?" replied the soldier unconcernedly. "No, our orders
are to take you to the king, but what he will do with you I do not know.
There is to be war between your people and ours, so perhaps he means to
pound you into medicine for the use of the witch-doctors, or to peg you
over an ant-heap as a warning to other white men."

Hadden received this information in silence, but its effect upon his
brain was bracing, for instantly he began to search out some means of
escape.

By now the party had halted near the two thorn trees that hung over the
waters of the pool.

"Who dives first," asked the captain of the Chief Maputa.

"The old wizard," he replied, nodding at Umgona; "then his daughter
after him, and last of all this fellow," and he struck Nahoon in the
face with his open hand.

"Come on, Wizard," said the captain, grasping Umgona by the arm, "and
let us see how you can swim."

At the words of doom Umgona seemed to recover his self-command, after
the fashion of his race.

"No need to lead me, soldier," he said, shaking himself loose, "who am
old and ready to die." Then he kissed his daughter at his side, wrung
Nahoon by the hand, and turning from Hadden with a gesture of contempt
walked out upon the platform that joined the two thorn trunks. Here
he stood for a moment looking at the setting sun, then suddenly, and
without a sound, he hurled himself into the abyss below and vanished.

"That was a brave one," said the captain with admiration. "Can you
spring too, girl, or must we throw you?"

"I can walk my father's path," Nanea answered faintly, "but first I
crave leave to say one word. It is true that we were escaping from the
king, and therefore by the law we must die; but it was Black Heart here
who made the plot, and he who has betrayed us. Would you know why he has
betrayed us? Because he sought my favour, and I refused him, and this is
the vengeance that he takes--a white man's vengeance."

"_Wow!_" broke in the chief Maputa, "this pretty one speaks truth, for
the white man would have made a bargain with me under which Umgona,
the wizard, and Nahoon, the soldier, were to be killed at the Crocodile
Drift, and he himself suffered to escape with the girl. I spoke him
softly and said 'yes,' and then like a loyal man I reported to the
king."

"You hear," sighed Nanea. "Nahoon, fare you well, though presently
perhaps we shall be together again. It was I who tempted you from your
duty. For my sake you forgot you