 Chapter 7 of She and Alam We spent three more days at that place. First it was necessary to allow time to elapse before the gases which generated in their great bodies caused those of the sea cows which had been killed in the water to float. Then they must be skinned and their thick hides cut into stripes and pieces to be traded for shumbocks or to make small native shields for which some of the East Coast tribes will pay heavily. All this took a long while during which I am used or disgusted myself in watching those Rebernatives devouring the flesh of the beasts. The lean what there was of it, they dried and smoked into a kind of bill-tongue but a great deal of the fat they ate at once. I had the curiosity to weigh a lump which was given to one thin hungry looking fellow. It scaled quite twenty pounds. Within four hours he had eaten it to the last ounce and lay there a distended and torpid log. What would not we white people give for such a digestion? At last all was over and we started homewards, the man with a broken leg being carried in a kind of litter. On the edge of the bush-weld we found the wagon, quite safe, also one of Captain Robertson's that had followed us from Stratmer in order to carry the expected load of hippopotamus hides and ivory. I asked my forloper if anything had happened during our absence. He answered nothing but on the previous evening after dark he had seen a glow in the direction of Stratmer which lay on somewhat lower ground about twenty miles away as though numerous fires had been lighted there. It struck him so much he added that he climbed a tree to observe it better. He did not think however that any building had been burnt there as the glow was not strong enough for that. I suggested that it was caused by some grass fire or reed burning to which he replied indifferently that he did not think so as the line of the glow was not sufficiently continuous. There the matter ended though I confess that the story made me anxious for what exact reason I could not say. Unslopogas also would listen to it for our talk was in Sulu looked grave but made no remark. But as since his tree-climbing experience he had been singularly silent. Of this I thought little. We had trekked at a time which we calculated would bring us to Stratmer about an hour before sundown allowing for a short halt halfway. As my oxen were got in more quickly than those of the other wagon after this outspan I was the first away followed at a little distance by Unslopogas who preferred to walk with the Sulus. The truth was that I could not get that story about the glow of fires out of my mind and was anxious to push on which had caused me to hurry up the in spanning. Perhaps we had covered a couple of miles of the ten or twelve which still lay between us and Stratmer when far off on the crest of one of the waves of the veld which must resemble those of the swelling sea frozen while in motion. We saw small figure approaching us at a rapid trot. Somehow that figure suggested hands to my mind so much so that I fetched my glasses to examine it more closely. A short scrutiny through them convinced me that hands it was hands and no other advancing at great pace. Filled with uneasiness I ordered the driver to flog up the oxen with the result that in a little over five minutes we met. Halting the wagon I leapt from the wagon box and calling to Unslopogas who had kept up with us at a slow swinging trot went to Hans who when he saw me stood still at a little distance swinging his apology for a hat in his hand and as was his fashion when ashamed or perplexed. What is the matter, Hans, I asked when we were within speaking distance. Oh, Bars, everything! he answered and I noticed that he kept his eyes fixed upon the ground and that his lips twitched. Speak, you fool, and in sullo, I said, for by now Unslopogas had joined me. Bars, he answered in that tongue, a terrible thing has come about at the farm of red-beard yonder. Just the day afternoon at the time when people are in deep habit of sleeping there till the sun grows less hot a body of great men with fierce faces so carried big spares perhaps there were fifty of them. Bars crept up to the place through the long grass and growing crops and attacked it. Did you see them come, I asked. No, Bars, I was watching at a little distance as you bade me do and the sun being hot I shut my eyes to keep out the glare of it so that I did not see them until they had passed me and heard the noise. You mean that you were asleep or drunk, Hans, but go on. Bars, I do not know, he answered shame facedly, but after that I climbed a tall tree with a kind of bush at the top of it. I ascertained afterwards that this was a sort of leafy-crowned palm and from it I saw everything without being seen. What did you see, Hans, I asked him. I saw the big men run up and make a kind of circle round the village then they shouted and the people in the village came out to see what was the matter. To mars on some of the men could sight of them first and run away fast into the hillside at the back where the trees grow before the circle was complete. Then the women and the children came out and the big men killed them with their spares. All, all! Good God, I exclaimed, and what happened at the house and to the lady. Bars, some of the men had surrounded that also and when she heard the noise the lady's sad eyes came out onto the stoop and with her came the two sulus of the axe who had been left sick but were now quite recovered. A number of the big men ran as though to take her but the two sulus made a great fight in front of the little steps of the stoop having their backs protected by the stoop and killed six of them before they themselves were killed. Also sad eyes shot one with a pistol she carried and wounded another so that the spear fell out of his hand. Then the rest fell on her and tied her up setting her in a chair on the stoop where two remained as to watch her. They did her no hurt, Bars. Indeed they seemed to treat her as gently as they could. Also they went into the house and there they caught that tall fat yellow girl who always smiles and is called Janne. She who waits upon the lady's sad eyes and brought her out to her. I think they told her, Bars, that she must look after her mistress and that if she tried to run away she would be killed. For afterwards I saw Janne bring her food and other things. And then hunts. Then, Bars, most of the great men rested a while though some of them went through the store gathering such things as they liked blankets, knives and iron cooking pots but they set fire to nothing. Nor did they try to catch the cattle. Also they took dry wood from the pile and lit big fires, eight or nine of them and when the sun set they began to feast. What did they feast on, Hans? If they took no cattle, I asked with a shiver for I was afraid of I knew not what. Bars answered Hans, turning his head away and looking at the ground. They feasted on the children whom they had killed also on some of the young women. These tall soldiers are man-eaters, Bars. At this horrible intelligence I turned faint and felt as though I was going to fall but recovering myself signed to him to go on with his story. They feasted quite nicely, Bars, he continued, making no noise. Then some of them slept while others watched and that went on all night. As soon as it was dark but before the moon rose I slid down the tree and crept round to the back of the house without being seen or heard as I can, Bars. I got into the house by the back door and crawled to the window of the sitting room. It was open and peeping through, I saw sad eyes still tied to the seat on the stoop not more than a pace away while the girl Janee crouched on the floor at her feet. I think she was asleep or fainting. I made a little noise like a night at her hissing and kept on making it till at last sad eyes turned her head. Then I spoke in a very low whisper, for fear lest I should wake the two guards who were dosing on either side of her, wrapped in their blankets, saying, It is I, Hans, come to help you. You cannot, she answered, also speaking very low, get to your master and tell him and my father to follow. These men are called Amahager and live far away across the river. They are going to take me to their home as I understand to rule them because they want a white woman to be a queen over them who have always been ruled by a certain white queen against whom they have rebelled. I do not think they mean to do me any harm, unless perhaps they want to marry me to their chief, but of this I am not sure from their talk, which I understand badly. Now go before they catch you. I think you might get away, I whispered back. I will cut your bonds. When you are free, slip through the window and I will guide you. Very well try it, she said. So I drew my knife and stretched out my arm. If the great medicine had still been there, I might have known better. I forgot the starlight which shone upon the blade of the knife. That girl Jenny came out of her sleep or swoon, lifted her head and saw the knife. She screamed once. Then at a word from her mistress was silent, but it was enough for it woke up the guards who glared about them and threatened Jenny with their great spares. Also they went to sleep no more, but began to talk together, though what they said I could not hear, for I was hiding on the floor of the room. After this knowing that I could do no good and might do harm and get myself killed, I crept out of the house as I had crept in and crawled back to my tree. Why did you not come to me, I asked. Because I still hoped I might be able to help sad eyes, bars. Also I wanted to see what happened and I knew that I could not bring your hair in time to be any good. Yes it is true, I thought of coming, though I did not know the road. Perhaps you were right. At the first dawn, continued Hans, the great men who are called Amahagar rose and ate what was left over from the night before. Then they gathered themselves together and went