was left behind with the women and children and about a dozen men.
These men busied themselves with some work over bird-skins; the women
were occupied with some other work over feathers. No one took any
notice of me. There did not seem to be any restraint upon me, nor was
I watched in any way. Once the nightmare hag came and offered me a
small roasted fowl, about the size of a woodcock. I declined it, but
at the same time this delicate attention certainly surprised me.

I was now beginning to struggle with some success against my feelings
of abhorrence, when suddenly I caught sight of something which chased
away every other thought, and made my blood turn cold in my veins. It
was something outside. At the mouth of the cave--by the fire which was
still blazing bright, and lighting up the scene--I saw four men who
had just come to the cave: they were carrying something which I at
first supposed to be a sick or wounded companion. On reaching the fire
they put it down, and I saw, with a thrill of dismay, that their
burden was neither sick nor wounded, but dead, for the corpse lay
rigid as they had placed it. Then I saw the nightmare hag approach it
with a knife. An awful thought came to me--the crowning horror! The
thought soon proved to be but too well founded. The nightmare hag
began to cut, and in an instant had detached the arm of the corpse,
which she thrust among the coals in the very place where lately she
had cooked the fowl. Then she went back for more.

For a moment my brain reeled, and I gasped for breath. Then I rose and
staggered out, I know not how. No one tried to stop me, nor did anyone
follow me; and, for my part, I was ready to blow out the brains of the
first who dared to approach me. In this way I reached the open air,
and passed by the hag and the four men as they were busy at their
awful work. But at this point I was observed and followed. A number of