H. Rider Haggard .....................................................................................................................................1

It may be well to state that the incident of the "Thing that bites" recorded in this tale is not an effort of the

imagination. On the contrary, it is "plagiarized." Mandara, a wellknown chief on the east coast of Africa,

has such an article, and uses it. In the same way the wicked conduct attributed to Wambe is not without a

precedent. T'Chaka, the Zulu Napoleon, never allowed a child of his to live. Indeed he went further, for on

discovering that his mother, Unandi, was bringing up one of his sons in secret, like Nero he killed her, and

One dayit was about a week after Allan Quatermain told me his story of the "Three Lions," and of the

moving death of JimJimhe and I were walking home together on the termination of a day's shooting. He

owned about two thousand acres of shooting round the place he had bought in Yorkshire, over a hundred of

which were wood. It was the second year of his occupation of the estate, and already he had reared a very fair

head of pheasants, for he was an allround sportsman, and as fond of shooting with a shotgun as with an

eightbore rifle. We were three guns that day, Sir Henry Curtis, Old Quatermain, and myself; but Sir Henry

was obliged to leave in the middle of the afternoon in order to meet his agent, and inspect an outlying farm

where a new shed was wanted. However, he was coming back to dinner, and going to bring Captain Good

We had met with very fair sport, considering that we were only going through outlying cover for cocks. I

think that we had killed twenty seven, a W. and a leash of partridges which we secured out of a

driven covey. On our way home there lay a long narrow spinney, which was a very favourite "lie" for

"Well, what do you say?" said old Quatermain, "shall we beat through this for a finish?"

I assented, and he called to the keeper who was following with a little knot of beaters, and told him to beat

"Very well, sir," answered the man, "but it's getting wonderful dark, and the wind's rising a gale. It will take

"You show us the W.s, Jeffries," answered Quatermain quickly, for he never liked being crossed in

The man turned and went rather sulkily. I heard him say to the under keeper, "He's pretty good, the master

is, I'm not saying he isn't, but if he kills a W. in this light and wind, I'm a Dutchman."

I think that Quatermain heard him too, though he said nothing. The wind was rising every minute, and by the

time the beat begun it blew big guns. I stood at the righthand corner of the spinney, which curved round

somewhat, and Quatermain stood at the left, about forty paces from me. Presently an old cock pheasant came

rocketing over me, looking as though the feathers were being blown out of his tail. I missed him clean with

the first barrel, and was never more pleased with myself in my life than when I doubled him up with the

second, for the shot was not an easy one. In the faint light I could see Quatermain nodding his head in

approval, when through the groaning of the trees I heard the shouts of the beaters, "Cock forward, cock to the

right." Then came a whole volley of shouts, "W. to the right," "Cock to the left," "Cock over."

I looked up, and presently caught sight of one of the W.s coming down the wind upon me like a flash.

In that dim light I could not follow all his movements as he zigzagged through the naked treetops; indeed I

could see him when his wings flitted up. Now he was passing mebang, and a flick of the wing, I had

"Cock to you," I shouted, stepping forward so as to get Quatermain between me and the faint angry light of

the dying day, for I wanted to see if he would "wipe my eye." I knew him to be a wonderful shot, but I

I saw him raise his gun ever so little and bend forward, and at that moment out flashed two W.s into

At the same time a fresh shout arose of, "W. over," and looking down the spinney I saw a third bird

high up in the air, being blown along like a brown and whirling leaf straight over Quatermain's head. And

then followed the prettiest little bit of shooting that I ever saw. The bird to the right was flying low, not ten

yards from the line of a hedgerow, and Quatermain took him first because he would become invisible the

soonest of any. Indeed, nobody who had not his hawk's eyes could have seen to shoot at all. But he saw the

bird well enough to kill it dead as a stone. Then turning sharply, he pulled on the second bird at about

fortyfive yards, and over he went. By this time the third W. was nearly over him, and flying very

high, straight down the wind, a hundred feet up or more, I should say. I saw him glance at it as he opened his

gun, threw out the right cartridge and slipped in another, turning round as he did so. By this time the cock

was nearly fifty yards away from him, and travelling like a flash. Lifting his gun he fired after it, and,

wonderful as the shot was, killed it dead. A tearing gust of wind caught the dead bird, and blew it away like a

"I say, Quatermain," I said to him when the beaters were up, "do you often do this sort of thing?"

"Well," he answered, with a dry smile, "the last time I had to load three shots as quickly as that was at rather

larger game. It was at elephants. I killed them all three as dead as I killed those W.s; but it very nearly

Just at that moment the keeper came up, "Did you happen to get one of them there cocks, sir?" he said, with

"Well, yes, Jeffries," answered Quatermain; "you will find one of them by the hedge, and another about fifty

The keeper had turned to go, looking a little astonished, when Quatermain called him back.