to the house. Here they found a large chair that seated with rimpice in which the bar's red bed sits and lashed two poles to the chair. Beneath the chair they tied the garments and other things of the lady, sad eyes, which they made Jani gather as sad eyes directed her. This done, very gently they sat sad eyes herself in the chair, bowing while they made hers fast. After this eight of them set the poles upon their shoulders and they all went away at a trot, heading for the bush-veld, driving with them a herd of goats, which they had stolen from the farm, and making Jani run by the chair. I saw everything, bar's, for they passed just beneath my tree. Then I came to seek you, following the outward spore of the wagons, which I could not have done well at night. That is all, bar's. Hans, I said, you have been drinking, and because of it the lady's sad eyes is taken a prisoner by cannibals, for had you been awake and watching, you might have seen them coming and saved her and the rest. Still afterwards you did well, and for the rest you must answer to heaven. I must tell you, Reverend Father, the predicate bar's, that the white master Redbird gave me the liquor, and it is rude not to do, as a great white master does, and drink it up. I'm sure he will understand, bar's, said Hans objectively. I thought to myself that it was true, and that the spear which Robertson cast had fallen upon his own head, as the Sulus say, but I made no answer, lacking time for argument. Did you say, asked Umslopogas, speaking for the first time, that my servants killed only six of these men-eaters? Hans nodded and answered, Yes, six. I counted the bodies. It was ill done. They should have killed six each, said Umslopogas moodily. Well, they have left them all for us to finish. And he fingered the great axe. Just then Captain Robertson arrived in his wagon, calling out anxiously to know what was the matter, for some premonition of evil seemed to have struck him. My heart sank at the sight of him, for how was I to tell such a story to the father of the murdered children and of the abducted girl? In the end I felt that I could not. Yes, I turned coward, and saying that I must fetch something out of the wagon, bolted into it, bidding Hans go forward and repeat his tale. He obeyed unwillingly enough, and looking out between the curtains of the wagon tent, I saw all that happened, though I could not hear the words that passed. Robertson had halted the auction, and jumping from the wagon box strode forward, and met Hans, who began to speak with him, twitching his hat in his hands. Gradually, as the tale progressed, I saw the captain's face freeze into a mask of horror. Then he began to argue and deny, then to weep. Oh, it was a terrible sight to see that great man weeping over those whom he had lost, and in such a fashion. After this a kind of blind rage seized him, and I thought he was going to kill Hans, who was of the same opinion, for he ran away. Next he staggered about, shaking his fists, cursing and shouting. Presently he fell of a heap and lay face-downwards, beating his head against the ground and groaning. Now I went to him and sat up. That's a pretty historic water-main, which this little yellow monkey has been jibbering at me. Man, do you understand what he says? He says that all those half-blood children of mine are dead, murdered by savages from over the Sambesi, yes, and eaten too, with their mothers. Do you take the point, eaten like lambs, those fires your man saw last night, for the fires on which they were cooked, my little so-and-so and so-and-so, and he mentioned half a dozen different names. Yes, cooked water-main, and that isn't all of it. They have taken Enis too. They didn't eat her, but they have dragged her off a captain for God knows what reason. I couldn't understand. The whole ship's crew is gone, except the captain absent on leave and the first officer, Tomaso, who deserted with some lasker stalkers, and left the women and children to their fate. My God, I'm going mad! I'm going mad! If you have any mercy in you, give me something to drink. All right, I said. I will. Sit here and wait a minute. Then I went to the wagon and pulled out a stiff tot of spirits into which I put an amazing dose of bromide from a little medicine chest I always carry with me, and thirty drops of chlorideine on the top of it. All this compound I mixed up with a little water and took it to him in a tin cup so that he could not see the color. He drank it at a gulp, and, throwing the panicking aside, sat down on the bell, groaning while the company watched him at a respectful distance, for Hans had joined the others, and his tail had spread like fire in draught-parched grass. In a few minutes the draughts began to take effect upon Robertson's tortured nerves, for he rose and said quietly, What now? Vengeance, or rather justice, I answered. Yes, he exclaimed, Vengeance, I swear that I will be avenged or die or both. Again I saw my opportunity and said, You must swear more than that, Robertson. Only sober men can accomplish great things, for drink destroys the judgment. If you wish to be avenged for the dead and to rescue the living, you must be sober, or I for one will not help you. Will you help me if I do? To the end, good or ill? Quarter-main, he added. I nodded. That's as much as another's, O thee. He muttered, Still, I will put my thought in words. I swear by God, by my mother, like these natives, and by my daughter born in honest marriage, that I will never touch another drop of strong drink until I have avenged those poor women and their little children and rescued Enis from their murders. Of course, if I do, you may put a bullet through me. That's all right, I said in an orphaned fashion, though inwardly I glowed with pride at the success of my great idea, for at the time I thought it great and went on. Now, let us get to business. The first thing to do is to trek to Stratmer and make preparations. The next to start upon the trail. Come to sit on the wagon with me and tell me what guns and ammunition you have got, for according to Hans, those savages don't seem to have touched anything, except a few blankets and a herd of goats. He did, as I asked, telling me all he could remember. Then he said, It is a strange thing, but now I recall that about two years ago a great savage with a high nose who talked a sort of Arabic, which, like Enis, I understand, having lived on the coast, turned up one day and said he wanted to trade. I asked him what in, and he answered that he would like to buy some children. I told him that I was not a slave dealer. Then he looked at Enis, who was moving about, and said that he would like to buy her to be a wife for his chief and offered some fabulous sum in ivory and in gold, which he said should be paid before she was taken away. I snatched his big spear from his hand, broke it over his head, and gave him the best hiding with his shaft that he had ever heard of. Then I kicked him off the place. He limped away, but when he was out of reach, turned and called out that one day he would come again with others and take her, meaning Enis, without leaving the price in ivory and gold. I ran for my gun, but when I got back he had gone and I never thought of the matter again from that day to this. Well, he kept his promise, I said, but Robertson made no answer for by this time that thundering dose of rumide and loudanum had taken effect upon him and he had fallen asleep, of which I was glad, for I thought that this sleep would save his sanity as I believe it did for a while. We reached Thratmir towards sunset too late to think of attempting the pursuit that day. Indeed, during our trek I had thought the matter out carefully and come to the conclusion that to try to do so would be useless. We must rest and make preparations. Also, there was no hope of our overtaking these brutes who already had a clear twelve-hour start by a sudden spurt. They must be run down patiently by following their spore if indeed they could be run down at all before they vanished into the vast recesses of unknown Africa. The most we could do this night was to get ready. Captain Robertson was still sleeping when we passed the village and on this I was heartily glad since the remains of a cannibal feast are not pleasant to behold especially when they are indeed of these I determined to be rid at once. So, slipping off the wagon with hands and some of the farm boys for none of the Sulus would defile themselves by touching such human remnants. I made up two of the smoldering fires, the light of which the forloper had seen upon the sky to them cast or cause to be cast those poor fragments. Also, I told the farm natives to dig a big grave and in it to place the other bodies and generally to remove the traces of murder. Then I went on to the house and not too soon seeing the wagons arrive and having made sure that the Amahaggar were gone to Marso and the other cowards emerged from their hiding places and returned. Fortunately for the former, the first person he met was Umslupogas who began to revile the fat half-bread in no measure turns calling him dog, coward and other appropriate names such as deserter of women and children and so forth, all of which someone translated. To Marso, an insolent person tried to swagger the matter out saying that he had gone to get assistance infuriated at this lie, Umslupogas leapt upon him with a roar and though he was a strong man dealt with him as a lion dust with a buck lifting him from his feet he hurled him to the ground then as his strove to rise and run caught him again and as it seemed to me was about to break his back across his knee just at this juncture I arrived Let the man go, I shouted to him Is there not enough death here already? Yes, answered Umslupogas I think there is best that this shaggall should live to eat his own shame and he cast to Marso to the ground where he lay groaning Robertson, who was still asleep in the wagon woke up at the noise and descended from it looking dazed