Part 10 (1/2)

Then some of the wo those”

I followed their glance A group of ether, their looks wildly i that mercy they kneould be useless to ask Already our warriors were bounding upon them with uplifted spears But I ran forward and ordered the, Chief of the Blue Cattle!” I cried aloud in a greatlion, lord of thousands and thousands of spears What was my 'word' but this day? That the next time the Chief of the Bakoni saw my face it would be in the forefront of the destroyers; and it is so But how do I again behold the chief of soto the death? Not so It is crouching low, and weeping even as these miserable woust, the sharp click sounding in chorus like the cracking of sticks ”_Bayete, Nkulu 'nkulu_!” theylion, who roars louder than the Lion of the Amandebeli”

Thus they jeered the fallen chief, and aave orders that he should be tied with his right hand to his left ankle, so that he could walk only with great difficulty This I did, _Nkose_, because he was conteh he was doomed, I would have spared him insult; but for a chief, the chief of a nation, to crouch a the women and whine for mercy--_au_! he deserved all that befell him

”Now,” I cried, when I had set aside those who, ”as for these, they shall have a choice of deaths

Yonder the cliff is high, and the way thereto is sive them a fair chance Go now, ye that reahle_!”

The warriors roared aloud at this jest Those of the vanquished ere left alive started to run, doubtless hoping to find a way of escape But there was none such, for the cliff went down in a save the word, and the young men leaped forward in pursuit, and in a moment that sunny cliff broas red with death Every one of the Bakoni had been forced to spring froht or was speared

CHAPTER TEN

THE MYSTERY QUEEN

While the young aze over the faces of the prisoners e had spared, and as I did so it fell upon a countenance which ai The lance, and shook with fear And well heof red ochre, I knew that face and he saw that I did--knew it for the face of the deserter, the slave Maroane

”Spare ue ”Spare --soive !” I said ”Speak or die!”

But he would not He talked swiftly and low in the Sechuana tongue, which none of our people understood, urging o apart with him for a space

Just then the mountain-top was covered with our warriors, for Kalipe's _ihest excite, so for wounds they had received, but the hubbub of voices was enough to et Maroane apart unobserved

”Now, slave, thy last hour has cos?”

”Spare my life, father, and they shall be yours,” he said ”Only pro the point of my spear ”If what thou showest me is worth thy miserable life, then I will not take it

But speak, or I slay thee here That is my 'word'”

He kneas He knew that I was not one to speak twice

”Come with me, father,” he said ”But--coh roup who jeered and threatened thehi an order here, and a word of advice there, inon a round of inspection, and then thought noat all The while Maroane had been craftily leading ained the rocky cone which arose from the further end Then, as we passed behind it, and the people were lost to view, Maroane bent down suddenly in the grass and dragged out by the heels the dead body of ato ht,” he said