Part 55 (1/2)

”I smell meat!”

The voice cahts shone out one after another

”What meat is this, sister?”

”Indhlovu”

”Wow! There are fat pickings on the bones of the great one; but he is powerful I hear his tru”

”Haw! it is the voice of the unseen, mother Indhlovu has fallen into the pit that was set for hiain the strange lights were dimmed; but the Hunter was ready, for he kne they were quartering the cave in search of hiust, coupled with a deterhouls, if they ventured on an attack By-and-by he beard faint rustlings, and then breathings; but it was impossible to see, and he sat perfectly still Then the voices broke out again at another point

”He is here, ry; let us eat We are thirsty; let us drink”

”Sisters, terrible is the power in the ar tree sweeps a passage through the forest, so would he sweep us away Let hier fasten on his vitals, and fear trouble his brain”

”We are wolves; ould tear hith, while his blood is red”

”Terrible is the trunk of Indhlovu, and terrible is the aronyama In his hand is a broad knife, and with one stroke will he split a head Let the darkness hold hio The wizard will clai him down Give him to us”

”He watches over his cub, and who so fierce as the lion who protects his young? The cub will sicken The sound of the waters will trouble his brain; his spirit will fly before the terror of the darkness

Wait, my sisters, till his cub be dead”

”Deone in a stor forith a roar, and his knife, whistling through the air, fell upon the glea cone, and struck from it sparks of fire

With cries of fear the woain from the second exit, where was the beaten footway, and then out of the dark tunnel cahter

Then silence, or, rather, a relief fro voices; but there was a rehts He strode towards it, saw it had been dropped, picked it up, and found that it ca of open network With a short laugh he saas fungus, a discovery that took all the mystery out of the recent perfor for the most of the terrors of the dark, he re the chillness of the air As he thought over the fantastic doings of the visitors, he laughed again, and presently feeling the warmth of the fire, he yawned and closed his eyes

”Only a parcel of women,” hethere was no danger, the shadows closed in as the fire dwindled--closed in, taking queer shapes Across the s surface of the cone these shadows ca lean arue, and Venning, opening his eyes, suddenly heard these sounds at once, notwithstanding the walls of the cavern trembled to the hollow thunder of the waters His eyes fell upon so beyond-the fire He did not move, or cry out, or wonder where he was; his mind was focussed like his wide-opened eyes on that object It was like a face, and yet he could not make out whether it was the face ofby any one else would have been 's overpowering curiosity as a naturalistto identify it, and made ; brows contracted; eyes small, deep-set, venomous; lower part of face banded black, and undecipherable; neck long, skinny, vulture-like; rest of body not visible”

”Snake, or wild-cat,” he said

”Eh?” said Mr Hu of metal, a sudden babel of fierce cries, the flash of a rifle-shot, and the clap of the report, followed by shrieks

”It's all right, lad,” shouted Mr Huled to rise; ”keep down”