etween his legs with its cruel,
vindictive eyes fixed immovably upon the visitor. Beside Sekosini stood
Ingona, apparently impassive, but his quick, irregular breathing
betrayed the fact that he was labouring under a considerable amount of
excitement. As for the witch doctor, his face wore a smile of
concentrated malice, as though he anticipated something in the nature of
a conflict with this audacious white _mfana_ and was already exulting in
the prospect of a quick and overwhelming victory.

Suddenly he fixed his eyes intently upon Dick's, and said, in soft,
sibilant tones:

"Well, _'mlungu_, what want ye with Sekosini?"

It was the moment and the opportunity for which Dick had been waiting.
Gazing intently into the eyes of the savage, in the peculiar manner that
he had learned from Humphreys, the young doctor suddenly concentrated
his will upon the effort to bring his foe--for as such he intuitively
recognised Sekosini--under subjugation. For a moment the strangely
contrasted pair gazed at each other, and then some strange sensation
experienced by the witch doctor seemed to warn him of what was
happening. But it was too late; Dick had caught him unawares, and so
absolutely instantaneous was the hypnotic method which Humphreys had
taught his pupil that before Sekosini could offer any effective
resistance his will had completely succumbed to Dick's, and he was in
the latter's power. In response to Dick's unspoken thought he said:

"Ask what you will, and I will answer."

"You hear?" demanded Dick, turning his gaze for a moment upon Ingona.

"I hear," answered Ingona, unsuspectingly meeting Dick's gaze as he
replied, and in that moment he, too, was brought under the young
doctor's influence. For a few seconds longer Dick kept his unwinking
gaze steadfastly fixed upon the chief, mentally commanding him to forget
everything that he might see and hear during the interview; and then he
again turned his attention to the witch doctor. He recalled to mind a
declaration of Humphreys' upon which the latter had laid great stress:
"The spoken word, where you can use it, is always more potent than the
unspoken, but whether it is understood or not is really a minor matter;
it is the emphasis, the insistence which is conveyed by speech, added to
the will power employed, that renders the operator absolutely
irresistible." As it was of the utmost importance that Sekosini should
remain completely under his influence until