this moment a blood-curdling yell seemed to fill earth and heaven, a
yell at the memory of which even now I feel faint, although I am writing
years after its echoes died away.
I may as well say at once that it came from Janee who, awaking suddenly,
had perceived against the background of the sky, Hans standing over her,
looking like a yellow devil with a long knife in his hand, which she
thought was about to be used to murder her.
So, lacking self-restraint, she screamed in the most lusty fashion, for
her lungs were excellent, and--the game was up.
Instantly every man sleeping round the fire leapt to his feet and rushed
in the direction of the echoes of Janee's yell. It was impossible to get
Inez free of her tent arrangement or to do anything, except whisper to
her,
"Feign sleep and know nothing. We will follow you. Your father is with
us."
Then I bolted back into the bushes, which Hans had reached already.
A minute or two later when we were clear of the hubbub and nearing our
own camp, Hans remarked to me sententiously,
"The Great Medicine worked well, Baas, but not quite well enough, for
what medicine can avail against a woman's folly?"
"It was our own folly we should blame," I answered. "We ought to have
known that fool-girl would shriek, and taken precautions."
"Yes, Baas, we ought to have killed her too, for nothing else would have
kept her quiet," replied Hans in cheerful assent. "Now we shall have to
pay for our mistake, for the hunt must go on."
At this moment we stumbled across Robertson and Umslopogaas who, with
the others, and every living thing within a mile or two had also heard
Janee's yell, and briefly told our story. When he learned how near we
had been to rescuing his daughter, Robertson groaned, but Umslopogaas
only said,
"Well, there are two less of the men-eaters left to deal with. Still,
for once your wisdom failed you, Macumazahn. When you had found the camp
you should have returned, so that we might all attack it together. Had
we done so, before the dawn there would not have been one of them left."
"Yes," I answered, "I think that my wisdom did fail me, if I have any to
fail. But come; perhaps we may catch them yet."
So we advanced, Hans and I showing the road. But when we reached the
place it was too late, for all that remained of the Amahagger, or of
Inez and Janee, were the two dead men whom we had killed, and in that
darkness pursuit was impossible. So we went back
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