he satellites of Shiminya
and brought hither.

Now, moaning in her pain, Nompiza lay and reflected. She had betrayed
two of her father's children, had marked them out for the vengeance of
not only the Abantwana 'Mlimo, but of the disaffected chiefs. This,
however, might be remedied. Once out of this she would go straight to
Jonemi--which was the name by which John Ames was known to the natives,
being a corruption of his own--and claim protection for herself and
them, perhaps even procure the arrest of Shiminya. This thought came as
a ray of light to the savage girl as she lay there. The white men would
protect and avenge her. Yet--poor simpleton!

"Of what art thou thinking, Nompiza?" said the wizard, softly, as he
refrained from his seeming work of mercy. "_Au_! Shall I tell thee?
It is that thou wilt reveal to Jonemi all thou knowest of the gathering
at the Home of the Umlimo when the moon was full. So shalt thou save
thyself and Pukele and Ntatu, the children of thy father."

A cry of terror escaped the sufferer. How should she have forgotten
that this dreadful sorcerer could read the thoughts of men?

"Not so, my father, not so," she prayed. "I ask for nothing but to be
allowed to go home."

"To go home? But how would that avail one who has been bitten by
Lupiswana? There is no escape from that. Lupiswana will come for thee
after death. Thou wilt be hunted round for ever, with Lupiswana
biting--biting--at thee even as now, and thou wilt spring wildly forward
to avoid his bites, and his teeth will close in thy flesh, even as now.
Thou wilt run wailing round the kraals of thy people, hunted ever by
Lupiswana, but they will not admit thee. They will cover their heads in
terror lest the same doom overtake them. _Hau_! Even this night will
that doom begin."

"This night?" echoed the victim, feeling well-nigh dead with an awful
fear. "This night? Now, my father, thou hast promised--hast sworn--I
shall be allowed to depart."

"I did but mean the night of death," replied the other, his head on one
side, his eyes glittering with satanic mirth. "That may be when thou
art old and tottering, Nompiza, or it may mean this night, for what is
time but a flash, even as that of the summer lightning? The night of
death will surely come."

No relief came into the face of the sufferer. The awful fate predicted
for her by Shiminya seemed to her just as certain as though it had
already befallen her, and th