cided. And yet--!

The place where they rested was an ideal of sylvan loveliness, the green
glade overhung by the rugged face of the cliff, from whose ledges and
interstices jutted here and there the spider-like spikiness of sprouting
aloes, or the slender stiff stem of the Kafir bean. Away on three sides
swept the tumbled masses of bush verdure; here a ridge, there a rift; in
whose cool, shaded depths the melody of bird voices made music without
ceasing. Beyond, a towering mountain cone, its steep sides shimmering
in the mid-day heat against the deep blue of an unclouded sky, and the
splendid air, warm yet invigorating, hummed to the music of
harvesting-bees. Even the group of natives, squatted a little distance
off, lent a picturesque feature as they talked in a drowsy undertone,
and the great, rough-haired dogs lying on their sides panting in the
shade bore their part in the picture. And the day was but half
through--and there was that gold-crowned head dazzling his glance as
though he were gazing at the sun--and life was very well worth living
indeed--and there, not so very many miles away, in just such a sweet and
restful spot as this, lay the mangled body of dead Teliso; for so do the
tragic and the idyllic run side by side on parallel rails. By and bye
these might be destined to converge.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

MANAMANDHLA'S ESCAPE.

The horses were caught and saddled up. As they rode forth from their
resting place, Edala was exchanging banter with Elvesdon, and in the
ring of her dear merry laugh there was no suggestion of a sufferer from
headache.

"Now then," said Thornhill, reining in at the head of a long, deep, wild
ravine. "We must arrange our strategy." And he looked from the one to
the other.

"I'll go and see Mr Elvesdon miss," said Edala, unhesitatingly. "I
know exactly where to place him, and he'll have the best chances of
missing he's ever had in his life."

There was a laugh at this, led by the victim himself.

"Then who'll take care of Miss Carden?"

Prior looked up eagerly, but before he could say anything, Evelyn
remarked quietly:--

"Do let me ride with you, Mr Thornhill. It will be just as interesting
to see how the things are driven out, as to see how they are shot."

"But, I'm going down into the thick of the kloof this time. How about
skirts?"

"Oh, that's all right. I'll keep behind you when it gets thick."

"Very well then if you do that. There's a tolerable a