lavers were bringing
up the rest of their wretched captives by moonlight, and getting a sharp
stone in his fettered hands, he had hung, head-downwards, suspended over
the gulf in perfect safety, knowing that the weight of the men above
would be a sheet-anchor for him. To Grenville's dismay, however, he
found, when his work was done, that he could not regain his position on
the rock, and just as he was losing consciousness with the rush of blood
to his head, he was rescued by the slavers, who flogged him soundly for
what they took to be a deliberate attempt to rob them of his valued
person by the committal of cold-blooded suicide.

Cautious as ever, Grenville could not be persuaded to rest or sleep
until he had seen Leigh and Amaxosa on guard, and had warned Kenyon to
relieve the Zulu chief in two or three hours, as the poor fellow had
had, he said, an uncommonly rough time of it lately, and the diabolical
and senseless ill-usage to which he had been subjected, must have told
its tale upon even his iron constitution.

The rest of the white men and Zulus, all of whom Leigh had been able to
arm out of his ample stores of weapons, were already sleeping such a
sleep as they had not enjoyed for a full year. To Grenville's delight,
he found that his cousin had got a spare Winchester rifle for him, and
with this and a pair of his favourite revolvers, he felt fit and ready
for anything once again.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

ZERO.

Though quietly settled down for the night, our friends had yet, however,
to learn that they hod not altogether done with the Mormon-cum-Slaver
fraternity, who evidently could not rest satisfied, or allow the day to
close, without making a particularly abominable attempt to get even with
the fugitives and their new-found friends.

In the very dead of night, as Leigh and Amaxosa stood on guard at the
mouth of the cave, conversing in an undertone, they were treated to a
new and extremely objectionable sample of the qualities of their
detested foes. The fire behind them inside the cavern had completely
burnt itself out, and close to its ashes lay Grenville, sleeping
heavily, whilst the other members of the party were scattered about the
cave on beds of moss or dried grass. Not a sound of any kind betokening
the presence of a foe had the anxious watchers heard, when all of a
sudden both were startled into action by an angry hiss just behind them,
followed by the well-known and universally dreaded "skir