uite fifty loads of stones, and the
smallest not fewer than twenty or thirty.

Now, Hans, although he had never set foot there before, seemed to have
learned all the traditions of the place, and what rites were necessary
to avert its curse. At any rate, when we came to the first heap, he cast
a stone upon it, and begged me to do the same. I laughed and refused,
but when we reached the second heap the same thing happened. Again I
refused, whereon, before we came to a third and larger pile, Hans sat
down upon the ground and began to groan, swearing that he would not go
one step farther unless I promised to make the accustomed offering.

"Why not, you fool?" I asked.

"Because if you neglect it, baas, I think that we shall stop here for
ever. Oh! you may laugh, but I tell you that already you have brought
ill-luck upon yourself. Remember my words, baas, when you miss two of
the five aasvogels."

"Bosh!" I exclaimed, or, rather, its Dutch equivalent. Still, as this
talk of missing vultures touched me nearly, and it is always as well
to conform to native prejudices, at the next and two subsequent heaps I
cast my stone as humbly as the most superstitious Zulu in the land.

By this time we had reached the summit, which may have been two hundred
yards long. It was hog-backed in shape, with a kind of depression in the
middle cleared of stones, either by the hand of man or nature, and not
unlike a large circus in its general conformation.

Oh! the sight that met my eyes. All about lay the picked and scattered
bones of men and women, many of them broken up by the jaws of hyenas.
Some were quite fresh, for the hair still clung to the skulls, others
blanched and old. But new or ancient there must have been hundreds of
them. Moreover, on the sides of the hill it was the same story, though
there, for the most part, the bones had been gathered into gleaming
heaps. No wonder that the vultures loved Hloma Amabutu, the Place of
Slaughter of the bloody Zulu king.

Of these horrible birds, however, at the moment not one was to be seen.
As there had been no execution for a few hours they were seeking their
food elsewhere. Now, for my own purposes, I wanted to see them, since
otherwise my visit was in vain, and presently bethought myself of a
method of securing their arrival.

"Hans," I said, "I am going to pretend to kill you, and then you must
lie quite still out there like one dead. Even if the aasvogels settle
on you, you must li