“She is worried, fearing that Saba is killed by the buffalo.”
“Perhaps he has killed it,” answered the young negro.
Then they stopped talking and Stasch went fast asleep. He awoke while it was still dark because it had become colder. Mea, who was supposed to be on the watch, had fallen asleep, and so it had been some time since she had put dry wood on the expiring flames.
No one was lying upon the felt quilt on which Kali had slept.
Stasch threw firewood on the glowing ashes, nudged the negress and asked:
“Where’s Kali?”
For a time she stared at him as though in a trance, and then, when wide awake, she said:
“Kali has taken Gebhr’s knife and gone outside of the hedge. I thought he went to get more wood for the fire, but he has not returned yet.”
“Has he been gone a long while?”
“Yes, a long while.”