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"Have ye entered further, mother?" "Then lead on." There is a path for the lion in the veld, and another for the elephant in the forest; but this path is only for those who know it, and are welcome to those who made it. The sun shines without. It were better if Ngonyama and the Spider blinked their eyes in the light Mid the warmth." "If ye have trodden the way, so will we. Lead on."
He started back involuntarily, for at his feet there was a yawning abyss, out of which came the sound of rushing waters, and the curling wraiths of vapours, but so deep and so dark that the eye could detect no gleam of the flood beneath. "Thanks, mother." "Ohe! Ngonyama, remember I stood between you and death that time."
Noticing how the time had passed while he had been receiving the message from the dead, he hurried to the gorge to see if there were any signs of his friends, and his eyes went to the dark walls, and to the silent pool far below, with a feeling of intense repugnance at the thought of the ghoulish women who lurked unseen, but seeing all. "Have you seen Ngonyama?"
He looked at her very sternly, attempting to carry the matter with a high hand, for he judged from her words that something had happened to his friends. "Wow! Are my people so few that a boy can talk to me in this way?" She snapped her fingers. "And what stand would you and your people have made against the wild men but for Ngonyama?
"Where was Ngonyama when the gates were unguarded?" "In the caverns under the cliff." "Wow!" "The wise woman led us there. She left us there, fearing I, Ngonyama, would supplant you, her son; and on the second morning, when she found that Hassan was too cunning, she came with an offer of liberty if we would destroy his plan. We told her the way. It was to let the water in." "It was a good plan.
Slowly he stooped his head to hear if Venning slept, for he dreaded what would happen if the boy awoke in the pitchy darkness and heard that demoniac cry. The boy's breathing came at regular intervals, and with a muttered prayer that he would sleep on, the Hunter felt for the trigger. "Ngonyama!"
Hume stepped out on to the platform. "Who calls?" "It is I, the Inkosikase." She was standing at the very parapet where he himself had leant when he saw the light borne by Dick on the spot where he now stood. She stood up boldly on the canon side of the great cavity, about fifty yards away. "Your life was forfeit, Ngonyama, but I spared you I spared you." "I hear."
"Nonsense, lad. I know what it is to have a touch of fever; and besides, I believe it was you who gave warning." "I heard some one calling Ngonyama," said the boy, in a whisper, "and I saw the face in the entrance the same face I saw down under there. Were they the witches?" "It was Hassan and some of his men. They must have escaped from the river and remained in hiding.
Say to her the words of the chief, and bring me her reply." They hesitated, muttering. "Ye know the black one," said Dick, quietly. "He has asked for Ngonyama. Let the woman produce Ngonyama or give her authority, lest the black one turn his anger on you." "The lion's cub says well," answered an old man. "I will go."
Hume, sternly, "for I see you would have some service of me, and had hoped to buy me with news I have no want for." "Ngonyama, great white one, I am but a woman, and ye are too strong for me." Mr. Hume nodded. "I am a woman; only a woman." "Was it a woman's task to set those ravens upon me and the young chief?" "I am a mother, Indhlovu, and a mother's heart is strong for her child.
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