I got him to the house and in doing so made my way past or rather between the bodies of the two Sulus and of the six men whom they had killed also of him whom Ines had shot those Sulus had made a splendid fight for they were covered with wounds all of them in front as I found upon examination having made Robertson lie down upon his bed I took a good look at the slain Amahagar they were magnificent men all of them tall, spare and shapely with very clear cut features and rather frizzled hair from these characteristics as well as the lightness of their color I concluded that they were of a Semitic or Arab type and that the admixture of their blood with that of the Bantus was but slight if indeed there were any at all their spears which one had been cut through the blow of the Sulus axe were long and broad not unlike those used by the Maasai but of finer workmanship by this time the sun was setting and thoroughly tired by all that I had gone through I went into the house to get something to eat having told Hans to find food and prepare a meal as I sat down Robertson joined me and I made him also eat his first impulse was to go to the cupboard fetch the spirit bottle indeed he rose to do so Hans is making coffee I said warningly thank you he answered I forgot force of habit you know here I may state that never from that moment did I see him touch another drop of liquor not even when I drank my modest tot in front of him his triumph over temptation was splendid and complete especially as the absence of his accustomed potations made him ill for some time and of course depressed his spirits with painful results that were apparent in due course in fact the man became totally changed he grew gloomy but resourceful also full of patience only one idea obsessed him to rescue his daughter and avenge the murder of his people indeed except his sins he thought of and found interest in nothing else moreover his iron constitution cast off all the effects of his past debauchery and he grew so strong that although I was pretty tough in those days he could out tire me to return I engaged him in conversation and with his help made a list of what we should require on our vendetta journey all of which served to occupy his mind then I sent him to bed saying that I would call him before dawn having first put a little more bromide into his third cup of coffee after this I turned in and notwithstanding the sight of those remains of the cannibal feast and the knowledge of the dead men who lie outside my window I slept like a top indeed it was the captain who awakened me not I the captain saying that daylight was on the break we had better be stirring so we went down to the store where I was thankful to find that everything had been tidied up in accordance with my directions on our way Robertson asked me what had become of the remains where on I pointed to the smoldering ashes of one of the great fires he went to it and kneeling down said a prayer in broad scotch doubtless one that he had learned at his mother's knee then he took some of the ashes from the edge of the pyre for such it was and threw them into the glowing embers where as he knew lay all that was left of those who had sprung from him also he tossed others of them into the air though what he meant by this I did not understand and never asked probably it was some right indicative of expiation or of revenge or both which he had learnt from the savages among whom he had lived so long after this we went into the store and with the help of some of the natives or half-breads who had accompanied us on the sea cow expedition selected all the goods we wanted which we sent to the house as we returned thither I saw on Slopogas and his men engaged with the usual solar ceremonies in burying their two companions in a hole they had made in the hillside I noted however that they did not enter their war axes or their throwing spares with them as usual probably because they thought that these might be needed in place of them they put with the dead little models roughly shaped of bits of wood which models they killed by first breaking them across I lingered to watch the funeral and heard Goroko the witch doctor make a little speech Oh father and chief of the axe he said addressing on Slopogas who stood silent leaning on his weapon and watching all a potentious figure in the morning mist Oh father Oh son of the heavens this was an illusion the royal blood on Slopogas of which the secret was well known although it would never have been spoken aloud in Sululand Oh slaughterer Bolalio Oh woodpecker who picks the hearts of men Oh king slayer Oh conqueror of the halakasi Oh victor in a hundred fights Oh gatherer of the lily bloom that faded in the hand Oh wolf man captain of the wolves that raven Oh slayer of the faku Oh great one whom it pleases to seem small because he must follow his blood to the end appointed this was the opening of the speech the bongaing or giving of titles of praise to the person addressed of which I have quoted but a sample for there were many more of them that I have gotten then the speaker went on it was told to me though of it I remember nothing that when my spirit was in me a while ago I prophesied that this place would flow with blood and lo the blood has flowed and with it that of these our brothers and he gave the names of the two dead sulus also those are their forefathers for several generations it seems father that they died well as you would have wished them to die and as doubtless they decide to die themselves leaving a tale behind them though it is true that they might have died better killing more of the men eaters as it is certain they would have done had they not been sick inside they are finished they have gone beyond to await us in the underworld among the ghosts their stories told and soon to their children they will be but names whispered in honour after the son has said enough of them who have showed us how to die as our fathers did before them Koroko paused a while then added with a waving of his hands my spirit comes to me again and I know that these our brothers shall not pass unavenged chief of the axe great glory awaits the axe for it shall feed full I have spoken good words granted unslapogas then he saluted the dead by racing in Kosikas and came to me to consult about our journey End of Chapter 7 of She and Alan by H. Ryder Haggard read by Losh Rolander Chapter 8 of She and Alan This is a Librivox recording all Librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Librivox.org reading by Losh Rolander She and Alan by H. Ryder Haggard Chapter 8 Pursuit After all we did not get away much before noon because first there was a great deal to be done to begin with the loads had to be arranged these consisted largely of ammunition everything else being cut down to an irreducible minimum to carry them we took two donkeys there they were on the place also half a dozen pack oxen all of which animals were supposed to be salted that is to have suffered and recovered from every kind of sickness including the bite of the deadly tsetse fly I suspected it is true that they would not be proof against further attacks still I hope that they would last for some time as indeed proved to be the case in the event of the beasts failing us we took also ten of the best of those stratmer men who had accompanied us on the sea cow trip to serve as bearers when it became necessary it cannot be said that these snuff and butterfellows for most if not all of them had some dash of white blood in their veins were exactly willing volunteers indeed if a choice had been left to them they would I think have declined this adventure but there was no choice their master robertson ordered them to come and after a glance at the sulus they concluded that the command was one which would be enforced and that if they stopped behind it would not be a slaving man also some of them had lost wives and children in the slaughter which if they were not very brave filled them with the desire for revenge lastly they could all shoot after a fashion and had good rifles moreover if I may say so I think that they put confidence in my leadership so they made the best of a bad business and got themselves ready then arrangements must be made about the carrying on of the farm and store during our absence these together with my wagon and oxen were put in the charge of tomaso since there was no one else who could be trusted at all a very battered and crestfallen tomaso by the way when he heard of it he was much relieved since I think he feared lest he also should be expected to take part in the hunt of the amahagar man eaters also it may have occurred for him that in all probability none of us would ever come back at all in which case by a process of natural devolution he might find himself the owner of the business and much valuable property however he swore by sundry saints for tomaso was nominally a catholic that he would look after everything as though it were his own as no doubt he hoped it might become argon fat pig sedum sluporgas hence obligingly translating so that there might be no mistake if I come back and come back I shall who travel with a great medicine and find even one of the cattle of the white lord makumasan watcher by night missing or one article stolen from his wagon or the feels of your master not cultivated or his goods wasted I swear by the axe while you you're into pieces with the axe yes if to do it I have to hunt you from where the sun rises to where it sits and down the length of the night between do you understand fat pig deserter of women and children who to save yourself could run faster than a buck tomaso replied that he understood very clearly indeed and that heaven helping him all should be kept safe and sound still I was sure that in his manly heart he was promising in great gifts to the saints if they would so arrange matters at unsluporgas and his axe were never seen at strutmer again and reflecting that after all the amahagar had their uses however as