We came safely to the other side, where we found a little landing-stage made of poles sunk into the lake.  We tied up the canoe, or rather I did, for nobody else remembered to take that precaution, and presently were on a path which led through the cultivated fields to the house.  Here I insisted upon going first with the rifle, in case we should be suddenly attacked.  The silence and the absence of any human beings suggested to me that this might very well happen, since it would be strange if we had not been seen crossing the lake.

Afterwards I discovered why the place seemed so deserted.  It was owing to two reasons.  First, it was now noontime, an hour at which these poor slaves retired to their huts to eat and sleep through the heat of the day.  Secondly, although the “Watcher,” as she was called, had seen the canoe on the water, she concluded that the Kalubi was visiting the Mother of the Flower and, according to practice on these occasions, withdrew herself and everybody else, since the rare meetings of the Kalubi and the Mother of the Flower partook of the nature of a religious ceremony and must be held in private.

First we came to the little enclosure that was planted about with palms and, as I have described, screened with mats.  Stephen ran at it and, scrambling up the wall, peeped over the top.

Next instant he was sitting on the ground, having descended from the wall with the rapidity of one shot through the head.

“Oh! by Jingo!” he ejaculated, “oh! by Jingo!” and that was all I could get out of him, though it is true I did not try very hard at the time.

Not five paces from this enclosure stood a tall reed fence that surrounded the house.  It had a gate also of reeds, which was a little ajar.  Creeping up to it very cautiously, for I thought I heard a voice within, I peeped through the half-opened gate.  Four or five feet away was the verandah from which a doorway led into one of the rooms of the house where stood a table on which was food.

Kneeling on mats upon this verandah were—­two white women—­clothed in garments of the purest white adorned with a purple fringe, and wearing bracelets and other ornaments of red native gold.  One of these appeared to be about forty years of age.  She was rather stout, fair in colouring, with blue eyes and golden hair that hung down her back.  The other might have been about twenty.  She also was fair, but her eyes were grey and her long hair was of a chestnut hue.  I saw at once that she was tall and very beautiful.  The elder woman was praying, while the other, who knelt by her side, listened and looked up vacantly at the sky.

“O God,” prayed the woman, “for Christ’s sake look in pity upon us two poor captives, and if it be possible, send us deliverance from this savage land.  We thank Thee Who hast protected us unharmed and in health for so many years, and we put our trust in Thy mercy, for Thou alone canst help us.  Grant, O God, that our dear husband and father may still live, and that in Thy good time we may be reunited to him.  Or if he be dead and there is no hope for us upon the earth, grant that we, too, may die and find him in Thy Heaven.”