the lot of man born of woman?_"

Back came the answer rolling out from every throat in that vast
company--

"_Death!_"

Gradually, however, the song was taken up by company after company,
till the whole armed multitude were singing it, and I could no longer
follow the words, except in so far as they appeared to represent
various phases of human passions, fears, and joys. Now it seemed to be
a love song, now a majestic swelling war chant, and last of all a death
dirge ending suddenly in one heart-breaking wail that went echoing and
rolling away in a volume of blood-curdling sound.

Again silence fell upon the place, and again it was broken by the king
lifting his hand. Instantly we heard a pattering of feet, and from out
of the masses of warriors strange and awful figures appeared running
towards us. As they drew near we saw that these were women, most of
them aged, for their white hair, ornamented with small bladders taken
from fish, streamed out behind them. Their faces were painted in
stripes of white and yellow; down their backs hung snake-skins, and
round their waists rattled circlets of human bones, while each held a
small forked wand in her shrivelled hand. In all there were ten of
them. When they arrived in front of us they halted, and one of them,
pointing with her wand towards the crouching figure of Gagool, cried
out--

"Mother, old mother, we are here."

"_Good! good! good!_" answered that aged Iniquity. "Are your eyes keen,
_Isanusis_ [witch doctresses], ye seers in dark places?"

"Mother, they are keen."

"_Good! good! good!_ Are your ears open, _Isanusis_, ye who hear words
that come not from the tongue?"

"Mother, they are open."

"_Good! good! good!_ Are your senses awake, _Isanusis_--can ye smell
blood, can ye purge the land of the wicked ones who compass evil
against the king and against their neighbours? Are ye ready to do the
justice of 'Heaven above,' ye whom I have taught, who have eaten of the
bread of my wisdom, and drunk of the water of my magic?"

"Mother, we can."

"Then go! Tarry not, ye vultures; see, the slayers"--pointing to the
ominous group of executioners behind--"make sharp their spears; the
white men from afar are hungry to see. _Go!_"

With a wild yell Gagool's horrid ministers broke away in every
direction, like fragments from a shell, the dry bones round their
waists rattling as they ran, and headed for various points of the dense
human circle. We could not watch