Maiwa was charging at the head of Nala's impi, one of the women
told Wambe that she had seen me write something on some leaves and give
them to Maiwa before she went away to purify herself. Then of course
he guessed that I had to do with your seizing the koppie and holding it
while the impi rushed the place from the mountain, so he determined to
torture me to death before help could come. Oh, heavens! what a mercy it
is to hear English again.'

"'How long have you been a prisoner here, Every?' I asked.

"'Six years and a bit, Quatermain; I have lost count of the odd months
lately. I came up here with Major Aldey and three other gentlemen and
forty bearers. That devil Wambe ambushed us, and murdered the lot to
get their guns. They weren't much use to him when he got them, being
breech-loaders, for the fools fired away all the ammunition in a month
or two. However, they are all in good order, and hanging up in the hut
there. They didn't kill me because one of them saw me mending a gun just
before they attacked us, so they kept me as a kind of armourer. Twice
I tried to make a bolt of it, but was caught each time. Last time Wambe
had me flogged very nearly to death--you can see the scars upon my back.
Indeed I should have died if it hadn't been for the girl Maiwa, who
nursed me by stealth. He got that accursed lion trap among our things
also, and I suppose he has tortured between one and two hundred people
to death in it. It was his favourite amusement, and he would go every
day and sit and watch his victim till he died. Sometimes he would give
him food and water to keep him alive longer, telling him or her that he
would let him go if he lived till a certain day. But he never did let
them go. They all died there, and I could show you their bones behind
that rock.'

"'The devil!' I said, grinding my teeth. 'I wish I hadn't interfered; I
wish I had left him to the same fate.'

"'Well, he got a taste of it any way,' said Every; 'I'm glad he got
a taste. There's justice in it, and now he's gone to hell, and I hope
there is another one ready for him there. By Jove! I should like to have
the setting of it.'

"And so he talked on, and I sat and listened to him, wondering how he
had kept his reason for so many years. But he didn't talk as I have told
it, in plain English. He spoke very slowly, and as though he had got
something in his mouth, continually using native words because the
English ones had slipped his memory.

"A