“Have no fear, friend, the chief is within, seeing to the comfort of his new wife.”
“Well, I will come with you a little way if you wish it, but I must be back immediately,” he said, and the listeners heard them walk off together.
“Now, Zinti,” whispered Sihamba, “lead me through the hole in the rock.”
So he took her by the hand and felt along the face of the cliff till he found the bush which covered the entrance. To this he climbed, dragging her after him, and presently they were in the secret krantz.
“We have found our way into the spider’s nest,” muttered Zinti, who grew afraid; “but say, lady, how shall we find our way out of it?”
“Lead on and leave that to me,” she answered. “Where I, a woman, can go, surely you who are a man can go also.”
“I trust to your magic to protect us—therefore I come,” said Zinti, “though if we are seen our death is sure.”
On they crept across the glen, till presently they heard the sound of the small waterfall and saw it glimmering faintly through the gloom and drizzling rain. To their left ran the stream, and on the banks of it stood something large and round.
“There stands the new hut where Swallow is,” whispered Zinti.
Now Sihamba thought for a moment and said: