only--to kill the elephant Jana, for which deed we promise you a great
reward. We do not wish to see the others there."

"Then you can kill your own elephant, Harût and Marût, for not one step
do I go with you. Why should I when there is as much ivory here as I
want, to be had for the shooting?"

"How if we take you, O Macumazana?"

"How if I kill you both, O Harût and Marût? Fools, here are many brave
men at my command, and if you or any with you want fighting it shall be
given you in plenty. Hans, bid the Mazitu stand to their arms and summon
Igeza and Bena."

"Stay, Lord," said Harût, "and put down that weapon," for once more I
had produced the pistol. "We would not begin our fellowship by shedding
blood, though we are safer from you than you think. Your companions
shall accompany you to the land of the Kendah, but let them know that
they do so at their own risk. Learn that it is revealed to us that if
they go in there some of them will pass out again as spirits but not as
men."

"Do you mean that you will murder them?"

"No. We mean that yonder are some stronger than us or any men, who will
take their lives in sacrifice. Not yours, Macumazana, for that, it is
decreed, is safe, but those of two of the others, which two we do not
know."

"Indeed, Harût and Marût, and how am I to be sure that any of us are