aid Ghamba, "all I can remember, and you can ask
questions, which I shall answer truly. You have heard of Umdava, who
used to eat men in Natal long ago, after the wars of Tshaka--well, he
was my uncle. After Umdava had been killed and his people scattered, my
father, with a few followers, came to live among these mountains. But we
found that after having eaten human flesh we could enjoy no other food,
so we caught people and ate them. These two men lying dead are my sons,
and that woman is my daughter. My four wives were here to-night. They
are very old women. Have you not seen them?" he asked, looking at
Whitson.

"They are in there; I shot them," said Whitson, pointing to the cave.

"I had other children," continued Ghamba, quite unmoved, "but we ate
them when food was scarce."

"Have you always lived, all these years, on human flesh?" asked Whitson.

"No, not always; but whenever we could obtain it we did so. There is
other food in these mountains--honey, ants' eggs, roots, and fruit;
besides game, which is, however, not very easy to catch. But we have
often all had to go away and work when times have been bad. Besides, I
have a herd of cattle at a Basuto kraal, and I have been in the habit of
taking some of these now and then, and exchanging them for corn, which
the women then went to fetch. But we have always tried to get people to
eat, because we could enjoy no other kind of food. Sometimes we got them
easily; and when we were very fortunate we used to dry part of the meat
by hanging it up and lighting a fire underneath, with green wood, so as
to make plenty of smoke."

"Have you killed many white people?" asked Whitson.

"Yes, a good number; but not, of course, as many as black. Lately we
have always tried to catch whites, because when you have eaten white
flesh for some time, the flesh of a native no longer satisfies you."

"Why not?"

"The flavour is not so strong."

"Did you induce the other two policemen to come up by means of the story
about Umhlonhlo?"

"Yes, they came up just as you did, and my sons caught them with the
thongs. Umhlonhlo has brought us plenty of food."

"Were you able to take the cartridges out of their revolvers as you did
out of mine?"

"No, I had no opportunity; but it was not necessary, because my sons
were so expert at throwing the thongs that they could always catch
people over the arms, and thus render them unable to shoot."

"How did they manage to become so expert?