"Stop a bit, Jeffries," he said. "You see that pollard about one hundred and forty yards off? Well, there should

"Well, if that bean't the very smartest bit of shooting," murmured Jeffries, and departed.

After that we went home, and in due course Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good arrived for dinner, the latter

arrayed in the tightest and most ornamental dresssuit I ever saw. I remember that the waistcoat was adorned

It was a very pleasant dinner. Old Quatermain was in an excellent humour; induced, I think, by the

recollection of his triumph over the doubting Jeffries. Good, too, was full of anecdotes. He told us a most

miraculous story of how he once went shooting ibex in Kashmir. These ibex, according to Good, he stalked

early and late for four entire days. At last on the morning of the fifth day he succeeded in getting within range

of the flock, which consisted of a magnificent old ram with horns so long that I am afraid to mention their

measure, and five or six females. Good crawled upon his stomach, painfully taking shelter behind rocks, till

he was within two hundred yards; then he drew a fine bead upon the old ram. At this moment, however, a

diversion occurred. Some wandering native of the hills appeared upon a distant mountain top. The females

turned, and rushing over a rock vanished from Good's ken. But the old ram took a bolder course. In front of

him stretched a mighty crevasse at least thirty feet in width. He went at it with a bound. Whilst he was in

midair Good fired, and killed him dead. The ram turned a complete somersault in space, and fell in such

fashion that his horns hooked themselves upon a big projection of the opposite cliffs. There he hung, till

Good, after a long and painful d�tour, gracefully dropped a lasso over him and fished him up.

"Well," said Good, "if you fellows won't believe my story when I tell ita perfectly true story

mindperhaps one of you will give us a better; I'm not particular if it is true or not." And he lapsed into a

"Now, Quatermain," I said, "don't let Good beat you, let us hear how you killed those elephants you were

"Well," said Quatermain, dryly, and with something like a twinkle in his brown eyes, "it is very hard fortune

for a man to have to follow on Good's "spoor." Indeed if it were not for that running giraffe which, as you

will remember, Curtis, we saw Good bowl over with a Martini rifle at three hundred yards, I should almost

"However," he went on, rising and lighting his pipe, "if you fellows like, I will spin you a yarn. I was telling

one of you the other night about those three lions and how the lioness finished my unfortunate 'voorlooper,'

"Well, after this little experience I thought that I would settle down a bit, so I entered upon a venture with a

man who, being of a speculative mind, had conceived the idea of running a store at Pretoria upon strictly cash

principles. The arrangement was that I should find the capital and he the experience. Our partnership was not

of a long duration. The Boers refused to pay cash, and at the end of four months my partner had the capital

and I had the experience. After this I came to the conclusion that storekeeping was not in my line, and

having four hundred pounds left, I sent my boy Harry to a school in Natal, and buying an outfit with what

"This time I determined to go further afield than I had ever been before; so I took a passage for a few pounds

in a trading brig that ran between Durban and Delagoa Bay. From Delagoa Bay I marched inland

accompanied by twenty porters, with the idea of striking up north, towards the Limpopo, and keeping parallel

to the coast, but at a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles from it. For the first twenty days of our

journey we suffered a good deal from fever, that is, my men did, for I think that I am fever proof. Also I was

hard put to it to keep the camp in meat, for although the country proved to be very sparsely populated, there

was but little game about. Indeed, during all that time I hardly killed anything larger than a waterbuck, and, as

you know, waterbuck's flesh is not very appetising food. On the twentieth day, however, we came to the

banks of a largish river, the Gonooroo it was called. This I crossed, and then struck inland towards a great

range of mountains, the blue crests of which we could see lying on the distant heavens like a shadow, a

continuation, as I believe, of the Drakensberg range that skirts the coast of Natal. From this main range a

great spur shoots out some fifty miles or so towards the coast, ending abruptly in one tremendous peak. This

spur I discovered separated the territories of two chiefs named Nala and Wambe, Wambe's territory being to

the north, and Nala's to the south. Nala ruled a tribe of bastard Zulus called the Butiana, and Wambe a much

larger tribe, called the Matuku, which presents marked Bantu characteristics. For instance, they have doors

and verandahs to their huts, work skins perfectly, and wear a waistcloth and not a moocha. At this time the

Butiana were more or less subject to the Matuku, having been surprised by them some twenty years before

and mercilessly slaughtered down. The tribe was now recovering itself, however, and as you may imagine, it

