io6 THE WOODLANDS ORCHIDS 



enemy used this device to ensnare him ? It might be ! And 

 yet — there was the hope. At worst they would give him a 

 speedy death. He answered. Gradually the searchers drew 

 near. They were his own men, led by the interpreter. 



Wilson could not speak French, but he grasped that the 

 natives would not harm him. Leboeuf i^ — It was almost a 

 comfort that he could not understand precisely. The inter- 

 preter's pantomime suggested an awful fate. Leboeuf stood 

 at bay with his gun, and the chiefs held him in parley while 

 men crept through the brushwood. They threw a lasso from 

 behind, and dragged him down. He was borne to the 

 square, and after dread ceremonies which Wilson shuddered 

 to comprehend, laid upon the altar. 



In a maze of horror and anxiety he entered the village. 

 It was not yet dark. But of all the multitude swarming 

 there some hours before not a soul was visible. They had 

 not left ; every house resounded with the hum of many 

 voices — low, and, as it seemed to Wilson, praying. The 

 square also was deserted ; upon the high stone altar he saw 

 a shapeless mass from which small wreaths of smoke still 

 curled. 



That was the fate of poor Leboeuf. The same night 

 Wilson was seized by fever. He struggled on, but died 

 within a few hours' march of Tamatave. 