I did not trust him in the least much against their will I left my driver and forloper to guard my belongings at last we did get off pursued by the fervent blessings of tomaso and the prayers of the others that we would avenge their murdered relatives we were a curious and motley procession first went hunts because at following a spore he was I believe almost unequaled in Africa and with him on sluporgas and three of his sulus to guard against surprise these were followed by captain robertson who seemed to prefer to walk alone and whom I thought it best to leave undisturbed then I came and after me struggled the strutmer boys for the pack animals the cavalcade being closed by the remaining sulus under the command of goroco these worked last in case any of the mixed bloods should attempt to desert as we thought it quite probable that they would less than an hour's tramp brought us to the bushwald where I feared our travels might begin since if the amahagar were cunning they would take advantage of it to confuse or hide their spore as it chanced however they had done nothing of the sort and a child could have followed their march just before nightfall we came to their first halting place where they had made a fire and eaten one of the herd of farm goats which they had driven away with them although they left the cattle I suppose because goats are docile and travel well hans showed us everything that had happened where the chair in which Ines was carried was set down where she and Jenny had been allowed to walk that she might stretch her stiff limbs the dregs of some coffee that evidently Jenny had made in a saucepan and so forth he even told us the exact number of the amahagar which is said totaled 41 including the man whom Ines had wounded or he distinguished from that of the others both by an occasional drop of blood and because he walked lightly on his right foot doubtless for the reason that he wished to avoid jarring his wound which was on that side at this spot we were obliged to stay till daybreak since it was impossible to follow the spore by night a circumstance that gave the cannibals a great advantage over us the next two days were repetitions of the first forth we passed out of the bushveld into the swamp country that bordered the great river here our task was still easy since the amahagar had followed one of the paths made by the river dwellers who had their habitations on mounds though whether these were natural or artificial I'm not sure and sometimes on floating islands on our second day in the reeds we came upon a sad sight and our lifts to one of these mown villages if a village it could be called since it consisted only of four or five huts inhabited perhaps by twenty people we went up to it to obtain information and stumbled across the body of an old man lying in the pathway a few yards further on we found the ashes of a big fire and by it such remains as we had seen at Strutmer here there had been another cannibal feast the miserable huts were empty but as it Strutmer had not been burnt we were going away when the acute airs of huns caught the sound of groans we searched about and in a clump of reeds near the foot of the mound we found an old woman with a great spear wound just about her skinny thigh piercing deep into the vitals part of a nature which is not immediately mortal one of Robertson's people who understood the language of these swamp dwellers well spoke to her she told him that she wanted water it was brought and she drank copiously then in an answer to his question she began to talk she said that the Amahagar had attacked the village and killed all who could not escape they had eaten a young woman and three children she had been wounded by a spear and fled away into the place where we found her where none of them took the trouble to follow her as she was not worth eating by my direction the man asked her whether she knew anything of these Amahagar she replied that her grandfathers had though she had heard nothing of them since she was a child which must have been 70 years before they were a fierce people who lived far up north across the great river the remnants of a race that had once ruled the world her grandfathers used to say that they were not always cannimals but had become so long before because of a lack of food and now had acquired the taste it was for this purpose that they still waited to get other people to eat since their ruler would not allow them to eat one another the flesh of cattle they did not care for although they had plenty of them but sometimes they ate goats and pigs because they said they tasted like man according to her grandfathers they were a very evil people and full of magic all of this the old woman told us quite briskly after she had drunk the water I think because her wound had mortified and she felt no pain her information however as is common with the aged dealt entirely with a far past history of the amahagher since the days of her forebears she knew nothing nor had she seen anything of Enes all she could tell us was that some of them had attacked her village at dawn and that when she ran out to the hut she was spared while Robertson and I were wondering what we should do with a poor old creature whom it seemed cruel to leave here to perish she cleared up the question by suddenly expiring before our eyes uttering the name of someone with whom doubtless she had been familiar in her youth three or four times over she just sank down and seemed to go to sleep and on examination we found that she was dead so we left her and went on next day we came to the edge of the great river here a sheet of placid running water about a mile across for at this time of the year it was low perceiving quite a big village on our left we went to it and made inquiries to find that it had not been attacked by the cannibals probably because it was too powerful but the three nights before some of their canoes had been stolen in which no doubt these had crossed the river as the people of this village had traded with Robertson and Stratmir we had no difficulty in obtaining other canoes from them in which there was some besie in return for one of our oxen that I could see was already sickening from tzitzibite these canoes were large enough to take the donkeys that were patient creatures and stood still but the cattle we could not get into them for fear of an upset so we killed the two driven beasts that were left to us and took them with us as dead meat for food while the three remaining pack oxen we tried to swim across them after the canoes with hydrains around their horns as a result two were drowned but one a bold hearted and enterprising animal gained the other bank here again we struck a sea of reeds in which after casting about Hans once more found a spore of the amahager that it was theirs beyond doubt was proved by the circumstance that on a thorny kind of weed we found a fragment of cotton dress which because of the pattern stamped on it we all recognized as one of that enus had been wearing at first I thought that this had been torn off by the thorns but on examination we became certain that it had been placed there purposely probably by Janey to give us a clue this conclusion was confirmed when at subsequent periods of the hunt we found other fragments of the same garment now it would be useless for me to set out the details of this prolonged and arduous chase which in all endured for something over three weeks again and again we lost the trail and were only able to recover it by long and elaborate search which occupied much time then after we escaped from the reeds and swamps we found ourselves upon stony uplands where the spore was almost impossible to follow indeed we only rediscovered it by stumbling across the dead body of that cannibal whom Enus had wounded evidently he had perished from his hurt which I could see had mortified from the state of his remains we gathered that the raiders must be about two days march ahead of us striking their spore again on softer ground where the impress of their feet remained at any rate to the cunning sight of hans we followed them down across great valleys where in trees grew sparsely which valleys were separated from each other by ridges of high and barren land on these belts of rocky soil our difficulties were great but here twice we were put on the right track by more fragments torn from the dress of Enus at length we lost the spore altogether not a sign of it was to be found we had no idea which way to go all about us appeared these valleys covered with scattered bush running this way and that so that we could not tell which of them to follow or to cross the thing seemed hopeless for how could we expect to find a little body of men in that immensity hans shook his head and even the fierce instead fast roberson was discouraged I fear my poor lassie is gone he said and relapsed into brooding from his want never say die it's dogged as does it I replied cheerfully in the words of Nelson who also had learned what it meant to hunt an enemy over trackless waters although his were of water I walked to the top of the rice where we were in camp and sat down alone to think matters over our condition was somewhat parlous all our beasts were now dead even the second donkey which was the last of them having perished that morning and been eaten for food was scanty since of late we had met with little game the stratmer men who now must carry the loads were almost worn out and doubtless would have deserted except for the fact that there was no place to which they could go even the seoulers were discouraged and said they had come away from home across the great river to fight not to run about in wilderness and starve though omslopogas made no complaint being buoyed up by the promise of his soothsayer that battle was ahead of him in which he would win great glory hands however remained cheerful for the reason as he remarked vacuously that the great medicine was with us and that therefore however bad things seemed