There was not a breath of wind, and the superheated, stagnant air was heavy with pestilence.

From the direction they were going arose a wild clamour, as of lost souls wailing and of men in torment.

A long, low shed showed ahead, grass-walled and grass-thatched, and it was from here that the noise proceeded.

There were shrieks and screams, some unmistakably of grief, others unmistakably of unendurable pain.

As the white man drew closer he could hear a low and continuous moaning and groaning.