"Well, I heard as I went along that elephants were very plentiful in the dense forests which lie upon the slopes

and at the foot of the mountains that border Wambe's territory. Also I heard a very ill report of that worthy

himself, who lived in a kraal upon the side of the mountain, which was so strongly fortified as to be

practically impregnable. It was said that he was the most cruel chief in this part of Africa, and that he had

murdered in cold blood an entire party of English gentlemen, who, some seven years before, had gone into

his country to hunt elephants. They took an old friend of mine with them as guide, John Every by name, and

often had I mourned over his untimely death. All the same, Wambe or no Wambe, I determined to hunt

elephants in his country. I never was afraid of natives, and I was not going to show the white feather now. I

am a bit of a fatalist, as you fellows know, so I came to the conclusion that if it was fated that Wambe should

send me to join my old friend John Every, I should have to go, and there was an end of it. Meanwhile, I

"On the third day from the date of our sighting the great peak, we found ourselves beneath its shadow. Still

following the course of the river which wound through the forests at the base of the peak, we entered the

territory of the redoubtable Wambe. This, however, was not accomplished without a certain difference of

opinion between my bearers and myself, for when we reached the spot where Wambe's boundary was

supposed to run, the bearers sat down and emphatically refused to go a step further. I sat down too, and

argued with them, putting my fatalistic views before them as well as I was able. But I could not persuade

them to look at the matter in the same light. 'At present,' they said, 'their skins were whole; if they went into

Wambe's country without his leave they would soon be like a water eaten leaf. It was very well for me to

say that this would be Fate. Fate no doubt might be walking about in Wambe's country, but while they

"'Do you?' I replied, for my bile was stirred. 'At any rate, Mr. Gobo, you and one or two others will never get

there; see here, my friend,' and I took a repeating rifle and sat myself comfortably down, resting my back

against a tree'I have just breakfasted, and I had as soon spend the day here as anywhere else. Now if you or

any of those men walk one step back from here, and towards the coast, I shall fire at you; and you know that I

"The man fingered the spear he was carryingluckily all my guns were stacked against the treeand then

turned as though to walk away, the others keeping their eyes fixed upon him all the while. I rose and covered

him with the rifle, and though he kept up a brave appearance of unconcern, I saw that he was glancing

nervously at me all the time. When he had gone about twenty yards I spoke very quietly

"Of course this was taking a very high hand; I had no real right to kill Gobo or anybody else because they

objected to run the risk of death by entering the territory of a hostile chief. But I felt that if I wished to keep

up any authority it was absolutely necessary that I should push matters to the last extremity short of actually

shooting him. So I sat there, looking fierce as a lion, and keeping the sight of my rifle in a dead line for

Gobo's ribs. Then Gobo, feeling that the situation was getting strained, gave in.

"'I thought you would,' I answered quietly; 'you see Fate walks about outside Wambe's country as well as in

"After that I had no more trouble, for Gobo was the ringleader, and when he collapsed the others collapsed

also. Harmony being thus restored, we crossed the line, and on the following morning I began shooting in

"Moving some five or six miles round the base of the great peak of which I have spoken, we came the same

day to one of the fairest bits of African country that I have seen outside of Kukuanaland. At this spot the

mountain spur that runs out at right angles to the great range, which stretches its cloudclad length north and

south as far as the eye can reach, sweeps inwards with a vast and splendid curve. This curve measures some

fiveandthirty miles from point to point, and across its moonlike segment the river flashed, a silver line of

light. On the further side of the river is a measureless sea of swelling ground, a natural park covered with

great patches of bush some of them being many square miles in extent. These are separated one from

another by glades of grass land, broken here and there with clumps of timber trees; and in some instances by

curious isolated koppies, and even by single crags of granite that start up into the air as though they were

monuments carved by man, and not tombstones set by nature over the grave of ages gone. On the west this

beautiful plain is bordered by the lonely mountain, from the edge of which it rolls down toward the fever

coast; but how far it runs to the north I cannot sayeight days' journey, according to the natives, when it is

"On the hither side of the river the scenery is different. Along the edge of its banks, where the land is flat, are

green patches of swamp. Then comes a wide belt of beautiful grass land covered thickly with game, and

sloping up very gently to the borders of the forest, which, beginning at about a thousand feet above the level

of the plain, clothes the mountainside almost to its crest. In this forest grow great trees, most of them of the

yellowwood species. Some of these trees are so lofty, that a bird in their top branches would be out of range

of an ordinary shot gun. Another peculiar thing about them is, that they are for the most part covered with a

dense growth of the Orchilla moss; and from this moss the natives manufacture a most excellent deep purple

dye, with which they stain tanned hides and also cloth, when they happen to get any of the latter. I do not

think that I ever saw anything more remarkable than the appearance of one of these mighty trees festooned

from top to bottom with trailing wreaths of this sadhued moss, in which the wind whispers gently as it stirs

them. At a distance it looks like the gray locks of a Titan crowned with bright green leaves, and here and

