Nor was their terror without foundation. Impaled upon the end of
a broken branch the head of their companion was propped behind the
tree so that it appeared to be looking out at them from the opposite
side of the bole.
It was then that many wished to turn back, arguing that they
had offended some demon of the wood upon whose preserve they had
trespassed; but Usanga refused to listen to them, assuring them
that inevitable torture and death awaited them should they return
and fall again into the hands of their cruel German masters. At
last his reasoning prevailed to the end that a much-subdued and
terrified band moved in a compact mass, like a drove of sheep,
forward through the valley and there were no stragglers.
It is a happy characteristic of the Negro race, which they hold
in common with little children, that their spirits seldom remain
depressed for a considerable length of time after the immediate
cause of depression is removed, and so it was that in half an hour
Usanga's band was again beginning to take on to some extent its
former appearance of carefree lightheartedness. Thus were the heavy
clouds of fear slowly dissipating when a turn in the trail brought
them suddenly upon the headless body of their erstwhile companion
lying directly in their path, and they were again plunged into the
depth of fear and gloomy forebodings.
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