that Whitson and Langley
succeeded in escaping from the mountains. However, on the evening of
the third day after their adventure in the cave, they came in sight of
the police camp, Whitson sat down on a stone, and motioned his
companion to do the same.

"See here, Sonny," he said, "I want to have a short talk with you. I am
a bit cross with you as the cause of my having been sucked in by that
damned, murdering old walrus. You ought to know the inhabitants of this
country better than a simple stranger like me, and so I took your lead.
Now, another thing, you nearly bust us both by your blasted foolishness
in going to sleep that day; but let that pass, because perhaps it would
have been worse if we had not been put on our guard; not but that it
would take a damned smart cannibal to eat Hiram Whitson. But this is
what I am coming to: you my boy are a darned sight too fond of hearing
your own tongue clack. Now, lake a warning from me, and don't let a
word of what has happened since we left Camp--for Pietermaritzburg--
pass your lips. I did all the shooting, and I'm not a bit ashamed of
it; but, by the eternal God, if you open your lips to a soul, I'll
shoot you like a dog or a cannibal. Remember that, Sonny, and say it
quietly over to yourself the first time you fee that you want to blab.
Now shake hands."

This was probably the longest speech that Whitson had ever made.

About two years after the events narrated, Whitson took his discharge
and returned to America. He left behind him a sealed packet addressed
to his Commanding Officer, and which was not to be delivered for twelve
months after his departure.

Owing, however, to a strange combination of fortuitous circumstances,
this packet never reached its proper destination; its wrapper, bearing
the address, having been scorched off in a fire which took place in the
house where it was left.

NOTE.

Many people have heard or read of the cannibals of Natal, who turned
large tracts of country into a shambles in the early part of this
century, after Tshaka's impis had swept off all the cattle, and then
kept the miserable people continually on the move, so that they were
unable to cultivate. One Umdava originated the practice of eating human
flesh. Gathering together the fragments of four scattered tribes, he
trained them to hunt human beings as others hunted game. This gang was
a greater scourge to the country surrounding the present site of
Pietermaritzburg than eve