"The night of that day on which I had my little difference of opinion with Gobo, we camped by the edge of

this great forest, and on the following morning at daylight I started out shooting. As we were short of meat I

determined to kill a buffalo, of which there were plenty about, before looking for traces of elephants. Not

more than half a mile from camp we came across a trail broad as a cartroad, evidently made by a great herd

of buffaloes which had passed up at dawn from their feeding ground in the marshes, to spend the day in the

cool air of the uplands. This trail I followed boldly; for such wind as there was blew straight down the

mountainside, that is, from the direction in which the buffaloes had gone, to me. About a mile further on the

forest began to be dense, and the nature of the trail showed me that I must be close to my game. Another two

hundred yards and the bush was so thick that, had it not been for the trail, we could scarcely have passed

through it. As it was, Gobo, who carried my eightbore rifle (for I had the .570express in my hand), and the

other two men whom I had taken with me, showed the very strongest dislike to going any further, pointing

out that there was 'no room to run away.' I told them that they need not come unless they liked, but that I was

"Another fifty yards, and the trail opened into a little glade. I knelt down and peeped and peered, but no

buffalo could I see. Evidently the herd had broken up hereI knew that from the spoorand penetrated the

opposite bush in little troops. I crossed the glade, and choosing one line of spoor, followed it for some sixty

yards, when it became clear to me that I was surrounded by buffaloes; and yet so dense was the cover that I

could not see any. A few yards to my left I could hear one rubbing its horns against a tree, while from my

right came an occasional low and throaty grunt which told me that I was uncomfortably near an old bull. I

crept on towards him with my heart in my mouth, as gently as though I were walking upon eggs for a bet,

lifting every little bit of wood in my path, and placing it behind me lest it should crack and warn the game.

After me in single file came my three retainers, and I don't know which of them looked the most frightened.

Presently Gobo touched my leg; I glanced round, and saw him pointing slantwise towards the left. I lifted my

head a little and peeped over a mass of creepers; beyond the creepers was a dense bush of sharppointed

aloes, of that kind of which the leaves project laterally, and on the other side of the aloes, not fifteen paces

from us, I made out the horns, neck, and the ridge of the back of a tremendous old bull. I took my eightbore,

and getting on to my knee prepared to shoot him through the neck, taking my chance of cutting his spine. I

had already covered him as well as the aloe leaves would allow, when he gave a kind of sigh and lay down.

"I looked round in dismay. What was to be done now? I could not see to shoot him lying down, even if my

bullet would have pierced the intervening aloeswhich was doubtfuland if I stood up he would either run

away or charge me. I reflected, and came to the conclusion that the only thing to do was to lie down also; for

I did not fancy wandering after other buffaloes in that dense bush. If a buffalo lies down, it is clear that he

must get up again some time, so it was only a case of patience'fighting the fight of sit down,' as the Zulus

"Accordingly I sat down and lighted a pipe, thinking that the smell of it might reach the buffalo and make

him get up. But the wind was the wrong way, and it did not; so when it was done I lit another. Afterwards I

"Well, we squatted like this for between half and three quarters of an hour, till at length I began to grow

heartily sick of the performance. It was about as dull a business as the last hour of a comic opera. I could hear

buffaloes snorting and moving all round, and see the red beaked tic birds flying up off their backs, making a

kind of hiss as they did so, something like that of the English misselthrush, but I could not see a single

buffalo. As for my old bull, I think he must have slept the sleep of the just, for he never even stirred.

"Just as I was making up my mind that something must be done to save the situation, my attention was

attracted by a curious grinding noise. At first I thought that it must be a buffalo chewing the cud, but was

obliged to abandon the idea because the noise was too loud. I shifted myself round and stared through the

cracks in the bush, in the direction whence the sound seemed to come, and once I thought that I saw

something gray moving about fifty yards off, but could not make certain. Although the grinding noise still

continued I could see nothing more, so I gave up thinking about it, and once again turned my attention to the

buffalo. Presently, however, something happened. Suddenly from about forty yards away there came a

tremendous snorting sound, more like that made by an engine getting a heavy train under weigh than

"'By Jove,' I thought, turning round in the direction from which the grinding sound had come, 'that must be a

rhinoceros, and he has got our wind.' For, as you fellows know, there is no mistaking the sound made by a

