tely to fail him,
which was strange; for a native, especially one of his age and standing,
does not, as a rule, fear death. But fear, abject and unmistakable, had
now taken hold of this one. He trembled and muttered, and at times it
seemed as if his mind would give way. Then he declared his willingness
to make a statement. Perhaps his life would be spared.

But he was given to understand he need entertain no hopes of that kind
if he should be convicted at the trial. Even then he persisted. He
wanted to throw off the load, he said, for it lay heavy on his heart.

His statement was consistent with that of all the others, moreover it
tallied with all that Jan Boom had told me. The part of it that was
peculiar was the manner in which they had been able to remove their
victims so as to leave no trace. This had been done by means of muffled
shoes. The drug administered had the effect of putting them into a kind
of trance. They had all their faculties about them, save only that of
volition, but afterwards they would remember nothing. Nyamaki had been
easily removed because he lived alone. He, like Major Sewin, the witch
doctor had gradually imbued with a taste for the occult. After that all
was easy. It had at first been intended to entrap the Major, then his
nephew, but for the reasons that Jan Boom had already given me, this
plan was abandoned. Then it was decided to seize his eldest daughter.
Such a sacrifice as that could not fail to move the Spirit of the Dew,
and to bring abundant rain.

No, she had in no way been injured. To have injured her would have been
to have rendered the whole rite invalid. As for Ivondwe, he had gone to
the Major's with the object of forwarding the plan when it was ripe. He
was almost as great among the Brethren of the Dew as Ukozi himself.
Ivuzamanzi? Yes, he, too, was among the foremost of them. Tyingoza
belonged to the Brotherhood, but he had been enrolled unwillingly, and
had never taken part in any of their deeper mysteries: nor indeed, did
they come within his knowledge.

Thus ran Ukozi's confession. When it was read out at the trial it
created a profound sensation, as, indeed, did the whole case in the
columns of the Colonial Press, which clamoured for a signal example to
be made of the offenders. And the Court by which they were tried was of
the same opinion.

When those who had turned Queen's evidence had been sifted out--of
course with the exception of Ukozi-