der and louder grew the shrieks outside, madder and madder the dance,
round the death-fire. The blaze had died away, and over the embers
dashed the Amatongas, using their long knives, cutting strips out of the
quivering flesh, but craftily avoiding vital parts, they threw them in
the fire. The baboon was dead. A lump of rock had dashed out his
brains, which were bespattered over the half-roasted Hottentot's face
and breast, the shattered head and ungainly body dangling about a
ghastly sight. The man himself hardly presented a vestige of the human
form. One eye hanging out, his limbs smashed by the lumps of rock
hurled at him, the blood pouring from his many wounds, and a long,
feeble, continuous moaning coming from his fire-blistered lips. And now
a fresh batch of reeds and boughs were thrown on the flagging fire, this
time within the former circle. The breeze, laden with the perfume of
the mashunga, fanned it into flame, and it leaped up high in the last
rays of the setting sun, which was tipping the tops of the trees, and
the far-away mountains of the Matopo, with a golden hue. The Kaffir's
hair caught fire, and the horrible smell of the burning flesh
overpowered the scent of the flowers Umhleswa stirred the blaze with his
steel-headed assegai. It was the only merciful deed he had done, for
the fire leaped up more quickly, and the stakes, burned through, gave
way, the mutilated remains of what had been a human body falling heavily
and helplessly forward.

Fresh reeds and branches were heaped on, the flame roared with fury, and
the yells and shouts became louder. Once the mass of blazing wood
moved, a charred hand was thrust forth, and then all was still. The
fire had done its work, and the Amatongas seemed appeased. Noti slept
beneath the shadow of the ruins of Sofala, the restless surf moaning
over his grave. The lions had killed him, but Luji's ashes, reduced to
fine dust, were blowing over the plains before the night breeze, when
the moon shone forth over the sorcerer's hut and the smoke-begrimed
rock.

The Amatonga nature had proved more relentless than the lions, the man
more savage than the beast.

Volume 1, Chapter XIV.

THE WIFE'S REVENGE.

More than a week had elapsed since the events related had taken place,
and the two Europeans still remained, half free, half prisoners. From
the day when Masheesh had witnessed the Hottentot's cruel death, up to
the present, he had not been seen, either