Part 20 (1/2)
”And always shall be, _Hau_!” echoed his listeners ”And always shall be My father, I think not”
”I am old, my sons, and I shall end ai- There are those a you ill end your lives in blood”
”Ha! And what then?” cried the ht for our father and chief, and for--” and here he suddenly stopped
He would name no naht was in theirs ”I would I had lived in the tiais bit deep and drank blood My father lost his life in blood at Nodwengu, but he had washed his spear in the blood of the whites twice before that And I, his son, I have to turn out and work at et all your chances of a death in blood--a glorious death in blood--presently, ai-maker, his face puckered up quizzically ”The whites will take care of that”
”_Au_! I like not this talk,” growled one of the group, abad _ood or bad, put I on them, Sekun-ya,” returned the old man tranquilly ”The _h at this, and then the group fell to talking, and their topic was the for It was not a pleasant conversation Thevoluble iold town, and his hearers listened delightedly Such experiences, however, were not calculated to deepen their respect for the white ai-maker worked on At last he deposited the last blade to cool
”There, my sons You will have as many as you can carry--when darkness falls,” he said ”Sapazani has an open hand, yet I would like to have what co may there be to have Say that unto the chief”
This they promised to do, amid much merriment But the old sceptic did not controvert them; he e caroup They were suddenly silent, and sat tense and listening
”_O' Nongqai_!” exclaimed more than one simultaneously
For to their keen ears was borne the far-away sound of horse-hoofs, and it was that of several horses The inference was clear A police patrol
The assegai-maker's kraal was situated in a hollow on a densely bushed and rugged hillside Even the smoke of his fire would hardly show above the tree-tops, yet it was just possible that the secret of its existence and of its whereabouts ency had been provided against, and Malemba would have had ample time to conceal all traces of his craft by the tied hillside Quickly the group hadfor a point whence they could overlook the country beneath
Three horseh track down on the level, over two aze would have required glasses to make out their identity, but to the telescopic eyes of these savages that was plain enough So plain that they could even distinguish the sergeant from the two troopers
One man was dispatched to warn Malemba, and the rest crouched there, and watched--watched with soht on, heading away in the direction of Ben Halse's store And the watchers laughed and chuckled aqai_! Three out of five here Four there; ten elsewhere
_Whau_! We shall eat them up easily”
Nevertheless they continued to watch, even after the patrol was out of sight
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE FIRST DAY
They were inspecting the great koodoo head in Ben Halse's yard Denhahted
”Why, it's perfect,” he declared ”Perfect, simply perfect”
”Yes, I believe it's an absolute record But we'll have to be a bit careful hoe get it away; however, there's no hurry about that”
”There's an old saying, you know, Mr Halse,” said Denha friends' So you won'tover this now,”
and he handed the other a folded cheque