Part 27 (1/2)
”Only tried it once before in ht I'd experiain in this instance I happen to be able to whistle rather above the average, so I was always careful to keep the note clear I had a sort of feeling that the least break would destroy the spell at once By the way, think there's another anywhere about?--they say snakes go in couples”
”No, no, no!” she answered, instinctively slipping a restraining hand beneath his aret it holance up at the sun ”Now let me think of the best way to work The horses won't stick it near the, and no h, don't they, Verna?”
”Yes,” she answered, with a touch of anxiety ”But they are very rare and very dangerous A snake isn't like a lion or anything of that sort
He's about ten times as quick, and offers no mark for a bullet, and if you use shot you spoil the skin No; be content with this one”
”Why, you sworn big-gahty wisdoet this specimen home”
”_Nkose! Nkosazana_!”
Both started In their preoccupation they had been totally unaware of the presence of any third person They looked up to become aware of the presence of such, in the person of a tall Zulu, and he Mandevu The appearance of the latter caused Denhah thishi
”That was a great snake,” he said, ”and well killed _Whau_! when last I saw a snake bewitched like that it was not so well killed, it was cut nearly in half _Nkose_a snake--two snakes--still in such wise”
Verna translated this for Denham's benefit, and translated it well, word for word Inwardly it puzzled her a little, for it see But to her co, to say the least of it, andhim from place to place with a purpose
”Tell him, Verna,” he said, ”that I want this taken ho, and they shall be well paid, nor will I forget hiht he could find the boys--there was a kraal a little way off He would see This Verna knew to be absolutely untrue, but Denhan, inti that there was more where that came from when the service required should be accomplished That worthy strode off into the forest on the spot
Verna was rather silent as they sat and waited That curious instinctive consciousness of being watched or folloas upon her
She did not believe that Mandevu had come upon them bywith hiainst him twice at Ezulwini Now if they, or either of the watched, to what end? And here she owned herself puzzled
Presently Mandevu reappeared with two boys Meanwhile Denha his prize with some subtle chemical substance by way of preservative He did not notice that none of them looked in the direction of the skeleton, plainly visible from there He was too intent upon his new find But Verna did However, as she had said, she knew the people, so forbore to remark upon it Yet a muttered exclamation on the part of one of the two did not escape her
”_Whau_! The snake of Sebela! It, too, is dead”
And hearing it, a good deal of the mystery of the skeleton was solved
For she had known Sebela--alive The forest had its secrets Its shades witnessed scenes intensely huolden
CHAPTER TWENTY
SERGEANT dickINSON'S FIND
Meanwhile so circueant dickinson, NP, stationed at Makanya, was--as we heard Harry Stride say in substance--an astute officer So astute was he as to render him unpopular with a section of the natives, and notably with those ere disaffected Twice, indeed, had his life been attempted by these, but with fir,” such attempts had not seriously affected him They were ”all in the day's work,” and only served to create a little excitement in an otherwise rather monotonous round
Harry Stride's find of the saddle below the Bobi drift had come to hiht about it a good deal, and round and round; but this was after he had started with one of the four troopers under his co the several hours of difficult and rugged forest path in the direction of the find