Part 7 (1/2)

At last we did get off, pursued by the fervent blessings of Thoe their murdered relatives We were a curious anda spoor he was, I believe, alaas, and three of his Zulus to guard against surprise These were followed by Captain Robertson, who seeht it best to leave undisturbed Then I caled the Strath closed by the re Zulus under the command of Goroko These walked last in case any of the ht it quite probable that they would

Less than an hour's traht us to the bush-veld where I feared that our troubles , they would take advantage of it to confuse or hide their spoor As it chanced, however, they had done nothing of the sort and a child could have followed their -place where they had oats which they had driven aith theoats are docile and travel well

Hans showed us everything that had happened; where the chair in which Inez was carried was set dohere she and Janee had been allowed to walk that she s of some coffee that evidently Janee had made in a saucepan, and so forth

He even told us the exact nuer, which he said totalled forty-one, including the uished from that of the others both by an occasional drop of blood and because he walked lightly on his right foot, doubtless for the reason that he wished to avoid jarring his wound, which was on that side

At this spot ere obliged to stay till daybreak, since it was iht, a circue over us

The next two days were repetitions of the first, but on the fourth we passed out of the bush-veld into the swareat river Here our task was still easy since the Aer had followed one of the paths made by the river-dwellers who had their habitations on h whether these were natural or artificial I a islands

On our second day in the reeds we caht To our left stood one of these e it could be called, since it consisted only of four or five huts inhabited perhaps by twenty people We went up to it to obtain infor in the pathway A few yards further on we found the ashes of a big fire and by it such remains as we had seen at Strathmuir Here there had been another cannibal feast The miserable huts were empty, but as at Strath ahen the acute ears of Hans caught the sound of groans We searched about and in a clump of reeds near the foot of the reat spear wound just above her skinny thigh piercing deep into the vitals, but of a nature which is not immediately e of these swamp-dwellers well, spoke to her She told hiht and she drank copiously Then in answer to his questions she began to talk

She said that the Ae and killed all who could not escape They had eaten a young woman and three children She had been wounded by a spear and fled away into the place where we found her, where none of the”

Byof these Ah she had heard nothing of them since she was a child, which must have been seventy years before They were a fierce people who lived far up north across the Great River, the rerandfathers used to say that they were not always cannibals, but had beco before because of a lack of food and now had acquired the taste It was for this purpose that they still raided to get other people to eat, since their ruler would not allow them to eat one another The flesh of cattle they did not care for, although they had plenty of thes because they said they tasted like randfathers they were a very evil people and full of ic

All of this the old woman told us quite briskly after she had drunk the water, I think because her wound had mortified and she felt no pain Her infored, dealt entirely with the far past; of the history of the A, nor had she seen anything of Inez All she could tell us was that soe at dawn and that when she ran out of the hut she was speared

While Robertson and I ondering e should do with the poor old creature whom it seemed cruel to leave here to perish, she cleared up the question by suddenly expiring before our eyes Uttering the name of someone hom, doubtless, she had been familiar in her youth, three or four tio to sleep and on examination we found that she was dead So we left her and went on

Next day we cae of the Great River, here a sheet of placid running water about a mile across, for at this tie on our left, ent to it and made enquiries, to find that it had not been attacked by the cannibals, probably because it was too powerful, but that three nights before some of their canoes had been stolen, in which no doubt these had crossed the river

As the people of this village had traded with Robertson at Strath other canoes from them in which to cross the Zambesi in return for one of our oxen that I could see was already sickening froh to take the donkeys that were patient creatures and stood still, but the cattle we could not get into them for fear of an upset So we killed the two driven beasts that were left to us and took the pack oxen we tried to swi them after the canoes with hide reims round their horns As a result tere drowned, but one, a bold-hearted and enterprising aniain we struck a sea of reeds in which, after casting about, Hans once er That it was theirs beyond doubt was proved by the circument of a cotton dress which, because of the pattern stanised as one that Inez had been wearing At first I thought that this had been torn off by the thorns, but on examination we became certain that it had been placed there purposely, probably by Janee, to give us a clue This conclusion was confirarment

Noould be useless for ed and arduous chase which in all endured for soain we lost the trail and were only able to recover it by long and elaborate search, which occupied much time Then, after we escaped from the reeds and swamps, we found ourselves upon stony uplands where the spoor was almost impossible to follow, indeed, we only rediscovered it by stu across the dead body of that cannibal whom Inez had wounded Evidently he had perished from his hurt, which I could see had athered that the raiderstheir spoor again on softer ground where the iht of Hans-we followed therew sparsely, which valleys were separated froh and barren land On these belts of rocky soil our difficulties were great, but here tere put on the right track by th we lost the spoor altogether; not a sign of it was to be found We had no idea which way to go All about us appeared these valleys covered with scattered bush running this way and that, so that we could not tell which of the seemed hopeless, for how could we expect to find a little body of men in that immensity? Hans shook his head and even the fierce and steadfast Robertson was discouraged

”I fearas had becoed as does it!” I replied cheerfully in the words of Nelson, who also had learned what it h his were of water

I walked to the top of the rise where ere encamped, and sat down alone to think matters over Our condition was somewhat parlous; all our beasts were now dead, even the second donkey, which was the last of the, and been eaten, for food was scanty since of late we had ame The Strathmuir men, who now must carry the loads, were almost worn out and doubtless would have deserted, except for the fact that there was no place to which they could go Even the Zulus were discouraged, and said they had coht, not to run about in wildernesses and starve, though U buoyed up by the promise of his soothsayer, Goroko, that battle was ahead of hilory

