The odour was becoming more and more sickening with every step. Musky, rank, acreous--it might almost be felt. Each man required a pull at something invigorating, if only to neutralise the inhalation of so pestilential an atmosphere. Smoking was suggested, but this Josane firmly tabooed. "It cannot be," he said. "It would be madness. Remember my words, _Amakosi. Look neither to the right nor to the left_--_only straight in front of you, where you set down your steps_." Then he resumed his strange wild chant, now sinking it to an awe-struck whisper hardly above his breath. It was a weird, uncanny sight, those four shadowy figures advancing through the thick black darkness, the fiery eye of the lantern darting forth its luminous column in front, while the deep-toned, long-drawn notes of the wild, heathenish _rune_ died away in whispering echoes overhead. "Oh! good Lord! Look at that!" The cry broke from Shelton. All started, so great was the state of tension that their nerves were undergoing. Following his glance they promptly discovered what it was that had evoked it. Lying upon a great slab of rock, about on a level with their chests, was an enormous puff-adder. The bloated proportions of the hideous reptile were disposed in a sinuous coil--shadowy, repulsive to the last degree, in the light of the lantern. A shudder ran through every one of the three white men. "Quick, Josane. Hand me one of your kerries," said Shelton. "I can get a whack at him now." But the Kafir, peremptorily, almost angrily refused. "Why did you not listen to my words?" he said. "Look neither to the right nor to the left, was what I told you. Then you would have seen nothing. Now let us move on." But Shelton and Hoste stood, irresolutely staring at the horrid reptile as though half fascinated. It--as if resenting the intrusion--began to unwind its sluggish folds, and raising its head, emitted a low, warning hiss, at the same time blowing itself out with a sound as of a pair of bellows collapsing, after the fashion which has gained for this most repulsive of all serpents its distinctive name. "You must not kill it," repeated the Kafir, in a tone almost of command. "This is `The Home of the Serpents,' remember. Did I not warn you?" They saw that he was deadly in earnest. Here in this horrible den, right in the heart of the earth, the dark-skinned, superstitious savage seemed the one to command. It was perhaps remarkable that no thought of disobeying him entered the mind of any one of the three white men; still more so, that no resentment entered in either. They resumed their way without a murmur; not, however, without some furtive glances behind, as though dreading an attack on the part of the deadly reptile they were leaving in their rear. More than once they thought to detect the sound of that slow, crawling glide--to discern an indistinct and sinuous shadow moving in the subdued light.