e Naya hears that you
have defied her she will be as merciless as she was to poor old Babila."

"Ah! Babila," Omar sighed. "He was one of the best and most trusted
servants Mo ever had. Having been one of my dead father's personal
attendants he was faithful to our family, and altogether the last man
whose head should have fallen in disgrace under Gankoma's sword."

"If the punishment she inflicted upon him was so severe for such a paltry
offence, that which she will seek to bring upon you will be equally
terrible," I observed. "Therefore act always with caution, and take heed
never to be entrapped by her paid assassins."

"Don't fear, Scarsmere," he laughed. "I'm safe enough, and I do not
anticipate that anybody will try and take my life. If they do they'll
find I can shoot straighter than they imagined."

"But they might shoot first," I suggested with a smile.

"I don't intend to give them a chance," he replied. "We must not fear
defeat, but anticipate success. I have made offering to the fetish, and
although the struggle must be fierce and unrelenting I am determined to
strike a blow for my country's freedom."

At this juncture Goliba joined us, and urging me not to speak in English
lest the strange language might be overheard, we walked together for
about three-quarters of an hour through thoroughfares so wide and well
built that they would have been termed magnificent if constructed in any
European city. Then we crossed a large square where a great fountain
shooting up a hundred feet fell into its bowl, green with water-plants
and white with flowers, and afterwards traversed a maze of narrower
streets, now silent and deserted, where dwelt the workmen.

Suddenly Goliba halted before an arched door, and directing us to imitate
him, knelt and touched the door-step with his forehead, then passed in.
We followed into a place that was strange to even Omar himself, who was
scarce able to suppress an exclamation of astonishment. It was a small
chamber, lit by a single flickering oil lamp of similar shape to those so
often found amid the traces of the Roman occupation of England, while
around were stone benches built into the wall. Walking to the opposite
side of the narrow, prison-like place, we saw before us an arch with an
impenetrable blackness beyond. Before this arch stood a kind of frame
made of iron resting on either side upon steel ropes raised slightly from
the ground. Following Goliba's example, we got upon