"Another second, and I heard a most tremendous crashing noise. Before I could think what to do, before I

could even get up, the bush behind me seemed to burst asunder, and there appeared not eight yards from us,

the great horn and wicked twinkling eye of a charging rhinoceros. He had winded us or my pipe, I do not

know which, and, after the fashion of these brutes, had charged up the scent. I could not rise, I could not even

get the gun up, I had no time. All that I was able to do was to roll over as far out of the monster's path as the

bush would allow. Another second and he was over me, his great bulk towering above me like a mountain,

and, upon my word, I could not get his smell out of my nostrils for a week. Circumstances impressed it on my

memory, at least I suppose so. His hot breath blew upon my face, one of his front feet just missed my head,

and his hind one actually trod upon the loose part of my trousers and pinched a little bit of my skin. I saw him

pass over me lying as I was upon my back, and next second I saw something else. My men were a little

behind me, and therefore straight in the path of the rhinoceros. One of them flung himself backwards into the

bush, and thus avoided him. The second with a wild yell sprung to his feet, and bounded like an indiarubber

ball right into the aloe bush, landing well among the spikes. But the third, it was my friend Gobo, could not

by any means get away. He managed to gain his feet, and that was all. The rhinoceros was charging with his

head low; his horn passed between Gobo's legs, and feeling something on his nose, he jerked it up. Away

went Gobo, high into the air. He turned a complete somersault at the apex of the curve, and as he did so, I

caught sight of his face. It was gray with terror, and his mouth was wide open. Down he came, right on to the

great brute's back, and that broke his fall. Luckily for him the rhinoceros never turned, but crashed straight

through the aloe bush, only missing the man who had jumped into it by about a yard.

"Then followed a complication. The sleeping buffalo on the further side of the bush, hearing the noise, sprang

to his feet, and for a second, not knowing what to do, stood still. At that instant the huge rhinoceros blundered

right on to him, and getting his horn beneath his stomach gave him such a fearful dig that the buffalo was

turned over on to his back, while his assailant went a most amazing cropper over his carcase. In another

moment, however, the rhinoceros was up, and wheeling round to the left, crashed through the bush downhill

"Instantly the whole place became alive with alarming sounds. In every direction troops of snorting buffaloes

charged through the forest, wild with fright, while the injured bull on the further side of the bush began to

bellow like a mad thing. I lay quite still for a moment, devoutly praying that none of the flying buffaloes

would come my way. Then when the danger lessened I got on to my feet, shook myself, and looked round.

One of my boys, he who had thrown himself backward into the bush, was already half way up a treeif

heaven had been at the top of it he could not have climbed quicker. Gobo was lying close to me, groaning

vigorously, but, as I suspected, quite unhurt; while from the aloe bush into which No. 3 had bounded like a

"I looked, and saw that this unfortunate fellow was in a very tight place. A great spike of aloe had run

through the back of his skin waistbelt, though without piercing his flesh, in such a fashion that it was

impossible for him to move, while within six feet of him the injured buffalo bull, thinking, no doubt, that he

was the aggressor, bellowed and ramped to get at him, tearing the thick aloes with his great horns. That no

time was to be lost, if I wished to save the man's life, was very clear. So seizing my eightbore, which was

fortunately uninjured, I took a pace to the left, for the rhinoceros had enlarged the hole in the bush, and aimed

at the point of the buffalo's shoulder, since on account of my position I could not get a fair side shot for the

heart. As I did so I saw that the rhinoceros had given the bull a tremendous wound in the stomach, and that

the shock of the encounter had put his left hindleg out of joint at the hip. I fired, and the bullet striking the

shoulder broke it, and knocked the buffalo down. I knew that he could not get up any more, because he was

now injured fore and aft, so notwithstanding his terrific bellows I scrambled round to where he was. There he

lay glaring furiously and tearing up the soil with his horns. Stepping up to within two yards of him I aimed at

the vertebra of his neck and fired. The bullet struck true, and with a thud he dropped his head upon the

"This little matter having been attended to with the assistance of Gobo, who had now found his feet, I went

on to extricate our unfortunate companion from the aloe bush. This we found a thorny task, but at last he was

dragged forth uninjured, though in a very pious and prayerful frame of mind. His 'spirit had certainly looked

that way,' he said, or he would now have been dead. As I never like to interfere with true piety, I did not

venture to suggest that his spirit had deigned to make use of my eightbore in his interest.

"Having despatched this boy back to the camp to tell the bearers to come and cut the buffalo up, I bethought

me that I owed that rhinoceros a grudge which I should love to repay. So without saying a word of what was

in my mind to Gobo, who was now more than ever convinced that Fate walked about loose in Wambe's

country, I just followed on the brute's spoor. He had crashed through the bush till he reached the little glade.