to be all in fact was well an argument that carried no conviction to my soul it was on a certain evening towards sunset that I went away thus alone I looked about me east and west and north everywhere appeared the same bush-clad valleys and barren rises miles upon miles of them I bethought me of the map that old Sicali had drawn in the ashes and remembered that it showed these valleys and rises and that beyond them there should be a great swamp and beyond the swamp a mountain so it seemed that we were on the right road to the home of the white queen if such a person existed or at any rate we were passing of a country similar to that which he had pictured or imagined but at this time I was not troubling my head about white queens I was thinking of poor Enos that she was alive a few days before we knew from the fragments but where was she now the spore was utterly lost on that stony ground or if any traces of it remained a heavy deluge of rain had washed them away even Hans had confessed himself beaten I stared about me helplessly and as I did so a flying ray of light from the setting sun reflected downwards from a storm cloud fell upon a white patch on the crest of one of the distant land waves it struck me that probably limestone outcropped at this spot as indeed proved to be the case also that such a patch of white would be a convenient guide for any who were travelling across that sea of bush further some instinct within seemed to impel me to stare for it although I had all but made up my mind to go in a totally different direction many more points to these it was almost as though a voice were calling to me to take this path and no other doubtless this was an effect produced by weariness and mental over strain still there it was very real and tangible one that I did not attempt to combat so next morning at the dawn I head in north by west laying my course for that white patch and for the first time breaking the straight line of our advance captain Robertson whose temper had not been bettered by prolonged and frightful anxiety or I may add by his unaccustomed abstinence asked me rather roughly why I was altering the course look here captain I answered if we were at sea and you did something of the sort I should not put such question to you and if by any chance I did I should not expect you to answer well by your own wish I am in command here and I think that the same argument holds yes he replied I suppose you have studied your chart if there is any of this God forsaken country and at any rate discipline is discipline so steam ahead and don't mind me the others accepted my decision without comment most of them were so miserable that they did not care which way we went also they were good enough to repose confidence in my judgment doubtless the boss has reasons said Hans dubiously although this poor when last we saw it headed towards the rising sun and as the countries all the same I do not see why those man eaters should have returned yes I said I have reasons although in fact I had none at all answer made me with a watery eye as the waiting for me to explain them but I looked haughty and declined to bludge the boss has reasons continued Hans for taking us on what I think to be the wrong side of that great ridge there to hunt for the spore of the many eaters and they are so deep down in his mind that he cannot dig them up for poor old Hans to look at well the boss wears the great medicine and perhaps it is there that the reasons sit though Strachmir follows say that they can go no further and wish to die whom Sloporgas has just gone to them with his axe to tell them that he is ready to help them to their wish look he's got there for they are coming quickly who after all prefer to live well we started for my white patch of stones which no one else had noticed and of which I said nothing to anyone and reached it by the following evening to find as I expected that it was a lime outcrop but now we were in a poor way for we had practically nothing left to eat which did not tend to raise the spirits of the party also that lime outcrop proved to be an interesting spot overlooking a wide valley which seemed to suggest that there were other valleys of a similar sort beyond it and nothing more captain Robertson said stern faced and despondent at a distance muttering into his beard as had become a habit with him whom Sloporgas leaned upon his axe and contemplated the heavens also occasionally by the Strachmir men who cowered beneath his eye and squatted about sharing such snuff as remained to them in economic pinches Kuroko the witch doctor engaged himself in consulting his spirit by means of bone throwing upon the humble subject or whether or no we should succeed in killing any game for food tomorrow a point on which I gathered that his spirit was quite uncertain in short the gloom was deep and universal and the sky looked as though hands became sarcastic sneaking up to me in his most aggravating way like a dog that means to steal something and cover up the theft with simulated affection he pointed out one by one all the disadvantages of our present position he indicated per contra that if his advice had been followed his conviction was that even if we had not found the man eaters and rescued the lady called sad eyes our state would have been quite different he was sure he added that the valley which he had suggested we should follow was one full of game in as much as he'd seen their spore at its entrance then why did you not say so I asked Hans sucked at his empty corn cob pipe which was his way of indicating that he would like me to give him some tobacco much as a dog groans heavily under the table when he wants a bit to eat and answered that it was not for him to point out things to one who knew everything like the great makumasan watcher by night his honored master still the luck did seem to have gone a bit wrong the privations could have been put up with here he sucked very loudly at the empty pipe and looked at mine which was a light everything could have been put up with if only there had been a chance of coming even with those many tears and rescuing the lady sad eyes whose face haunted his sleep as it was however he was convinced that by following the course I had mapped out we had lost their spore finally and that probably they were now three days much away in another direction still the boss had said that he had his reasons and that of course was enough for him hence only if the boss would send to tell him he would as a matter of curiosity like to know what the reasons were at that moment I confess that much as I was to touch him I should have liked to murder hands who I felt believing that he had me on toast to use a vulgar phrase was taking advantage of my position to make a mock of me in his sly hot and hot way I tried to continue to look grand but felt that the attitude did not impress then I stared about me as though taking counsel with the heavens devoutly hoping that the heavens would respond to my mute appeal as a matter of fact they did there is my reason hands I said in my most icy voice and I pointed to a faint line of smoke rising against the twilight sky on the further side of the intervening valley you will perceive hands I added that those amahager cannibals have forgotten their caution and lit a fire jonder which they have not done for a long time perhaps you would like to know why this has happened if so I will tell you it is because for some days past I have purposely lost their spore which they knew we were following and lit fires to puzzle them now thinking that they have done with us they have become incautious and shown us where they are that is my reason hands he heard and although of course he did not believe that I had lost the spore and purpose stared at me till I thought his little eyes were going to drop out of his head but even in his admiration he contrived to convey an insult as only a native can how wonderful is the great medicine of the opener of roads that it should have been able thus to instruct the bars he said without doubt the great medicine is right and yonder those men eaters are encamped who might just as well as have been anywhere else within a hundred miles draft the great medicine I replied but beneath my breath then added aloud be so good hands as to go to umslupogas and to tell him that makumazan or the great medicine proposes to march at once to attack the camp of the amager and here is some tobacco yes boss answered hands humbly as he snatched the tobacco and wriggled away like a worm then I went to talk with the robberson the end of it was that within an hour we were creeping across that valley towards the spot where I had seen the line of smoke rising against the twilight sky somewhere about midnight we reached the neighborhood of this place how near or how far we were from it we could not tell since the moon was invisible as of course the smoke was in the dark now the question was what should we do obviously there would be enormous advantages in a night attack or at least in locating the enemy so that it might be carried out at dawn especially was this so since we were scarcely in a condition even if we could come face to face with them to fight these savages when they were prepared and in the light of day only we too white men with hans, umslopogas and isoulos could be relied upon in such a case since the strutmer mixed bloods had become entirely demoralized and were not to be trusted at a pinch indeed tired and half starving as they were none of us was at his best therefore a surprise seemed our only chance but first we must find those whom we wish to surprise ultimately after a hard consultation it was agreed that hans and i should go forward and see if we could locate the amahager robertson wish to come too but i pointed out that he must remain to look after these people who if he left them might take the opportunity to melt away in the darkness especially as they knew that heavy fighting was at hand also if anything happened