Some of those who came in were folk weary of life, or, in other
words, suicides, and these walked; and some were sick of various diseases,
and these were carried. But the end was the same, they always died, though
whether this result was really brought about by some poison distilled from
the tree, as Nya alleged, or whether it was the effect of a physical
collapse induced by that inherited belief, Rachel never discovered.
At least they died, some almost at once, and some within a day or two of
entering that deadly shade, and were borne away to burial by the mutes who
spent their spare time in the digging of little graves which they must
fill. Indeed, these mutes either knew, or pretended that they knew who
would be the occupant of each grave. At least they intimated by signs that
this was revealed to them in their bowls, and when the victims appeared
within the Wall, took pleasure in leading them to the holes they had
prepared, and showing to them with what care these had been dug to suit
their stature. For this service they received a fee that such moribund
persons brought with them, either of finely woven robes, or of mats, or of
different sorts of food, or sometimes of gold and copper rings
manufactured by the Umkulu or other subject savages, which they wore upon
their wrists and ankles.
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