lowers from
the orange trees and elsewhere, went on to the little graveyard. Here
she laid them on the grave as we had found them, and then sitting down,
fell into a deep and sad reverie, such as the occasion would naturally
induce. While she sat thus, Tota, who was a lively child and active as
a kitten, strayed away without Stella observing it. With her went the
dogs, who also had grown tired of inaction; a while passed, and suddenly
she heard the dogs barking furiously about a hundred and fifty yards
away. Then she heard Tota scream, and the dogs also yelling with fear
and pain. She rose and ran as swiftly as she could towards the spot
whence the sound came. Presently she was there. Before her in the
glade, holding the screaming Tota in her arms, was a figure in which,
notwithstanding the rough disguise of baboon skins and colouring matter,
she had no difficulty in recognizing Hendrika, and all about her were
numbers of baboons, rolling over and over in two hideous heaps, of which
the centres were the unfortunate dogs now in process of being rent to
fragments.

"Hendrika," Stella cried, "what does this mean? What are you doing with
Tota and those brutes?"

The woman heard her and looked up. Then Stella saw that she was mad;
madness stared from her eyes. She dropped the child, which instantly
flew to Stella for protection. Stella clasped it, only to be herself
clasped by Hendrika. She struggled fiercely, but it was of no use--the
Babyan-frau had the strength of ten. She lifted her and Tota as though
they were nothing, and ran off with them, following the bed of the
stream in order to avoid leaving a spoor. Only the baboons who came with
her, minus the one the dogs had killed, would not take to the water, but
kept pace with them on the bank.

Stella said that the night which followed was more like a hideous
nightmare than a reality. She was never able to tell me all that
occurred in it. She had a vague recollection of being borne over rocks
and along kloofs, while around her echoed the horrible grunts and clicks
of the baboons. She spoke to Hendrika in English and Kaffir, imploring
her to let them go; but the woman, if I may call her so, seemed in her
madness to have entirely forgotten these tongues. When Stella spoke she
would kiss her and stroke her hair, but she did not seem to understand
what it was she said. On the other hand, she could, and did, talk to
the baboons, that seemed to obey her implicitly. Moreover,