it," he said. "It is customary to
feed such with offerings."

"Was there then a snake in the other pool which we found?" I asked,
feeling a creepy, shuddering horror run through me at the thought of the
indescribably ghastly fate which had hung over my darling and from which
we had only just been in time to save her, thanks to the shrewd
promptitude of this staunch fellow, whom I had begun by disliking and
mistrusting.

"That I cannot say, _Nkose_. But I think not. The water torture goes
on for days, and the victim is left just as he is until he falls off or
room is made for a fresh one, as we saw them so make it there."

"But you. How was it you were doomed to it, and how did you escape?"
asked Kendrew.

"That is a long story, and it will I tell another time. I was living in
Pondoland then, not far on the other side of the Umtavuna. Ukozi did
that, but now I shall have revenge. Tell me, _Amakosi_, will not your
people have him lashed before they hang him? If so I should like to see
that."

It was little wonder that this savage should give way to the intensity
of his vindictive feeling. We white men both felt that mere hanging was
too good for these fiends. But we were obliged to assure him that such
was very unlikely.

"When we returned from the Zulu country," he went on, "I began to put
things together. I remembered what we had found up there, and what with
Ukozi being in these parts and the sudden disappearance of Nyamaki, a
little while before, I felt sure that the Brotherhood of the Dew was at
work. I asked you to keep me with you, _Nkose_, because I saw my way
now, by striking at it, to revenge myself upon Ukozi for the torture he
had made me undergo. _Whau_! and it is torture! That of the fire
cannot be worse. I knew that the Brotherhood would be strong, because
among the people here there are so many names that have to do with
water--from Tyingoza and his son downwards--"

I started. Yes, it was even as he said. There were many names of just
that description. But Tyingoza! Could that open-mannered,
straightforward chief for whom I had always entertained the highest
regard, really be one of that black, devilish murder society!

"Moreover," he went on, "I knew whence they would draw their next
victim. I, too, have eyes and ears, _Nkose_, as well as yourself," he
said, with a whimsical laugh, "and I used them. The _Abangan 'ema
zolweni_ were strong in numbers, but otherwise weak. Th