George was utterly cowed. A sob broke from him.
'Yes, I shot her,' he said brokenly. 'She made a row and the devil got into me. I didn't know what I'd done till she screamed and I saw the blood.'
He cursed himself for being such a fool as to throw the cartridge away. His first thought had been to have all the chambers filled.
'Do you remember that two months ago I hanged a man to the nearest tree because he'd murdered one of the natives?'
George sprang up in terror, and he began to tremble.
'You wouldn't do that to me.'
A wild prayer went up in his heart that mercy might be shown him, and then bitter anger seized him because he had ever come out to that country.
'You need not be afraid,' answered Alec coldly. 'In any case I must preserve the native respect for the white man.'
'I was half drunk when I saw the woman. I wasn't responsible for my actions.'
'In any case the result is that the whole tribe has turned against us.'