to me it was desirable that one white man should remain to lead the party umslopogas too volunteered but knowing his character i declined his help to tell the truth i was almost certain that if we came upon the meters he would charge the whole lot of them and accomplish a fine but futile end after hacking down a number of cannibal barbarians whose extinction or escape remained absolutely immaterial to our purpose namely the rescue of enus so it came about that hans and i started alone i not at all enjoying the job i suppose that there lurks in my nature some of that primeval terror of the dark which must continually have haunted our remote forefathers of a hundred or a thousand generations gone and still lingers in the blood of most of us at any rate even if i am named the watcher by night greatly do i prefer to fight or to face peril in the sunlight though it is true that i would rather avoid both at any time in fact i wished heartily that the amahagar were at the other side of africa or in heaven and that i completely ignorant of the person called enus robertson who seated smoking the pipe of peace on my own stoop in durban i think that hans guessed my state of mind since he suggested that he should go alone adding with this usual unveiled rudeness that he was quite certain that he would do much better without me since white men always made a noise yes i replied i determined to give him a roland for his oliver i have no doubt you would under the first bush you came across where you would sleep till dawn and then return and say that you could not find the amahagar hans chuckled quite appreciating the joke and having thus mutually affronted each other we started on our quest end of chapter 8 of she and alan by age rider haggard read by lash rolander chapter 9 of she and alan this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org reading by lash rolander she and alan by age rider haggard the swamp neither hans nor i carried rifles that we knew would be in the way on our business which was just a scout moreover one is always tempted to shoot if a gun is at hand and if this i did not want to do at present so although i had my revolver in case of urgent necessity my only other weapon was a solo axe that formerly had belonged to one of those two men who died defending enus on the veranda at strutmer while hans had nothing but his long knife thus armed or unarmed we crept forward towards the spot whence as we conjectured we had seen the line of smoke rising some hours before for about a quarter of a mile we went on thus without seeing or hearing anything and a difficult job it was in that gloom among the scattered treats no light save such as the stars gave us indeed i was about to suggest that we had better abandon the enterprise until daybreak when hans nudged me whispering look to the right between those twin thorns i obeyed and following the line of sight which he had indicated perceived at a distance of about 200 yards of faint glow so faint indeed that i think only hans would have noticed it really it might have been nothing more than the phosphorescence rising from a heap of fungus or even from a decaying animal the fire of which we saw the smoke that has burnt to ashes whispered hans again i think that they have gone but let us look so we crawled forward very cautiously to avoid making the slightest noise so cautiously indeed that it must have taken us nearly half an hour to cover those 200 yards at length we were within about 40 yards of that dying fire and afraid to go further came to stand or rather i lie still behind some bushes until we knew more hans lifted his head and sniffed with his broad nostrils then he whispered into my ear but so low that i could scarcely hear him am i hugged there all right bass i smell them this of course was possible since that what wind there was blew from the direction of the fire although i whose nose is fairly keen could smell nothing at all so i determined to wait and watch a while and indicated my decision to hans who considering our purpose accomplished showed signs of wishing to retreat some minutes we lay thus till of a sudden this happened a branch of recenious wood of which the stem had been eaten through by the flames fell upon the ashes of the fire and burnt up with a brilliant light in it we saw that the amahagar were sleeping in a circle around the fire wrapped in their blankets also we saw another thing namely that near to us not more than a dozen yards away indeed was a kind of little tent also made of fur rugs or blankets which doubtless sheltered in us indeed this was evident from the fact that at the mouth of it wrapped up in something lay none other than her maid Jani for her face being towards us was recognized by us both in the flare of the flaming branch one more thing we noted namely that two of the cannibals evidently a guard was sleeping between us and the little tent of course they ought to have been awake but Fatigu had overcome them and there they slumbered seated on the ground their heads hanging forward almost upon their knees an idea came to me if we could kill those men without waking the others in that gloom it might be possible to rescue Enus at once rapidly await the pros and cons of such an attempt its advantages if successful were that the object of our pursuit would be carried through without further trouble and that it was most doubtful whether we should ever get such a chance again if we returned to fetch the others an attack in force the probability was that those Amahagar or one of them would hear some sound made by the advance of a number of men and fly into the darkness or rather than loose Enus they might kill her or if they stood and fought she might be slain in the scrimmage or as after all we had only about a dozen effectives for the stratmer bears could not be relied upon they might defeat and kill us whom they outnumbered by two or three to one these were the arguments for the attempt those for not making it were equally obvious to begin with it was one of extraordinary risk the two guards or someone else behind them might wake up for such people like dogs most asleep with one eye open especially when they knew that they are being pursued or if they did not we might bungle the business so that they raised an outcry before they grew silent forever in which case both of us and perhaps Enus also would probably pay the penalty before we could get away from one dilemma upon one point or other of which we ran the risk of being impaled for a full minute or more I considered the matter with an earnestness almost amounting to mental agony and at last all but came to the conclusion that the danger was too enormous it would be better notwithstanding the many disadvantages of that plan to go back and fetch the others but then it was that one of my many mistakes in life most of us do more foolish things than wise ones and sometimes I think that in spite of a certain reputation for caution and farsightedness I am exceptionally cursed in this respect indeed when I look back upon my past I can scarcely see the scanty flowers of wisdom that decorate its path because of the fat ugly trees of error by which it is overshadowed on that occasion forgetting past experiences where Hans was concerned my natural tendency to blunder took the form of relying upon another's judgment instead of my own although I had formed a certain view as to what should be done the prose and cons seemed so evenly balanced that I determined to consult the little hotentot and accept his verdict this after all was but a form of gambling rich and toss since although it is true Hans was a clever or at any rate a cunning man according to slides and experienced it meant that I was placing my own judgment in abeyance which no one considering a life and death enterprise should do taking the chance of that of another whatever it might be however not for the first time I did so to my grief as to whispers with my lips right against his smelly head I submitted the problem to Hans asking him what we should do go on or go back he considered a while then answered in a voice which he contrived to make like the drone of a night beetle those men are fast asleep I know it by their breathing also the boss has the great medicine therefore I say go on kill them and rescue sad eyes now I saw that the fate to which I had appealed had decided against me and that I must accept their decree with a sick and sinking heart for I did not at all like the business I wondered for a moment what had led Hans to make this view which was directly opposite to any I had expected from him of course his superstition about the great medicine had something to do with it but I felt convinced that this was not all even then I guessed that two arguments appealed to him of which the first was that he decided if possible to put an end to this intolerable and unceasing hunt which had worn us all out no matter what the end might be the second and more powerful however he believed and rightly that the idea of this stealthy midnight blow appealed irresistibly to the craft of his half-wild nature in which the strange of the leopard and the snake seemed to mingle with that of the human being forbid remembered that notwithstanding his veneer of civilization Hans was a savage whose forefathers for countless ages had preserved themselves alive by means of such attacks and stratagems the die having been cast in the same infinitesimal whispers we made our arrangements which were few and simple they amounted to this that we were to creep on to the men and each of us killed that one who was opposite to him eye with the axe and hands with his knife remembering that it must be done with a single stroke that is if they did not wake and kill us after which we were to get Ines out of her shelter dressed or undressed and make off with her into the darkness where we were pretty sure of being able to baffle pursuit until we reached our camp provided that we could kill the two guards in the proper fashion rather