for though they had travelled far their loads were light, nor had the
pace been pressed.

Sihamba turned, and, holding out her hands towards the horses, muttered
something rapidly.

"What are you doing, mistress?" asked Zinti.

"Perhaps I am throwing a charm upon these animals, that they may neither
neigh nor whinny till we come again, for if they do so we are lost.
Now let us go, and--stay, bring the gun with you, for you know how to
shoot."

So they started, slipping through the wet wood like shadows. For ten
minutes or more they crept on thus towards the dark line of cliff, Zinti
going first and feeling the way with his fingers, till presently he
halted.

"Hist!" he whispered. "I smell people."

As he spoke, they heard a sound like to that of someone sliding down
rocks. Then a man challenged, saying, "Who passes from the krantz?" and
a woman's voice answered, "It is I, Asika, the wife of Bull-Head." "I
hear you," answered the man. "Now tell me, Asika, what happens yonder."

"What happens? How do I know what happens?" she answered crossly. "About
sunset Bull-Head brought home his new wife, a white chieftainess, for
whom we built the hut yonder; but the fashions of marriage among these
white people must be strange indeed, for this one came to her husband,
her feet bound, and with a face like to the face of a dead woman, the