Hans, however, remained cheerful, for the reason, as he remarked vacuously, that the Great Medicine ith us and that therefore, however bad things seeument that carried no conviction totowards sunset that I went away thus alone I looked about me, east and west and north Everywhere appeared the same bush-clad valleys and barren rises, ht me of the map that old Zikali had drawn in the ashes, and remembered that it showed these valleys and rises and that beyond thereat swamp, and beyond the swaht road to the home of his white Queen, if such a person existed, or at any rate ere passing over country siined

But at this tiof poor Inez That she was alive a few days before we knew froments of her dress But where was she now? The spoor was utterly lost on that stony ground, or if any traces of it ree of rain had washed them away Even Hans had confessed himself beaten

I stared about ht fro sun reflected doards from a storm-cloud, fell upon a white patch on the crest of one of the distant land-waves It struck me that probably limestone outcropped at this spot, as indeed proved to be the case; also that such a patch of white would be a convenient guide for any ere travelling across that sea of bush Further, soh I had all but o in a totally different direction h a voice were calling to me to take this path and no other Doubtless this was an effect produced by weariness and ible, one that I did not atte at the dawn I headed north by west, layingthe straight line of our advance Captain Robertson, whose tehtful anxiety, or I hly why I was altering the course

”Look here, Captain,” I answered, ”if ere at sea and you did so of the sort, I should not put such a question to you, and if by any chance I did, I should not expect you to answer Well, by your oish I aument holds”

”Yes,” he replied ”I suppose you have studied your chart, if there is any of this God-forsaken country, and at any rate discipline is discipline So steam ahead and don't mind me”

The others accepted my decision without comment; most of them were so miserable that they did not care which ent, also they were good enough to repose confidence in ment

”Doubtless the Baas has reasons,” said Hans dubiously, ”although the spoor, when lastit, headed towards the rising sun and as the country is all the same, I do not see why those man-eaters should have returned”

”Yes,” I said, ”I have reasons,” although in fact I had none at all

Hans surveyedfor e

”The Baas has reasons,” continued Hans, ”for taking us on what I think to be the wrong side of that great ridge, there to hunt for the spoor of the men-eaters, and they are so deep down in histhem up for poor old Hans to look at Well, the Baas wears the Great Medicine and perhaps it is there that the reasons sit Those Stratho no further and wish to die Uone to them with his axe to tell theot there, for they are co quickly, who after all prefer to live”

Well, we started for my white patch of stones which no one else had noticed and of which I said nothing to anyone, and reached it by the following evening, to find, as I expected, that it was a lime outcrop

By noere in a poor way, for we had practically nothing left to eat, which did not tend to raise the spirits of the party Also that li a wide valley which seeest that there were other valleys of a si more

Captain Robertson sat stern-faced and despondent at a distanceinto his beard, as had becoaas leaned upon his axe and contemplated the heavens, also occasionally the Strathmuir men who cowered beneath his eye The Zulus squatted about sharing such snuff as remained to theed hi, upon the hu any gaathered that his ”Spirit” was quite uncertain In short, the glooh it were going to rain

Hans beca way, like a dog thatand cover up the theft with simulated affection, he pointed out one by one all the disadvantages of our present position He indicated per contra, that if his advice had been followed, his conviction was that even if we had not found the man-eaters and rescued the lady called Sad-Eyes, our state would have been quite different He was sure, he added, that the valley which he had suggested we should folloas one full of game, inasmuch as he had seen their spoor at its entrance

”Then why did you not say so?” I asked

Hans sucked at his e that he would like roans heavily under the table when he wants a bit to eat, and answered that it was not for hireat Macuht, his honouredThe privations could have been put up with (here he sucked very loudly at the e could have been put up with, if only there had been a chance of co the Lady Sad-Eyes, whose face haunted his sleep As it was, however, he was convinced that by following the course I had mapped out we had lost their spoor finally and that probably they were now three days' march away in another direction Still, the Baas had said that he had his reasons, and that of course was enough for him, Hans, only if the Baas would condescend to tell him, he would as a matter of curiosity like to knohat the reasons were

At that moment I confess that, much as I was attached to hi that he had e of my position to make a mock of me in his sly, Hottentot way

I tried to continue to look grand, but felt that the attitude did not i counsel with the Heavens, devoutly hoping that the Heavens would respond to my mute appeal As a matter of fact they did

”There is my reason, Hans,” I said in myagainst the twilight sky on the further side of the intervening valley

”You will perceive, Hans,” I added, ”that those Aotten their caution and lit a fire yonder, which they have not done for a long time Perhaps you would like to knohy this has happened If so I will tell you It is because for some days past I have purposely lost their spoor, which they kneere following, and lit fires to puzzle the that they have done with us, they have become incautious and shown us where they are That is h of course he did not believe that I had lost the spoor on purpose, stared atto drop out of his head But even in his admiration he contrived to convey an insult as only a native can

”Hoonderful is the Great Medicine of the Opener-of-Roads, that it should have been able thus to instruct the Baas,” he said ”Without doubt the Great Medicine is right and yonder those ht just as well as have been anywhere else within a hundred miles”