ow could
these miserable beings have entered by that--still more, how could they
get out by it? More and more wonders were here.

"Not one word of their chattering could I understand. But at length,
after trying all manner of signs, one of them seemed to convey to me two
things--that they entered and went out by means of a thong, and that I
must sit down and wait. Again I threatened them with death, but it was
of no use. They could do no more than they had done--they still could
only sign to me to wait and watch.

"_Au, Nkose_! Truly indeed did the old Mosutu speak when he predicted
that I should pass through horrors which the imagination of man could
not invent. For as the long watches of that awful day went by, and I
sat there in that darksome den lighted by a crevice here and there in
the rocks, sat there among skulls and crackling bones, while opposite me
cowered the three evil shapes of those hideous beings among the
corpses--more hideous still--of their kind, while on the ground in front
of them lay the mangled and torn remains of my own countryman, whom I
myself had given over to this fate, then indeed it seemed as though I
were one already dead and passed away.

"Sometimes I would sing to drive away the awful thoughts which were
crowding upon me, but then the _Izimu_ would sign wildly for me to
desist, pointing above their heads to the supposed doorway. _Au_! I
would not live through that day again--no, not to reign as King over the
Amazulu or over the Amandebili for twice the life-time of a man. For
that long day came to an end at last, and then, instead of the bright
threads of sun-dart through the crevices, there came greyness as though
the shades of evening were falling. Think of it, _Nkose_! The day had
been bad enough. But night, black rayless night, spent down there among
these _abatagati_, among all the foul horrors of these _Izimu_--eaters
of men!

"I had risen, and was preparing in my rage to slay those who were left,
lest they should bind their magic around me and fall upon me in the
darkness, and my fate should be even as that of Gungana, when I
perceived them making quick signs to me to sit down, at the same time
pointing to the stone overhead. Then I heard sounds above.

"With all the blood in my body tingling, I crouched in the shadow at the
further end of the den, and sitting upon my shield to hide it, I fixed
my eyes upon the stone which had been pointed out to me. I saw it
m