s, and watched, and watched.

Night had fallen, mysterious and ghostly. The stars burned bright in
the heavens, yet it seemed as though some black cloud of fear hung
above, blurring their light. From the open country far beyond came the
cry of hyaenas, and the sharp barking yelp of the wild hunting dog
calling to its mates; but in the drear gloom of this haunted valley, no
sound of bird or beast was there to break the silence. So the night
watches rolled on.

I know not whether I slept, _Nkose_; it may be that I partly did; but
there came a feeling over me as of the weight of some great terror, and
indeed it seemed to hold me as though I could not move. Was it an evil
dream? Scarcely, for, as with a mighty effort, I partly threw off the
spell, my glance fell upon the face of Jambula.

He was gazing upward--gazing behind him--gazing behind him and me. His
jaw had fallen as that of a man not long dead, and his eyeballs seemed
bursting from their sockets, and upon his face was the same awful look
of fear as that worn by the slave, Suru, when left to his solitary
watch. I followed his glance, and then I too felt the blood run chill
within me.

Rising above the rocks, at the foot of which we sat, a pair of great
branching horns stood forth black against the sky. Slowly, slowly, the
head followed, till a pair of flaming eyes shone beneath, seeming to
burn us as we crouched there. But the size of it! _Whau_! No animal
that ever lived--even the largest bull in the King's herd--ever attained
to half the size. Thoughts of the _tagati_ terror rushed through my
mind. Should I creep round the rocks and slay the monster, while its
attention was taken up watching my slaves? Would it indeed fall to
mortal weapon? And at that moment, I, the fearless, the foremost in the
fiercest battle, the second commander of the King's armies, felt my
heart as water within me. But before I could decide on any plan the
thing vanished--vanished as I gazed.

It was coming round the rocks, of course. In a moment we should receive
its onslaught, and three more would be added to the number of the
victims of the Red Death.

But--after? I thought of my beautiful wife, writhing her life out upon
the stake of agony. I thought of my kinsmen and followers given over to
the death of the alligators, and in a moment my heart grew strong again.
I felt nerved with the strength of ten men. Let the thing come; and
gripping my broad assegai, th