which you made from the riem that
bound your feet."

Suzanne obeyed her wondering, whereon Sihamba placed the noose about her
own neck, then bade Suzanne stand upon the bed and thrust the end of the