Part 23 (2/2)
”Not if we all strike together The people beyond Tukela should be able to give them plenty to do while we eat up all the whites on this side”
”Not if our plans are made known to thely ”There is treachery in our rim, and he and the other continued their conversation in a lower tone still Then the chief gave some orders, and in accordance therewith the rifles and pistols and aly hidden beneath the floors of two huts And the band prepared to azine, 303's for theDuency that caused all these to be supplied--crafty, cruel, vengeful--loohted here and there by a silvery network of h the tree-tops All were armed, but presently they would deposit their weapons in a safe hiding-place just on the outskirts of the forest There was not low of a fire was seen in front Instinctively the band came to a halt The apparition was patent of two interpretations Either it meant a police patrol, and if so, their own presence here at such an hour was soati_, for, as we have said, the forest was a place to be avoided at night, and no one but themselves would have been likely to come into it
”Go forward,behind ”We will rest by yon fire”
They were astonished, but ave a rapid order in a low undertone to a couple of young ain had to conceal their astonishreat
A few minutes more and they arrived at the fire, beside which twoNo sooner was the party ithin the circle of light than these sprang up, and threw themselves upon one of the new arrivals
Two more came to their aid, and in a les, was borne to the earth and securely tied
Again astonishment was the part of most of the onlookers, but their father and chief was present Thefrom his head, a picture of a down upon him in silence
”Why art thou afraid, Sebela?” he said in an even tone
”_Nkose_! I am afraid because I seem to have come under the frown of my father and chief,” answered the ? _Hau_! And is treachery no wrong?” said the chief, his tone now stern and denunciatory
”Treachery? Now has so the ears of my father,” replied the prisoner, who fully realised the desperate strait he was in ”I would like to see that person”
”Evil person, indeed; but he did not live long after his treachery had been found out But he was a Kafula, and thou, Sebela, art one of ourselves _Whau_, Sebela!”
”_Whau_, Sebela!” roared the squatting group in abhorrent contempt
”But if he is dead he cannot speak now,at a straw ”It is only the word of one man, and he is a liar”
”We shall see First of all, what is the name of the other man ith thee at Ezulwini?”
”Now it is of so time past have I been at Ezulwini, and then it was alone,” was the answer
”That is the first lie,” said Sapazani Then turning to the others, ”A dog who betrays his father's house, what should be his fate?”
A roar went up--savage, vengeful, si to us, father There is the fire all ready”
Sapazani nodded Willing, ferocious hands were upon Sebela He was dragged to the gloood and stretched right against it, yet not before with his only available weapons he had bitten two fingers of one of his torturers nearly off
”Is it warh, Sebela?” said the chief ”If it is, name, then, the other man who helped thee to sell thy father's house to the whites”
The wretched victirasp of those who held hiles that it was all they could do to hold hi eyeballs and bared teeth testified to the agony he was undergoing The spectators, their ly on
”Name him, name him, Sebela, that thy torments may cease,” repeated Sapazani
”Pandulu”
The naasp, half shriek The agony of the wretch had becon froed away from the fire
”That for the one,” said the latter ”Now for the other Name the other, Sebela”