One man had driven his spear into the victim's heart,and,to make assurance doubly sure,the other had dashed out his brains with his great club.
"One,"counted Twala,the king,just like a black Madame Defarge,as Good said,and the body was dragged a few paces away and stretched out.
Hardly was this done before another poor wretch was brought up,like an ox to the slaughter.This time we could see,from the leopard-skin cloak,that the man was a person of rank.Again the awful syllables were spoken,and the victim fell dead.
"Two,"counted the king.
And so the deadly game went on,till some hundred bodies were stretched in rows behind us.I have heard of the gladiatorial shows of the Caesars,and of the Spanish bull-fights,but I take the liberty of doubting if they were either of them half as horrible as this Kukuana witch-hunt.
Gladiatorial shows and Spanish bull-fights,at any rate,contributed to the public amusement,which certainly was not the case here.The most confirmed sensation-monger would fight shy of sensation if he knew that it was well on the cards that he would,in his own proper person,be the subject of the next "event."Once we rose and tried to remonstrate,but were sternly repressed by Twala.
"Let the law take its course,white men.These dogs are magicians and evildoers;it is well that they should die,"was the only answer vouchsafed to us.
About midnight there was a pause.The witch-finders gathered themselves together,apparently exhausted with their bloody work,and we thought that the whole performance was done with.But it was not so,for presently,to our surprise,the old woman,Gagool,rose from her crouching position,and,supporting herself with a stick,staggered off into the open space.
It was an extraordinary sight to see this frightful,vulture-headed old creature,bent nearly double with extreme age,gather strength by degrees till at last she rushed about almost as actively as her ill-omened pupils.
To and fro she ran,chanting to herself,till suddenly she made a dash at a tall man standing in front of one of the regiments,and touched him.
As she did so a sort of groan went up from the regiment,which he evidently commanded.But all the same two of its members seized him and brought him up for execution.We afterwards learned that he was a man of great wealth and importance,being,indeed,a cousin of the king's.
He was slain,and the king counted one hundred and three.Then Gagool again sprang to and fro,gradually drawing nearer and nearer to ourselves.
"Hang me if I don't believe she is going to try her games on us,"ejaculated Good,in horror.
"Nonsense!"said Sir Henry.
As for myself,as I saw that old fiend dancing nearer and nearer,my heart positively sank into my boots.I glanced behind us at the long rows of corpses,and shivered.
Nearer and nearer waltzed Gagool,looking for all the world like an animated crooked stick,her horrid eyes gleaming and glowing with a most `unholy'lustre.