Then moderating his pace somewhat, he had followed the glade down its entire length, and once more turned

to the right through the forest, shaping his course for the open land that lies between the edge of the bush and

the river. Having followed him for a mile or so further, I found myself quite on the open. I took out my

glasses and searched the plain. About a mile ahead was something brownas I thought, the rhinoceros. I

advanced another quarter of a mile, and looked once more it was not the rhinoceros, but a big ant heap.

This was puzzling, but I did not like to give it up, because I knew from his spoor that he must be somewhere

ahead. But as the wind was blowing straight from me towards the line that he had followed, and as a

rhinoceros can smell you for about a mile, it would not, I felt, be safe to follow his trail any further; so I made

a d�tour of a mile and more, till I was nearly opposite the antheap, and then once more searched the plain. It

was no good, I could see nothing of him, and was about to give it up and start after some oryx I saw on the

skyline, when suddenly at a distance of about three hundred yards from the antheap, and on its further side, I

"'Heavens!' I thought to myself, 'he's off again;' but no, after standing staring for a minute or two he once

"Now I found myself in a quandary. As you know, a rhinoceros is a very shortsighted brute, indeed his sight

is as bad as his scent is good. Of this fact he is perfectly aware, but he always makes the most of his natural

gifts. For instance, when he lies down he invariably does so with his head down wind. Thus, if any enemy

crosses his wind he will still be able to escape, or attack him; and if, on the other hand, the danger approaches

up wind he will at least have a chance of seeing it. Otherwise, by walking delicately, one might actually kick

"Well, the point was, how on earth should I get within shot of this rhinoceros? After much deliberation I

determined to try a side approach, thinking that in this way I might get a shoulder shot. Accordingly we

started in a crouching attitude, I first, Gobo holding on to my coat tails, and the other boy on to Gobo's

moocha. I always adopt this plan when stalking big game, for if you follow any other system the bearers will

get out of line. We arrived within three hundred yards safely enough, and then the real difficulties began. The

grass had been so closely eaten off by game that there was scarcely any cover. Consequently it was necessary

to go on to our hands and knees, which in my case involved laying down the eightbore at every step and

then lifting it up again. However, I wriggled along somehow, and if it had not been for Gobo and his friend

no doubt everything would have gone well. But as you have, I dare say, observed, a native out stalking is

always of that mind which is supposed to actuate an ostrichso long as his head is hidden he seems to think

that nothing else can be seen. So it was in this instance, Gobo and the other boy crept along on their hands

and toes with their heads well down, but, though unfortunately I did not notice it till too late, bearing the

fundamental portions of their frames high in the air. Now all animals are quite as suspicious of this end of

mankind as they are of his face, and of that fact I soon had a proof. Just when we had got within about two

hundred yards, and I was congratulating myself that I had not had this long crawl with the sun beating on the

back of my neck like a furnace for nothing, I heard the hissing note of the rhinoceros birds, and up flew four

or five of them from the brute's back, where they had been comfortably employed in catching tics. Now this

performance on the part of the birds is to a rhinoceros what the word 'cave' is to a schoolboyit puts him on

the qui vive at once. Before the birds were well in the air I saw the grass stir.

"'Down you go,' I whispered to the boys, and as I did so the rhinoceros got up and glared suspiciously around.

But he could see nothing, indeed if we had been standing up I doubt if he would have seen us at that distance;

so he merely gave two or three sniffs and then lay down, his head still down wind, the birds once more

"But it was clear to me that he was sleeping with one eye open, being generally in a suspicious and

unchristian frame of mind, and that it was useless to proceed further on this stalk, so we quietly withdrew to

consider the position and study the ground. The results were not satisfactory. There was absolutely no cover

about except the antheap, which was some three hundred yards from the rhinoceros upon his up wind side.

I knew that if I tried to stalk him in front I should fail, and so I should if I attempted to do so from the further

sidehe or the birds would see me; so I came to a conclusion: I would go to the antheap, which would give

him my wind, and instead of stalking him I would let him stalk me. It was a bold step, and one which I should

never advise a hunter to take, but somehow I felt as though rhino and I must play the hand out.

"I explained my intentions to the men, who both held up their arms in horror. Their fears for my safety were a

little mitigated, however, when I told them that I did not expect them to come with me.

"Gobo breathed a prayer that I might not meet Fate walking about, and the other one sincerely trusted that my

spirit might look my way when the rhinoceros charged, and then they both departed to a place of safety.

