"_Hamba-ke, umlungu_!" ["Go on, white man"] said several of the warriors guarding Eustace, motioning him to proceed. "We are going to show you a sight. Quick, or we shall be late!" By no means free from apprehension on his own account, Eustace obeyed. When they arrived among the eager and excited crowd, the entertainment had already begun. All made way for the white prisoner and his guards, and there was a fiendish leer on many a dark face which needed not a muttered remark or two to explain. The horrible scene he was about to witness was extremely likely to be his own fate. The doomed man lay spread eagled on his back; his hands and feet, stretched to their utmost tension, were fastened to stout pegs driven into the ground. Two of the Kafirs were busily anointing his naked body with a sticky compound, which was, in fact, a mixture of honey and native beer. This they smeared over him with bits of rag: ears, eyes, nose, coming in for a plentiful share. Already his flesh seemed alive with moving objects, and then the cause became apparent. The wretched man was tied down right across a huge ant's nest, which had been broken in order to receive his body. Already the infuriated insects were making their bites felt. _He was to be devoured alive by black ants_. "Confess, Vudana," cried Ngcenika. "Confess thy witchcraft and how thy `charms' were obtained. The black ants bite hard. Ha!" "Confess? Ha-ha!" jeered the sufferer, his eyes blazing. "Not to thee, vulture. Not to thee, jackal. Not to thee, spawn of a Fingo dog. Ha! That is the witch-doctress of the Amagcaleka! Such a thing as that! What magic can she make? A cheat--a liar! I can die--I can die as I have lived--a man, a warrior." "_Hau_! A wizard! A traitor!" vociferated the crowd. "Confess thy witchcraft, lest we put thee to the flaming torment. The fire bites deeper than the black ants. _Hau_!" "I laugh at the fire," roared the victim. "I laugh at all that you can do. The fire is but a pleasant warmth. The bite of the ants is but the softest tickling. Thou dog, Mfulini, were I free, I would whip thee round the kraal." "Is thy bed a comfortable one, Vudana?" replied the barbarian thus apostrophised, with a sneer. And picking up a handful of the venomous insects he scattered them upon the tortured man's face with a brutal laugh. For all his defiant fortitude the latter was undergoing agonies. The ants were swarming all over his body, crawling into his nostrils and ears, biting everywhere, eating the rims of his eyelids, his lips, his throat, and he was powerless to move a hand or foot. The spectators crowded around, mocking and jeering at him. A few minutes ago he was a man of consideration--now all pushed and fought for the front places to witness his sufferings, all heaped execrations upon him as they gloated over the horrible punishment of one who had been denounced as a wizard.