anions, but of strangers. From a certain
quaver or hesitancy in the tones, he judged them to be the voices of old
men.

"_Whau!_ The spider must be growing hungry again. It is long since he
has drunk blood."

"Not since the son of Tondusa assumed the head-ring," answered the
other.

"And now a greater is about to assume the head-ring," went on the first
speaker, "even Ncute, the son of Nondwana."

"The brother of the Great Great One?"

"The same," asserted the first speaker, in that sing-song hum in which
natives, when among themselves, will carry on a conversation for hours.

Now the listener was interested indeed. On the mysterious subject of
"The Spider" the Ba-gcatya had been close as death. No hint or
indication tending to throw light upon it would they let fall in reply
to any question, direct or indirect. Now he was going to hear something.
These men, unaware of his presence, and talking freely among themselves,
would certainly afford more than a clew to it. Nondwana, the king's
brother, he suspected of being not over favourably disposed towards
himself, possibly through jealousy.

"That will be when the second moon is at full?" continued one of the
talkers.

"It will. Ha! The Spider will receive a brave offering. Yet how shall it
devour one who bears its Sign?"

"It may not," rejoined the other. "_Hau!_ that will in truth be a
test--if the sign is real."

_One who bears its Sign!_ The listener felt every drop of blood within
him turn cold, freeze from head to foot. What sort of devil-god could it
be from which this nation derived its name, and which these were talking
about as one that devoured men?

_He that bears its Sign!_ The words could apply to none other than
himself. He had deduced that, although the Ba-gcatya held cannibalism in
abhorrence, yet from time to time human sacrifices of very awesome and
mysterious nature took place, and that on certain momentous
occasions--the accession or death of a king, of an heir to any branch of
the royal house, or such a one as this now under discussion--the
admission to full privileges of manhood of a scion of the same. And the
sacrifice on this occasion was to consist of himself? To this end he had
been spared--even honoured.

"It will in truth be a test, for some doubt that the Sign as worn by
this stranger hath any magic at all," continued one of the talkers. "If
he comes out unharmed--_hau_! that will be a marvel, indeed--a marvel,
indeed."

"_E