I was like a man forced to walk through dense darkness among precipices, quite unable to guess when my journey would end in space, but enduring all the agonies of death at every step.
About midnight again we heard that scuffle and stifled cry in the hut behind us.
"He's gone," I whispered to Marut, wiping the cold sweat from my brow.
"Yes," answered Marut, "and very soon we shall follow him, Macumazana." I wished that his face were visible so that I could see if he still smiled when he uttered those words.
An hour or so later the usual fire appeared in the marketplace, round which the usual figures flitted dimly.

The sight of them fascinated me, although I did not want to look, fearing what I might see.

Luckily, however, we were too far off to discern anything at night.
While these unholy ceremonies were in progress the climax came, that is so far as the weather was concerned.

Of a sudden a great gale sprang up, a gale of icy wind such as in Southern Africa sometimes precedes a thunderstorm.

It blew for half an hour or more, then lulled.