's march distant--for some offence. This she was
endeavouring to explain, when she sank back exhausted upon the cartel,
and again fell into a swoon.

It soon became evident that the unfortunate little creature was in a
most critical condition, from the combined effects, as I supposed, of
fiendish ill treatment, violent exertion, and insufficient nourishment;
and we were kept busy all that night reviving her from swoon after
swoon, and in the preparation and administration of strong broth, with
which to combat the terrible prostration that was her most alarming
symptom. Toward morning, however, she seemed to revive a little, and
after absorbing another liberal dose of broth, slightly dashed with
brandy, she complained of weariness, and soon afterward sank into a deep
sleep, from the restorative effects of which I hoped much. But of
course the idea of continuing our trek that day was quite out of the
question; we therefore remained where we were, and I set Jan and
'Ngulubi to look after the oxen and see that they came to no harm, while
Piet, 'Mfuni, and I devoted ourselves to the task of looking after the
invalid, though, goodness knows, our ignorance of everything connected
with the leech's art was so complete that we could do nothing more than
pour into her all the nourishment that she could be persuaded to absorb.

And I am afraid that it was this lamentable ignorance of ours that was
responsible for her condition when she awoke about ten o'clock in the
morning. For after tossing restlessly upon the cartel for about half an
hour, she suddenly sat up, and stared about her with glassy,
terrorstricken eyes, and began to mutter rapidly to herself; and upon
feeling her pulse I found that it was throbbing furiously; also her skin
was dry, and scorching hot: in short, it was evident that she was in a
state of high fever closely bordering on delirium. We improved matters
a little by withdrawing the cartel from beneath the close, suffocatingly
hot tent of the wagon, and placing it on the grass, in the shadow of the
wagon, where the soft breeze could play freely upon the patient, also by
swathing her head in towels which were kept continually dripping wet;
and after about an hour of this treatment the fever so far abated as to
permit her to talk coherently, when she told us her story, to the
following effect.

"My name," said she, "is Siluce, and I am of the Bandokolo. I am two
hundred and twenty-five moons (a little mor