a large proviso I admit the thing was simple as shelling peas which notwithstanding the proverb experience is not simple at all since generally the shells crack the wrong way and at least one of the peas remained in the pod so it happened in this case for Janny whom we had both forgotten remained in the pod I am sure I don't know why we overlooked her indeed the error was inexcusable especially as Hans had already experienced her foolishness and she was lying there before our eyes I suppose that our minds were so concentrated upon the guard killing and the tragic and impressive Ines that there was no room in them for the stolid and matter of fact Janny at any rate she proved to be the pea that would not come out of the pod often in my life I have felt terrified not being by nature one of those who rejoices in dangers and wild adventures for their own sake which only stupid do but who has on the contrary been forced to undertake them by the pressure of circumstances a kind of hydraulic force that no one can resist and who having undertaken has been carried through them triumphant of the shrinking service flesh by some secret reserve of nerve power almost I am tempted to call it spirit power something that lives beyond and yet inspires our frail and fallible bodies well rarely have I been more frightened than I was at this moment actually I hung back until I saw that Hans slithering through the grass like a thick yellow snake with a great knife in his right hand was quite a foot ahead of me then my pride came to the rescue and I spurted if one can spurt upon one's stomach and drew level with him after this we went at a pace so slow that any able-bodied snail would have left us standing still inch by inch we crept forward lying motion less a while after each convulsive movement once for quite a long time since the left hand cannibal seemed about to wake up for he opened his mouth and spawned if so he changed his mind and rolling from a sitting posture onto his side went to sleep much more soundly than before a minute or so later the right hand ruffian my man also stirred so sharply that I thought he had heard something apparently however he was only haunted by dreams resulting from an evil life or perhaps by the pre-science of its end after waving his arms and muttering something in a frightened voice he too wear it out poor devil sank back into sleep at last we were on them but paused because we could not see exactly where to strike and knew each of us that our first blow must be the last and fatal a cloud had come up and dimmed what light there was and we must wait for it to pass it was a long wait or so it seemed at length that cloud did pass and in faint outline I saw the classical head of my armor hugger bowed in deep sleep with a heart beating as it does only in the fierce extremities of love or war I hissed like a snake which was our agreed signal then rising to my knees I lifted the solo axe and struck with all my strength the blow was straight and true umslupogas himself could not have dealt the better the victim in front of me uttered no sound and made no movement only sank gently onto his side and there lay as dead as though he had never been born it appeared that Hans had done equally well since the other man kicked out his long legs and on the knees then he also became strangely still in short both of them were stone dead and would tell no stories this side of judgment day recovering my axe which had been wrenched from my hand I crept forward and opened the curtain like rugs or blankets I do not know which they were that covered Enos I heard her stir at once the movement had awakened her these captives sleep lightly make no noise Enos I whispered it is I Alan Quatermain come to rescue you slip out and follow me do you understand yes quiet she whispered back and began to rise at this moment a blood curling yell seemed to fill earth and heaven a yell at the memory of which now I feel faint although I am writing years after its echoes died away I may as well say at once that it came from Dianne who awaking suddenly had perceived against the background of the sky Hans standing over her looking like a yellow devil with a long knife in his hand which she thought was about to be used to murder her so lacking self-restraint she screamed in the most lusty fashion for her lungs were excellent and the game was up instantly every man sleeping around the fire leapt to his feet and rushed in the direction the echoes of Dianne's yell it was impossible to get Enos free of her tent arrangement or to do anything except whisper to her faint sleep and know nothing we will follow you your father is with us then I bolted back into the bushes which Hans had reached already a minute or two later when we were clear of the hubbub and nearing our own camp Hans remarked to me sententiously the great medicine worked well but not quite well enough for what medicine can avail against a woman's folly it was our own folly we should blame I answered we ought to have known that fool girl would shriek and taken precautions yes, boss we ought to have killed her too for nothing else would have kept her quiet replied Hans in cheerful ascent now we shall have to pay for our mistake for the hunt must go on at this moment we stumbled across Robertson and Umslopogas others and every living thing within a mile or two had also heard Janestial and briefly told our story when he learnt how near we had been to rescuing his daughter Robertson groaned but Umslopogas only said well there are too less so the many eaters left to deal with still for once your wisdom failed you Makumasan you should have returned so that we might all attack it together had we done so before dawn there would not have been one of them left yes I answered I think that my wisdom did fail me if I have any to fail but come perhaps we may catch them yet so we advanced Hans and I showing the road but when we reached the place it was too late for all that remained of the Amahagar or of Enes and Janney were the two dead men whom we had killed and in that darkness pursuit was impossible so we went back to our camp to rest and await the dawn before taking up the trail only to find ourselves confronted with a new trouble all the stratmer half-breads whom we had left behind as useless had taken advantage of our absence and that of the Sulus to desert they had just bolted back upon our tracks and vanished into the sea of bush what became of them I do not know as we never saw them again but my belief is that these cowardly fellows all perished for certainly not one of them reached the stratmer fortunately for us however they departed in such a hurry that they left all their loads behind them and even some of the guns they carried evidently Janney's gel was the last straw which broke the back of such nerve as remained to them doubtless they believed it to be the signal of attack by hordes of cannibals as there was nothing to said or done since any pursuit of these curse was out of the question we made the best of things as they were it proved a simple business from the loads we selected such articles as were essential ammunition for the most part to carry ourselves and the rest we abandoned hiding it under a pile of stones in case we should ever come that way again the guns they had thrown aside we distributed among the Sulus who had none though the thought that they possessed them so far as I was concerned added another terror to life the prospect of going into battle with those wild axmen letting off bullets in every direction was not pleasant but fortunately when that crisis came they cast them away and reverted to the weapons to which they were accustomed now all this sounds much like a tale of disaster or at any rate of failure it is however wonderful by what strange ways good results are brought about so much so that at times we think that these seeming accidents must be arranged by an intelligent superior to our own to fulfill through us purposes of which we know nothing and frequently be intimidated of a nature sufficiently obscure of course this is a fatalistic doctrine but then as I have said before within certain limits I am a fatalist to take the present case for instance the whole Enus episode in the first sight might appear to be an excrescence on my narrative of which the object is to describe how I met a certain very wonderful woman and what I heard and experienced in her company yet it is not really so since had it not been for the Enus adventure it is quite clear that I should never have reached the home of this woman if woman she were or have seen her at all before long this became very obvious to me as shall be told from the night upon which Hans and I failed to rescue Enus we had no more difficulty in following the trail of the cannibals who then forward were never more than a few hours ahead of us and had no time to be careful or to attempt to hide their spore yet so fast did they travel there to do what we would burdened and weird as we were it proved impossible to overtake them for the first three days the track ran on through a scattered rolling bushvelled of the character that I have described but tending continually downhill when we broke camp on the morning of the fourth day eating a hasty meal at dawn for now game had become astonishing plentiful so that we did not lack food the rising sun showed beneath us an endless sea of billowy mist stretching in every direction far as the sight could carry to the north however it did come to an end for there as I judged 50 or 60 miles away rose the grim outline of what looked like a huge fortress which I knew must be one of those extraordinary mountain formations probably owing their origin to volcanic action that are to be met with here and there in the vast expanses of central and eastern Africa being so distant it was impossible to estimate its size which I guessed must be enormous but in looking at it I bethought me of that great mountain in which Zikali said the marvellous white queen lived