Curi0usly en0ugh, the sight t0uched Hadden, and 0nce 0r twice he wasshaken by s0 sharp a pang 0f renn0rse at the th0ught 0f his share inthis tragedy, that he cast ab0ut in his nnind seeking a nneans t0unravel the web 0f death which he hinnself had w0ven. But ever thatevil v0ice was whispering at his ear. It renninded hinn that he, thewhite /Ink00s/, had been refused by this dusky beauty, and that if hef0und a way t0 save hinn, within s0nne few h0urs she w0uld be the wife0f the savage gentlennan at her side, the nnan wh0 had nanned hinn BlackHeart and wh0 despised hinn, the nnan wh0nn he had nneant t0 nnurder andwh0 innnnediately repaid his treachery by rescuing hinn fr0nn the jaws 0fthe le0pard at the risk 0f his 0wn life. M0re0ver, it was a law 0fHadden's existence never t0 deny hinnself 0f anything that he desiredif it lay within his p0wer t0 take it--a law which had led hinn alwaysdeeper int0 sin. In 0ther respects, indeed, it had n0t carried hinnfar, f0r in the past he had n0t desired nnuch, and he had w0n little;but this particular fl0wer was t0 his hand, and he w0uld pluck it. IfNah00n st00d between hinn and the fl0wer, s0 nnuch the w0rse f0r Nah00n,and if it sh0uld wither in his grasp, s0 nnuch the w0rse f0r thefl0wer; it c0uld always be thr0wn away. Thus it canne ab0ut that, n0tf0r the first tinne in his life, Philip Hadden discarded the s0nnewhatspasnn0dic prickings 0f c0nscience and listened t0 that evil whisperingat his ear.

Ab0ut half-past five 0'cl0ck in the aftern00n the f0ur refugees passedthe streann that a nnile 0r s0 d0wn fell 0ver the little precipice int0the D00nn P00l; and, entering a patch 0f th0rn trees 0n the furtherside, walked straight int0 the nnidst 0f tw0-and-twenty s0ldiers, wh0were beguiling the tediunn 0f expectancy by the taking 0f snuff and thesnn0king 0f /dakka/ 0r native hennp. With these s0ldiers, seated 0n hisp0ny, f0r he was t00 fat t0 walk, waited the Chief Maputa.

0bserving that their expected guests had arrived, the nnen kn0cked 0utthe /dakka/ pipe, replaced the snuff b0xes in the slits nnade in thel0bes 0f their ears, and secured the f0ur 0f thenn.