"Taking my eightbore, and halfadozen spare cartridges in my pocket, I made a d�tour, and reaching the

antheap in safety lay down. For a moment the wind had dropped, but presently a gentle puff of air passed

over me, and blew on towards the rhinoceros. By the way, I wonder what it is that smells so strong about a

man? Is it his body or his breath? I have never been able to make out, but I saw it stated the other day, that in

the duck decoys the man who is working the ducks holds a little piece of burning turf before his mouth, and

that if he does this they cannot smell him, which looks as though it were the breath. Well, whatever it was

about me that attracted his attention, the rhinoceros soon smelt me, for within half a minute after the puff of

wind had passed me he was on his legs, and turning round to get his head up wind. There he stood for a few

seconds and sniffed, and then he began to move, first of all at a trot, then, as the scent grew stronger, at a

furious gallop. On he came, snorting like a runaway engine, with his tail stuck straight up in the air; if he had

seen me lie down there he could not have made a better line. It was rather nervous work, I can tell you, lying

there waiting for his onslaught, for he looked like a mountain of flesh. I determined, however, not to fire till I

could plainly see his eye, for I think that rule always gives one the right distance for big game; so I rested my

rifle on the antheap and waited for him, kneeling. At last, when he was about forty yards away, I saw that

"Thud went the heavy bullet, and with a tremendous snort over rolled the rhinoceros beneath its shock, just

like a shot rabbit. But if I had thought that he was done for I was mistaken, for in another second he was up

again, and coming at me as hard as ever, only with his head held low. I waited till he was within ten yards, in

the hope that he would expose his chest, but he would do nothing of the sort; so I just had to fire at his head

with the left barrel, and take my chance. Well, as luck would have it, of course the animal put its horn in the

way of the bullet, which cut clean through it about three inches above the root and then glanced off into

"After that things got rather serious. My gun was empty and the rhinoceros was rapidly arriving, so rapidly

indeed that I came to the conclusion that I had better make way for him. Accordingly I jumped to my feet and

ran to the right as hard as I could go. As I did so he arrived full tilt, knocked my friendly antheap flat, and

for the third time that day went a most magnificent cropper. This gave me a few seconds' start, and I ran

down windmy word, I did run! Unfortunately, however, my modest retreat was observed, and the

rhinoceros, as soon as he had found his legs again, set to work to run after me. Now no man on earth can run

so fast as an irritated rhinoceros can gallop, and I knew that he must soon catch me up. But having some

slight experience of this sort of thing, luckily for myself, I kept my head, and as I fled I managed to open my

rifle, get the old cartridges out, and put in two fresh ones. To do this I was obliged to steady my pace a little,

and by the time that I had snapped the rifle to I heard the beast snorting and thundering away within a few

paces of my back. I stopped, and as I did so rapidly cocked the rifle and slued round upon my heel. By this

time the brute was within six or seven yards of me, but luckily his head was up. I lifted the rifle and fired at

him. It was a snap shot, but the bullet struck him in the chest within three inches of the first, and found its

way into his lungs. It did not stop him, however, so all I could do was to bound to one side, which I did with

surprising activity, and as he brushed past me to fire the other barrel into his side. That did for him. The ball

passed in behind the shoulder and right through his heart. He fell over on to his side, gave one more awful

squeala dozen pigs could not have made such a noiseand promptly died, keeping his wicked eyes wide

"As for me, I blew my nose, and going up to the rhinoceros sat on his head, and reflected that I had done a

"After this, as it was now midday, and I had killed enough meat, we marched back triumphantly to camp,

where I proceeded to concoct a stew of buffalo beef and compressed vegetables. When this was ready we ate

the stew, and then I took a nap. About four o'clock, however, Gobo woke me up, and told me that the head

man of one of Wambe's kraals had arrived to see me. I ordered him to be brought up, and presently he came,

a little, wizened, talkative old man, with a waistcloth round his middle, and a greasy, frayed kaross made of

"I told him to sit down, and then abused him roundly. 'What did he mean,' I asked, 'by disturbing me in this

rude way? How did he dare to cause a person of my quality and evident importance to be awakened in order

"I spoke thus because I knew that it would produce an impression on him. Nobody, except a really great man,

he would argue, would dare to speak to him in that fashion. Most savages are desperate bullies at heart, and

"The old man instantly collapsed. He was utterly overcome, he said; his heart was split in two, and well

realized the extent of his misbehaviour. But the occasion was very urgent. He heard that a mighty hunter was

in the neighbourhood, a beautiful white man, how beautiful he could not have imagined had he not seen (this

to me!), and he came to beg his assistance. The truth was, that three bull elephants such as no man ever saw

had for years been the terror of their kraal, which was but a small placea cattle kraal of the great chief

Wambe's, where they lived to keep the cattle. And now of late these elephants had done them much damage;

but last night they had destroyed a whole patch of mealie land, and he feared that if they came back they

would all starve next season for want of food. Would the mighty white man then be pleased to come and kill

the elephants? It would be easy for him to dooh, most easy! It was only necessary that he should hide

himself in a tree, for there was a full moon, and then when the elephants appeared he would speak to them

with the gun, and they would fall down dead, and there would be an end of their troubling.

