Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/97

 and forthwith Kria, who had recovered his weapon. stabbed Dâman full in the throat with the broad spear-blade. The murdered man collapsed on the ground, giving vent to a thick, choking cough, and no sooner was he down than all the Chief's youths rushed in to whet their blades in his shuddering flesh.

Mînah, distraught with grief and horror, threw herself prostrate upon the ground, seeking to shut out the sight with her tightly clasped hands; and as she lay on the warm earth, the wailing of the women, the rough growlings of the men, and the soft whisperings of the steel blades, piercing the now lifeless body of her husband, told her that all was over.

The day waned, the darkness shut down over the land, and the moon rose above the broad, still river, pale and passionless, looking calmly down upon a world which, bathed in her rays, seemed unutterably peaceful and serene. But all through that night, and during many days and nights to come, the pitiful wailing of a girl broke the stillness of the silent hours in the neighbourhood of the Chief's compound. It was only Mînah mourning for her dead, and taking more time than her friends thought altogether necessary to become accustomed to her surroundings as one of the household of the Chief.

Her new lord was not unnaturally annoyed by her senseless clamour; and beating, he discovered, ended only to increase the nuisance. But crumpled rose leaves are to be met with in every bed of flowers, and the Chief had, at any rate, the satisfaction of