I awoke and bounded from the bed, a cold perspiration pouring from me.  In the darkness on the other side of the hut I heard sounds of furious struggling.  Luckily I kept my head.  Just by me was a chair on which were matches and a rush taper.  I struck a match and held it to the taper.  Now in the growing light I could see two forms rolling one over the other on the floor, and from between them came the flash of steel.  The fat melted and the light burnt up.  It was Indaba-zimbi and the woman Hendrika who were struggling, and, what is more, the woman was getting the better of the man, strong as he was.  I rushed towards them.  Now she was uppermost, now she had wrenched herself from his fierce grip, and now the great knife she had in her hand flashed up.

But I was behind her, and, placing my hands beneath her arms, jerked with all my strength.  She fell backwards, and, in her effort to save herself, most fortunately dropped the knife.  Then we flung ourselves upon her.  Heavens! the strength of that she-devil!  Nobody who has not experienced it could believe it.  She fought and scratched and bit, and at one time nearly mastered the two of us.  As it was she did break loose.  She rushed at the bed, sprung on it, and bounded thence straight up at the roof of the hut.  I never saw such a jump, and could not conceive what she meant to do.  In the roof were the peculiar holes which I have described.  They were designed to admit light, and covered with overhanging eaves.  She sprung straight and true like a monkey, and, catching the edge of the hole with her hands, strove to draw herself through it.  But here her strength, exhausted with the long struggle, failed her.  For a moment she swung, then dropped to the ground and fell senseless.

“Ou!” gasped Indaba-zimbi.  “Let us tie the devil up before she comes to life again.”

I thought this a good counsel, so we took a reim that lay in the corner of the room, and lashed her hands and feet in such a fashion that even she could scarcely escape.  Then we carried her into the passage, and Indaba-zimbi sat over her, the knife in his hand, for I did not wish to raise an alarm at that hour of the night.

“Do you know how I caught her, Macumazahn?” he said.  “For several nights I have slept here with one eye open, for I thought she had made a plan.  To-night I kept wide awake, though I pretended to be asleep.  An hour after you got into the blankets the moon rose, and I saw a beam of light come into the hut through the hole in the roof.  Presently I saw the beam of light vanish.  At first I thought that a cloud was passing over the moon, but I listened and heard a noise as though some one was squeezing himself through a narrow space.  Presently he was through, and hanging by his hands.  Then the light came in again, and in the middle of it I saw the Babyan-frau swinging from the roof, and about to drop into the hut.  She clung by both hands, and in her mouth was a great knife.  She dropped, and I ran forward to seize her as she dropped, and gripped her round the middle.  But she heard me come, and, seizing the knife, struck at me in the dark and missed me.  Then we struggled, and you know the rest.  You were very nearly dead to-night, Macumazahn.”