fresh earth, beneath a tree. He calculated its length, and with a thrill
of terror noticed that it was too small for a negro.

"Who is buried there?" he asked.

"Find out for yourself," was the sneering answer.

"Don't be afraid, Lord Aylward; I shall find out everything in time."

The conversation between Jeekie and the natives proceeded, their heads
were close together; it grew animated. They seemed to be coming to some
decision. Presently one of them ran and cut the lashings of the man who
had been bound to the tree, and he staggered towards them and joined
in the talk, pointing to his wounds. Then the two fellows who had been
engaged in flogging him, accompanied by eight companions of the same
type--they appeared to be soldiers, for they carried guns--swaggered
towards the group who were being addressed by Jeekie, of whom Alan
counted twenty-three. As they approached Jeekie made some suggestion
which, after one hesitating moment, the others seemed to accept, for
they nodded their heads and separated out a little.

Jeekie stepped forward and asked a question of the guards, to which they
replied with a derisive shout. Then without a word of warning he lifted
Aylward's express rifle which he carried, and fired first one barrel and
then the other, shooting the two leading soldiers dead. Their companions
halted amazed, but before they could lift their guns, Jeekie and those
with him rushed at them and began stabbing them with spears and striking
them with sticks. In three minutes it was over without another shot
being fired. Most of them were despatched, and the others, throwing down
their guns, had fled wounded into the forest.