THE KALUBI'S OATH "Be silent!" I whispered, and all understood my tone if they did not catch the words.

Then steadying myself with an effort, for this hideous vision, which might have been a picture from hell, made me feel faint, I glanced at Komba, who was a pace or two in front of us.

Evidently he was much disturbed--the motions of his back told me this--by the sense of some terrible mistake that he had made.

For a moment he stood still, then wheeled round and asked me if we had seen anything.
"Yes," I answered indifferently, "we saw a number of men gathered round a fire, nothing more." He tried to search our faces, but luckily the great moon, now almost at her full, was hidden behind a thick cloud, so that he could not read them well.

I heard him sigh in relief as he said: "The Kalubi and the head men are cooking a sheep; it is their custom to feast together on those nights when the moon is about to change.