nsparently insecure. They had come after the fruit.

He could see them standing there, drawing down the laden branches and
stripping them of their luscious burden; could hear the swishing,
gurgling sound of their jaws as they bit into the ripe peaches and
apricots, thrusting them whole into their mouths, and throwing the
stones at each other in horseplay, like so many British roughs on a Bank
holiday. In sheer wantonness they tore off great boughs covered with
fruit and heaped them on the ground, till soon every tree was as nearly
as possible stripped, and they were gorged almost to repletion. Then
others came over to join in the feast, and now Roden's heart was again
in his throat, for a bevy of them swarmed over the wall just where he
lay, the ankle of one even coming into hard contact with the crown of
his head. But the warrior, thinking he had kicked a stone, did not look
twice, and that peril was passed. Yet, lying there, liable to be
butchered at any moment, slain like a rat in a trap, was appalling, and
not far short of an equivalent for dying a hundred deaths.

By this time the first streak of dawn was showing in the eastern
horizon, and the Kaffirs, now replete, began to depart. Still, many
showed a disposition to linger, gathering up the fruit in their skin
tobacco bags and blankets, and the ray of hope which had come with that
ray of dawn began to fade again into a darkness that bordered on
despair. Would they never go? Every moment the earth was becoming
lighter. In a light less than half that of the light of day Roden's
hiding-place would afford concealment no more. He would be discovered
in an instant.

They had all gone at last, and their receding voices were decreasing in
sound and volume; all except one, and this confounded fellow seemed to
have a weakness for variety; for now he was coming along the quince
hedge, sampling its productions; coming straight upon Roden's
hiding-place.

Twenty--ten--five yards--then so close that the latter might have
grasped him. Now a particularly fine quince growing just above reach
seemed to attract the eye of the Kaffir. He made a spring--seized the
fruit, and, missing his footing, stumbled and fell backward bodily on
top of the concealed white man.

Roden was up in a moment. With the quickness of a snake he had seized
the Kaffir by the throat before the latter could rise, and had pressed
the muzzle of his revolver to the man's face.

The shout of d