Between Snow and Fire — page 205: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A STRANGE DUEL. 197 enemy, realized something of this, and fearless as he habitu- ally was, it was all he couid do to keep from betraying some misgiving. At this juncture a mandate arrived from Krelithat the warriors should once more assemble within the temporary kraal, and that the white prisoners should again be brought before him. Singing, chatting, laughing, administering many a sly kick or cuff to poor Carhayes, the savages swarmed back to the open space, dragging that unfortunate along in rough, unceremonious fashion. Soon the glade was empty, save for the body of the miserable victim of their blindly superstitious ferocity. It lay there, stark, mangled, and hideous. The Paramount Chief and his councillors still satin a group apart. They had borne no part in, betrayed no in- terest in, the barbarous tragedy which had just taken place. Such a matter as the punishment of a wizard was entirely beneath their notice—in theory at any rate. They still sat in grave and dignified impassiveness. Eustace, noting the difference between his own treatment and that of his cousin—the one bound with unnecessary rigour, hustled and kicked, the other, though disarmed, treated with a certain amount of consideration—began to en- tertain strong hopes on his own account. But tending ma- terially to dash them was the fact that Ngcenika, standing be- fore the chief and the emapakat, was favouring that august assemblage with a very fierce and denunciatory harangue. There were two white men, she said—two prisoners. One of these was a man of some power, who had been able to op- pose her magic with his own; only for a time, however—the hag took care to add. This man it might be well to keep for a little while longer at any rate ; there were several ex- periments which she herself intended to try upon him. But the other—he had always been a bitter enemy of their race, Many had fallen at his hands. Had henot cut a notch upon his gunstock for every fighting man of the race of Xosa whom he had slain? There was the gunstock and there were the notches. There were many of them, let the Great Chief—let the amapakati count. At the production of this damning “piece de conviction,” a shout of fury rose from the ranks of the warriors. “To the fire!"’ they cried. ‘‘ To the fire with him!” The situation was appalling, yet Carhayes never quailed, Eomicbooks (ele)