Yes, and there between the thumb and first finger a river runs." "I told you that it was so from the beginning, Swallow, for in all the country there is no other such hill as this, and because of the aspect of those ridges when seen from a distance it is named the Mountain of the Great Hand." Before the words had left her lips another voice spoke, at the sound of which Suzanne nearly fell to the earth.
"Good day to you, Suzanne," it said in Dutch and was silent.
"Sihamba, did you hear, Sihamba ?" she gasped.

"Do I dream, or did Piet Van Vooren speak to me ?" "You did not dream," answered Sihamba, "for that voice was the voice of Swart Piet and no other, and he is hidden somewhere among the rocks of yonder cliff wall.

Quick, Swallow, kneel behind this stone lest he should shoot." She obeyed, and at that moment the voice spoke again out of the shadows of the cliff that bordered the pass twenty or thirty paces from them.
"What, Suzanne," it said, "is that little witch-doctoress telling you that I shall fire on you?
Had I wished I could have shot you three times over while you were standing upon that rock.

But why should I desire to kill one who will be my lover?
Sihamba I wished to shoot indeed, but her familiar set her so that the bullet must pass through you to reach her heart.

Suzanne, you are going to hide yourself among the people of the Umpondwana.