n in the town beneath, living meanwhile on some
food which he carried in a bag tied to the saddle, helped out by green
mealies which he stole from a neighbouring field.

Thus he saw most of what passed in the town, including the desolation
wrought by the fearful tempest of hail, which, being in their cave, both
he and the camel escaped without harm. On the next evening from his
post of outlook up the tree, where he had now some difficulty in hiding
himself because the hail had stripped off all its leaves, he saw Marut
and myself brought from the guest-house and taken away by the escort.
Descending and running to the cave, he saddled the camel and started
in pursuit, plunging into the forest and hiding there when he perceived
that the escort were leaving us.

Here he waited until they had gone by on their return journey. So close
did they pass to him that he could overhear their talk, which told him
they expected, or rather were sure, that we should be destroyed by the
elephant Jana, their devil god, to whom the camelmen had been already
sacrificed. After they had departed he remounted and followed us. Here I
asked him why he had not overtaken us before we came to the cemetery of
elephants, as I presumed he might have done, since he stated that he was
close in our rear. This indeed was the case, for it was the head of the
camel I saw behind the thorn trees when I looked back, and not the trunk
of an elephant as I had supposed.

At the time he would give me no direct answer, except that he grew
muddled as he had already suggested, and thought it best to keep in the
background and see what happened. Long afterwards, however, he admitted
to me that he acted on a presentiment.

"It seemed to me, Baas," he said, "that your reverend father was telling
me that I should do best to let you two go on and not show myself, since
if I did so we should all three be killed, as one of us must walk whom
the other two could not desert. Whereas if I left you as you were, one
of you would be killed and the other escape, and that the one to be
killed would not be _you_, Baas. All of which came about as the Spirit
spoke in my head, for Marut was killed, who did not matter, and--you
know the rest, Baas."

To return to Hans' story. He saw us march down to the borders of the
lake, and, keeping to our right, took cover behind the knoll of rock,
whence he watched also all that followed. When Jana advanced to attack
us Hans crept forward in th