“The assegai sped on and struck one of the women who had hold of the unfortunate Every, piercing through her arm. This made her leave go, an example that the other women quickly followed, so that Every fell to the ground, where he lay gasping.
“ ‘Kill the witches,’ roared Nala, in a voice of thunder, pointing to the group of women.
“ ‘Nay,’ gasped Every, ‘spare them. He made them do it,’ and he pointed to the human fiend in the trap. Then Maiwa waved her hand to us to fall back, for the moment of her vengeance was come. We did so, and she strode up to her lord, and flinging the white robe from her stood before him, her fierce beautiful face fixed like stone.
“ ‘Who am I?’ she cried in so terrible a voice that he ceased his yells. ‘Am I that woman who was given to thee for wife, and whose child thou slewest? Or am I an avenging spirit come to see thee die?
“ ‘What is this?’ she went on, drawing the withered baby-hand from the pouch at her side.
“ ‘Is it the hand of a babe? and how came that hand to be thus alone? What cut it off from the babe? and where is the babe? Is it a hand? or is it the vision of a hand that shall presently tear thy throat?
“ ‘Where are thy soldiers, Wambe? Do they sleep and eat and go forth to do thy bidding? or are they perchance dead and scattered like the winter leaves?’
“He groaned and rolled his eyes while the fierce-faced woman went on.
“ ‘Art thou still a chief, Wambe? or does another take thy place and power, and say, Lord, what doest thou there? and what is that slave’s leglet upon thy knee?
“ ‘Is it a dream, Wambe, great lord and chief? or’—and she lifted her clenched hands and shook them in his face—‘hath a woman’s vengeance found thee out and a woman’s wit o’ermatched thy tyrannous strength? and art thou about to slowly die in torments horrible to think on, oh, thou accursed murderer of little children?’
“And with one wild scream she dashed the dead hand of the child straight into his face, and then fell senseless on the floor. As for the demon in the trap, he shrank back so far as its iron bounds would allow, his yellow eyes starting out of his head with pain and terror, and then once more began to yell.
“The scene was more than I could bear.
“ ‘Nala,’ I said, ‘this must stop. That man is a fiend, but he must not be left to die there. See thou to it.’
“ ‘Nay,’ answered Nala, ‘let him taste of the food wherewith he hath fed so many; leave him till death shall find him.’
“ ‘That I will not,’ I answered. ‘Let his end be swift; see thou to it.’
“ ‘As thou wilt, Macumazahn,’ answered the chief, with a shrug of the shoulders; ‘first let the white man and Maiwa be brought forth.’
“So the soldiers came forward and carried Every and the woman into the open air. As the former was borne past his tormentor, the fallen chief, so cowardly was his wicked heart, actually prayed him to intercede for him, and save him from a fate which, but for our providential appearance, would have been Every’s own.
“So we went away, and in another moment one of the biggest villains on the earth troubled it no more. Once in the fresh air Every recovered quickly. I looked at him, and horror and sorrow pierced me through to see such a sight. His face was the face of a man of sixty, though he was not yet forty, and his poor body was cut to pieces with stripes and scars, and other marks of the torments which Wambe had for years amused himself with inflicting on him.
“As soon as he recovered himself a little he struggled on to his knees, burst into a paroxysm of weeping, and clasping my legs with his emaciated arms, would have actually kissed my feet.
“ ‘What are you about, old fellow?’ I said, for I am not accustomed to that sort of thing, and it made me feel uncomfortable.
“ ‘Oh, God bless you!’ he moaned, ‘God bless you! If only you knew what I have gone through; and to think that you should have come to help me, and at the risk of your own life! Well, you were always a true friend—yes, yes, a true friend.’
“ ‘Bosh,’ I answered testily; ‘I’m a trader, and I came after that ivory,’ and I pointed to the stockade of tusks. ‘Did you ever hear of an elephant-hunter who would not have risked his immortal soul for them, and much more his carcase?’
“But he took no notice of my explanations, and went on God blessing me as hard as ever, till at last I bethought me that a nip of brandy, of which I had a flask full, might steady his nerves a bit. I gave it him, and was not disappointed in the result, for he brisked up wonderfully. Then I hunted about in Wambe’s hut, and found a kaross to put over his poor bruised shoulders, and he was quite a man again.
“ ‘Now,’ I said, ‘why did the late lamented Wambe want to put
