Inside the shed
forty or fifty men, who wore white robes and peculiar caps and who
were engaged in chanting a dreadful, melancholy song, were gathered on
three sides of a huge fire that burned in a pit in the ground. On the
fourth side, that facing the gate, a man stood alone with his arms
outstretched and his back towards us.
Of a sudden he heard our footsteps and turned round, springing to the
left, so that the light might fall on us. Now we saw by the glow of
the great fire, that over it was an iron grid not unlike a small
bedstead, and that on this grid lay some fearful object. Stephen, who
was a little ahead, stared, then exclaimed in a horrified voice:
"My God! it is a woman!"
In another second the blinds fell down, hiding everything, and the
singing ceased.
CHAPTER XIV
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.
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