e lives of men.
And these I give ye two--so far as I can," he added somewhat seriously.
"Listen. I am not chief here, Nteseni is. But Nteseni is away with
most of his people. This night you must leave. To-morrow may be too
late. Here are the weapons you came with--"

From under his blanket he produced two revolvers, the same which had
been taken from them at their capture.

"--For food, if you have none, that I cannot help, but you are both
strong. Listen. Now I am going out hence, and I shall draw those who
watch this hut away with me. When you no longer hear voices, then go
forth, but be careful to leave the door of the hut in its place.
_Hambani gahle_!"

He crawled through the low doorway and was gone, leaving the two staring
at each other in speechless amazement. To Thornhill, especially, it
seemed like a dream. He remembered the long-forgotten incident now
recalled, and how in the rout after Ulundi he had saved two youths who
had sunk down exhausted in their flight, from being ruthlessly pistolled
by two of his own comrades in the troop of irregular Horse in which he
was serving--and now this was one of them: this man of whom he had gone
in dread as a witness against him, whose blood he had sought with deadly
persistency and on two occasions had nearly shed It was wonderful--
wonderful.

And this man--this savage--had been the means of saving Edala--his
darling--his idolised child--from a bloody death or worse brutalities at
the hands of the fiends who sought her! By the side of that the fact of
the saving of their own lives counted as nothing--nothing.

"Well, Elvesdon. I think it's time to skip," he said as at last the
sound of deep-toned voices died into silence.

Cautiously they took down the door and slipped out, taking care to place
it in position again. There was no sign of life in the kraal, except
the muffled murmur of a few drowsy voices coming from one or two of the
huts. In a minute they had gained the welcome darkness of the bush.

"Now I think we can steer our way," whispered Thornhill. "Our nearest
is by old Zisiso's kraal, but that's a regular path, and we don't want
that. We'll keep a bit up, and we shall have the double advantage of
avoiding the enemy--every Kafir is an enemy now--and being able to get
an occasional outlook over the country. If we don't fetch Kwabulazi by
sunrise we shall have to lie low all through to-morrow."

Steadily they held on. Thornhill was a ma