“Yes,” answered Gerard, as composedly as possible. “But, Vunawayo, what is that?”
“This?” said the savage, reaching up his hand to the point of the stake. “It is the point of The Tooth—the part it eats with.”
“No; that, I mean,” pointing to the impaled corpse.
“Hau! That is—its last morsel,” replied Vunawayo, with the laugh of a demon. “When The Tooth bites, it bites hard. Wizards—and such people. I told you it did.”
“What, then, are these used for?” went on Gerard, showing the raw-hide rope which he had drawn up.
“These? Ha! not all who come here to be eaten by The Tooth are bitten by its point. This loop you see was tied round a man’s wrists. He was then flung over to the full end of the rope, and his arms being fastened behind him, were broken by the jerk. He dangled there until he dropped loose. The last to suffer in this way was a woman who had been a captive, and was taken to wife by the chief. She killed her newborn child, saying that she would die rather than increase the strength of the Igazipuza. She did die—but she took a long time about it—a long, long time.”
“And who was the man who was impaled, Vunawayo? What did he die for?”
“Be not too curious, Umlúngu,” was the answer. “Have patience. There may soon come a time when you shall attend at the ‘eating of The Tooth.’ Have patience.”
To Gerard, in his then frame of mind, it seemed that the other’s tone was fraught with grim irony, with fell significance.
“Let us go down,” resumed Vunawayo. “Ha! our meeting up here has been short and unexpected. But it may be that we shall meet again upon the point of The Tooth, and then our meeting will be a much longer one. Oh yes; we shall meet again up here,” added the savage, with a sinister laugh, as he turned to lead the way down.