hemselves with killing any wounded they could
find and returned. I did not accompany them; indeed the battle being
won, metaphorically I washed my hands of them, and in my thoughts
consigned them to a certain locality as a people of whom it might
well be said that manners they had none and their customs were simply
beastly. Also, although fierce and cruel, these night-bats were not
good fighting men and in short never did I wish to have to do with such
another company.

Moreover, a very different matter pressed. The object of this business
so far as I was concerned, had been to rescue poor Inez, since had
it not been for her sake, never would I have consented to lead those
Amahagger against their fellow blackguards, the Rezuites.

But where was Inez? If Hans had understood the medicine-man aright,
she was, or had been, in the hut, where it was my earnest hope that she
still remained, since otherwise the hunt must be continued. This at
any rate was easy to discover. Calling Hans, who was amusing himself
by taking long shots at the flying enemy, so that they might not forget
him, as he said, and the Zulus, I walked up the slope to the hut, or
rather booth of boughs, for it was quite twenty feet long by twelve or
fifteen broad.

At its eastern end was a doorway or opening closed with a heavy curtain.
Here I paused full of tremors, and listened, for to tell the truth I
dreaded to draw that curtain, fearing what I might see within. Gathering
up my courage at length I tore it aside and, a revolver in my hand,
looked in. At first after the strong light without, for the sun was now
well up, I could see nothing, since those green boughs and palm leaves
were very closely woven. As my eyes grew accustomed to the gloom,
however, I perceived a glittering object seated on a kind of throne
at the end of the booth, while in a double row in front knelt six
white-robed women who seemed to wear chains about their necks and
carried large knives slung round their middles. On the floor between
these women and the throne lay a dead man, a priest of some sort as
I gathered from his garb, who still held a huge spear in his hand. So
silent were the figure on the throne and those that knelt before it,
that at first I thought that all of them must be dead.

"Lady Sad-Eyes," whispered Hans, "and her bride-women. Doubtless that
old Predikant came to kill her when he saw that the battle was lost, but
the bride-women killed him with their knives."