aid Ghamba, "I will tell you everything, but you must
both remember what you have sworn to."

"Yes, all right," said Whitson. Ghamba then looked at Langley, who
repeated the words.

"I will tell you," said 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 amongst 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 while
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 i