loor, and held her with his hands at her
throat, and his knees pressing violently on her stomach. He held her
thus for some seconds, then sprang up, rushed out of the hut, and
disappeared into the bush.

The wretched woman lay senseless for some time, and when she regained
consciousness she felt that she had sustained some serious internal
injury. It was early in the forenoon when the deed was done, and in the
afternoon her body began to swell, and she suffered violent pain. She
had, as a matter of fact, sustained a severe internal rupture. She
managed to crawl over to where the child lay, still wailing, and she
gave it the breast to still it. Then she began to suffer from violent
thirst, but there was neither water nor milk in the hut. Owing to
Samuel's bad reputation no one ever came to his dwelling, and thus
Martha had no chance of succour before his return, which she now longed
for. The sun went down, and she lay in agony, watching the dying
daylight. She lay through the long, slow hours of the night, unable co
move, and with the poor little child tugging at her in vain, and
fitfully wailing from hunger and cold, for the fire had long since gone
out. When morning broke she became delirious; later on she became
unconscious, and remained so all day. When Samuel returned at sundown,
driving home the little flock of goats, she appeared to be at the last
gasp. He was, to do him justice, much shocked at what he saw. Samuel at
once ran down to the river and fetched some water, a little of which,
poured down Martha's parched throat, restored her to consciousness. He
lit a fire and sat down near her, giving her a sip of water now and
then. He even wrapped the child up in a tanned calf skin, and then went
out and caught a she-goat, which he flung to the ground, and tied by
its extended legs to two poles of the hut, which were about six feet
apart. He then placed the chilled and starving child where it could
suck one of the teats. The goat struggled and withheld its milk, but
Samuel held it down and kneaded the udder until the draught came, and
the child drank long and deeply.

When the mother saw this, she smiled faintly, and just afterwards she
fell quietly asleep. The child also slept, so Samuel released the goat
and returned to his seat.

The fire flickered up and showed by fits and starts the inside of the
hut. There lay the dying woman, her deathlike face drawn and haggard
from her long agony, breathing very shortly,