Hadden was a brave man after his fashion, but his heart quailed as he
gazed into that abyss.

"Are you going to throw me in there?" he asked of the Zulu captain in a
thick voice.

"You, White Man?" replied the soldier unconcernedly. "No, our orders
are to take you to the king, but what he will do with you I do not know.
There is to be war between your people and ours, so perhaps he means to
pound you into medicine for the use of the witch-doctors, or to peg you
over an ant-heap as a warning to other white men."

Hadden received this information in silence, but its effect upon his
brain was bracing, for instantly he began to search out some means of
escape.

By now the party had halted near the two thorn trees that hung over the
waters of the pool.

"Who dives first," asked the captain of the Chief Maputa.

"The old wizard," he replied, nodding at Umgona; "then his daughter
after him, and last of all this fellow," and he struck Nahoon in the
face with his open hand.

"Come on, Wizard," said the captain, grasping Umgona by the arm, "and
let us see how you can swim."

At the words of doom Umgona seemed to recover his self-command, after