Part 7 (1/2)

”Never mind, Baas,” said Scowl, ”they are two hours' march off by now”

”I hope so,” I answered; but, as it happened, luck was against me, for before we had covered half a mile some over-zealous fellow struck a blood spoor

I marched on that spoor for twenty minutes or so, till we came to a patch of bush that sloped doards to a river-bed Right to this river I followed it, till I reached the edge of a big pool that was still full of water, although the river itself had gone dry Here I stood looking at the spoor and consulting with Saduko as to whether the beast could have swue had become confused and uncertain Suddenly our doubts were ended, since out of a patch of dense bush which we had passed--for it had played the co back on its own spoor--appeared the buffalo, a huge bull, that halted on three legs, hs As to its identity there was no doubt, since on, or rather fro the remains of Umbezi's htened voice _”It is the buffalo with the cleft horn!”_

I heard him; I saw All the scene in the hut of Zikali rose beforeI liftedbeast, but knew that the bullet glanced froht on me--and tried to jump aside

Al the remains of Umbezi's moocha, scooped me up and hurled me off the river bank backwards and sideways into the deep pool below As I departed thither I saw Saduko spring forward and heard a shot fired that caused the bull to collapse for aether, and there was no roo I went under, as the lighter dog always does in a fight That buffalo see to me which a buffalo could do under the circumstances It tried to horn h I ducked at each swoop Then it struck me with its nose and drove ot hold of its lip and twisted it Then it calmly knelt on me and sankit in the stomach After this I remember no more, except a kind of wild dream in which I rehearsed all the scene in the dwarf's hut, and his request that when I met the buffalo with the cleft horn in the pool of a dried river, I should re but a ”poor old Kafir cheat”

After this I sawover a little child in my bed in the old house in Oxfordshi+re where I was born, and then--blackness!

I caain and saw, instead ofover me upon one side, and on the other that of Scowl, the half-bred Hottentot, eeping, for his hot tears fell upon one,” said poor Scowl; ”that bewitched beast with the split horn has killed hione as the best white man in all South Africa, whom I loved better than ht easily do, bastard,” answered Saduko, ”seeing that you do not knoho they are But he is not gone, for the 'Opener-of-Roads'

said that he would live; also I got my spear into the heart of that buffalo before he had kneaded the life out of him, as fortunately the mud was soft Yet I fear that his ribs are broken”; and he poked er on the breast

”Take your cluasped

”There!” said Saduko, ”I have made him feel Did I not tell you that he would live?”

After this I remember littlein a great hut, which I discovered subsequently was Umbezi's own, the same, indeed, wherein I had doctored the ear of that wife of his as called ”Worn-out-old-Cow”

CHAPTER IV MAMEENA

For a while I conteht which entered it through the sht be and how I came there

Then I tried to sit up, and instantly was seized with agony in the region of the ribs, which I found were bound about with broad strips of soft tanned hide Clearly they, or some of them, were broken

What had broken the came back to me So I had escaped with my life, as the old dwarf, ”Opener-of-Roads,” had told me that I should Certainly he was an excellent prophet; and if he spoke truth in this matter, why not in others? What was I to e, however ancient, foresee the future?

By induction from the past, I supposed; and yet what amount of induction would suffice to show hi accident that was to happen to ency of a wild beast with a peculiarly shaped horn? I gave it up, as before and since that day I have found it necessary to do in the case of many other events in life Indeed, the question is one that I often have had cause to ask where Kafir ”witch-doctors” or prophets are concerned, notably in the instance of a certain Mavovo, of whom I hope to tell one day, whose predictions saved my life and those of my companions

Just then I heard the sound of soh the bee-hole of the hut, and half-closed my eyes, as I did not feel inclined for conversation The person came and stood over me, and somehow--by instinct, I suppose--I became aware that my visitor was a woh to enable ht that, passing through the sloom of the hut, stood the most beautiful creature that I had ever seen--that is, if it be admitted that a person who is black, or rather copper-coloured, can be beautiful

She was a little above the ure that, so far as I ae of such matters, was absolutely perfect--that of a Greek statue indeed On this point I had an opportunity of for an opinion, since, except for her little bead apron and a single string of large blue beads about her throat, her costume ell, that of a Greek statue Her features showed no trace of the negro type; on the contrary, they were singularly well cut, the nose being straight and fine and the pouting mouth that just showed the ivory teeth between, very se, dark and liquid, like those of a buck, set beneath a s, but not woolly, hair gre This hair, by the as not dressed up in any of the eccentric native fashi+ons, but si knot over the nape of the neck, the little ears peeping out through its tresses The hands, like the feet, were very small and delicate, and the curves of the bust soft and full without being coarse, or even showing the promise of coarseness

A lovely wo about that beautiful face; so its childlike outline, which re into bloom, that one does not associate with youth and innocence I tried to analyse what thishard, it was too clever and, in a sense, too reflective I felt even then that the brain within the shapely head was keen and bright as polished steel; that this woman was onecompanion, but to use him for her ends

She dropped her chin till it hid the little, dimple-like depression below her throat, which was one of her char which I shut ht that I was still in my swoon, for now she spoke to herself in a low voice that was soft and sweet as honey

”A small man,” she said; ”Saduko would make two of him, and the other”--as he, I wondered--”three His hair, too, is ugly; he cuts it short and it sticks up like that on a cat's back Iya!” (ie