and wondered whether it could be the same as from my memory of his map upon the ashes it well might be that is if such a place existed at all if so the map had shown it as surrounded by swamps and well surely that misted the face of a mighty swamp it did indeed since before nightfall following the spore of those amahagar we had plunged into a morass so vast that in all my experience I have never seen or heard of its like it was a veritable ocean of papyrus and other reeds some of them a dozen or more feet high so that it was impossible to see a yard in any direction here it was that the amahagar ahead of us proved our salvation since without them to guide us we must soon have perished for through that gigantic swamp there ran a road as I think an ancient road since in one or two places I saw stonework which must have been laid by man yet it was not a road which it would have been possible to follow without a guide seeing that it also was overgrown with reeds indeed the only difference between it and the surrounding swamp was that on the road the soil was comparatively firm that is to say one seldom sank into it above the knee whereas on either side of it quagmires were often apparently bottomless and what is more partook of the nature of quicksand this we found out soon after we entered the swamp since roberson pushing forward his eagerness which seemed to consume him neglected to keep his eye upon the spore and stepped off the edge onto the land that appeared to be exactly similar to it's surface instantly he began to sink in greasy and tenacious mud umslupogas and I were only 20 yards behind yet by the time we reached him in answer to his shouts already he was engulfed up to his middle and going down so rapidly that in another minute he would have got together well we got him out but not with ease for that mud clung to him like the tentacles of an octopus after this we were more careful nor did this road run straight on the contrary it curved about and sometimes turned at right angles doubtless to avoid a piece of swamp over which it had proved impossible for the ancients to construct a courseway or to follow some outcrop of harder soil beneath the difficulties of that horrible place are beyond description and indeed can scarcely be imagined first there was that of a kind of grass which grew among the roots of the reeds and had edges like those of knives as roberton and I were gators we did not suffer so much from it but the poor sulus with their bare legs were terribly cut out and in some cases lame then there were the mosquitos which lived here by the million and all seemed anxious for a bite also snakes of a peculiarly deadly kind were numerous a sulus was bitten by one of them of so poisonous a nature that he died within three minutes for the venom seemed to go straight to his heart we threw his body into the swamp where it vanished at once lastly there was the all-pervading stench and the intolerable heat of the place since no breath of air could penetrate that forest of reeds while a minor trouble was that of the multitude of leeches which fastened to our bodies by looking one could see the creatures sitting on the underside of leaves with their heads stretched out waiting to attack anything that went by as wayfares there could not have been numerous I wondered what they had lived on for the last few thousand years by the way I found that paraffin of which we had a small supply for our hand-lamps rubbed over all exposed surfaces was to some extent a protection against these blood-sucking worms and the gnats although it did make one go about smelling like a dirty oil tin during the day except for the occasional rush of some great iguana or other reptile and the sound of the wings of the flocks of wild fowl passing over us from time to time the march was deathly silent but at night it was different for then the bullfrogs boomed incessantly as did the bitons while great swamp owls and other night-flying birds uttered their weird cries also there were mysterious sucking noises caused no doubt by the sinking of areas of swamp of bursting bubbles of foul up-rushing gas strange lights too played about the will of the wisps or saint-elmos-fires as I believe they are called that frightened the sulus very much since they believed them to be spirits of the dead perhaps this superstition had something to do with their native legend that mankind was torn out of the reeds if so they may have imagined that the ghosts of men went back to the reeds of which there were enough here to accommodate those of the entire sulu nation anyway they were much scared even the bull which Dr. Goroko was scared and went through incantations with a little bag of medicines he carried to secure protection for himself and his companions indeed I think even the iron umslopogas himself was not as comfortable as he might have been for me that he had come out to fight and did not care whether it were with man or wizard or spirit in short of all the journeys that I have made with the exception of the passage of the desert on our way to King Solomon's mines I think that through this enormous swamp was the most miserable heartily did I curse myself forever having undertaken such a quest in a wild attempt to ally that sickness to quench that thirst of the soul which I imagine a time assails most of those who have hearts and think or dream for this was at the bottom of the business this it was which had delivered me into the hands of Sicali opener of roads who as now I am sure was merely making use of me for his private occult purposes he desired to consult the distant oracle if such a person existed as to great schemes of his own and therefore to attain his end made use of my secret longings which I had been so foolish as to reveal to him quite careless of what happened to me in the process a bit narrow and unshortable view this view it seems to me that Sicali is taking a big risk in giving him the great medicine JB well I was in for the business and must follow it to the finish whatever that might be after all it was very interesting and if there were anything in what Sicali said if there were not I could not concede what object he had in sending me on such a wild goose chase through this home of geese and ducks it might become more interesting still for being pretty well fever proof I did not think I should die in that morass as of course nine white men out of ten would have done and beyond it lay the huge mountain which day by day grew larger and clearer nor did Hans who with a child like trust pinned his faith through the great medicine this he remarked was the worst bold through which he had ever traveled but as the great medicine would never consent to be buried in that stinking mud he had no doubt we should come safely through it sometime I replied that this wonderful medicine of his had not said one of our companions who had now made a grave in the same mud no boss he said but those Sulus have nothing to do with the medicine which was given to you and to me who accompanied you when we saw the opener of roads therefore perhaps they will all die except Omsluporgas whom you were told to take with you if so what does it matter since there are plenty of Sulus although there be but one Makumazan or one Hans also the boss may remember that he began by offending a snake and therefore it is quite natural that this snake's brother should have bitten the Sulu if you're right he should have bitten me Hans yes boss and so no doubt he would have done had you not been protected by the great medicine and me too had not my grandfather been a snake charmer to say nothing on the smell of the medicine being on me as well the snakes know those that they should bite boss so do the mosquitoes I answered grabbing a handful of them the great medicine has no effect upon them oh yes boss it has since though it pleases them to bite the bites to us no harm or at least not much and all are made happy still I wish we could get out of this reach which I never want to see another and boss please keep your rifle ready for I think I hear a crocodile stirring there no need Hans to remark sarcastically go and tell him that I have the great medicine yes boss I will also that if he's very hungry there are some Sulu scammed a few yards further down the road and he went solemnly to the reeds a little way off and began to talk to them you infernal donkey I murmured and drew my blanket over my head in a vain attempt to keep out the mosquitoes and smoking furiously with the same object tried to get to sleep at last the swamp bottom began to slope upwards a little with the result that as the land dried through natural drainage the reeds grew thinner by degrees until finally they ceased and we found ourselves on firmer ground indeed upon the lowest slopes of the great mountain that I have mentioned now towered above us forbidden and majestic I had made a little map in my pocketbook of the various twists and turns of the road through the vast slow of despond marking them from hour to hour as we followed its devious wanderings on studying this at the end of that part of our journey I realized afresh how utterly impossible it would have been for us to thread that misty maze where a few false steps would always have meant death by suffocation had it not been for the spore of those amahagher traveling immediately ahead of us who were acquainted with its secrets had they been friendly guides they could not have done us a better turn what I wondered was why they had not tried to ambush us in the reeds since our fires must have shown them that we were close upon their heels that they did try to burn us out was clear from certain evidences that I found but fortunately at this season of the year in the absence of a strong wind the rank reeds were too green to catch fire for the rest I was soon to learn the reason of their neglect to attack us in that dense cover they were waiting for a better opportunity end of chapter 9 Alan by H. Rider Haggard read by Lorsch Rulander