"Of course I hummed and hawed, and made a great favour of consenting to his proposal, though really I was

delighted to have such a chance. One of the conditions that I made was that a messenger should at once be

despatched to Wambe, whose kraal was two days' journey from where I was, telling him that I proposed to

come and pay my respects to him in a few days, and to ask his formal permission to shoot in his country.

Also I intimated that I was prepared to present him with 'hongo,' that is, blackmail, and that I hoped to do a

"This message the old gentleman promised to despatch at once, though there was something about his manner

which showed me that he was doubtful as to how it would be received. After that we struck our camp and

moved on to the kraal, which we reached about an hour before sunset. This kraal was a collection of huts

surrounded by a slight thornfence, perhaps there were ten of them in all. It was situated in a kloof of the

mountain down which a rivulet flowed. The kloof was densely wooded, but for some distance above the kraal

it was free from bush, and here on the rich deep ground brought down by the rivulet were the cultivated

lands, in extent somewhere about twenty or twenty five acres. On the kraal side of these lands stood a single

hut, that served for a mealie store, which at the moment was used as a dwelling place by an old woman, the

"It appears that this lady, having had some difference of opinion with her husband about the extent of

authority allowed to a younger and more amiable wife, had refused to dwell in the kraal any more, and, by

way of marking her displeasure, had taken up her abode among the mealies. As the issue will show, she was,

"Close by this hut grew a large baobab tree. A glance at the mealie grounds showed me that the old head man

had not exaggerated the mischief done by the elephants to his crops, which were now getting ripe. Nearly half

of the entire patch was destroyed. The great brutes had eaten all they could, and the rest they had trampled

down. I went up to their spoor and started back in amazementnever had I seen such a spoor before. It was

simply enormous, more especially that of one old bull, that carried, so said the natives, but a single tusk. One

"Having taken stock of the position, my next step was to make arrangements for the fray. The three bulls,

according to the natives, had been spoored into the dense patch of bush above the kloof. Now it seemed to me

very probable that they would return tonight to feed on the remainder of the ripening mealies. If so, there

was a bright moon, and it struck me that by the exercise of a little ingenuity I might bag one or more of them

without exposing myself to any risk, which, having the highest respect for the aggressive powers of bull

"This then was my plan. To the right of the huts as you look up the kloof, and commanding the mealie lands,

stands the baobab tree that I have mentioned. Into that baobab tree I made up my mind to go. Then if the

elephants appeared I should get a shot at them. I announced my intentions to the head man of the kraal, who

was delighted. 'Now,' he said, 'his people might sleep in peace, for while the mighty white hunter sat aloft like

"I told him that he was an ungrateful brute to think of sleeping in peace while, perched like a wounded

vulture on a tree, I watched for his welfare in wakeful sorrow; and once more he collapsed, and owned that

"However, as I have said, confidence was completely restored; and that evening everybody in the kraal,

including the superannuated victim of jealousy in the little hut where the mealie cobs were stored, went to

bed with a sense of sweet security from elephants and all other animals that prowl by night.

"For my part, I pitched my camp below the kraal; and then, having procured a beam of wood from the head

manrather a rotten one, by the wayI set it across two boughs that ran out laterally from the baobab tree,

at a height of about twentyfive feet from the ground, in such fashion that I and another man could sit upon it

with our legs hanging down, and rest our backs against the bole of the tree. This done I went back to the

camp and ate my supper. About nine o'clock, halfan hour before the moonrise, I summoned Gobo, who,

thinking that he had seen about enough of the delights of big game hunting for that day, did not altogether

relish the job; and, despite his remonstrances, gave him my eightbore to carry, I having the .570express.

Then we set out for the tree. It was very dark, but we found it without difficulty, though climbing it was a

more complicated matter. However, at last we got up and sat down, like two little boys on a form that is too

high for them, and waited. I did not dare to smoke, because I remembered the rhinoceros, and feared that the

elephants might wind the tobacco if they should come my way, and this made the business more wearisome,

"At last the moon came up, and with it a moaning wind, at the breath of which the silence began to whisper

mysteriously. Lonely enough in the newborn light looked the wide expanse of mountain, plain, and forest,

more like some vision of a dream, some reflection from a fair world of peace beyond our ken, than the mere

face of garish earth made soft with sleep. Indeed, had it not been for the fact that I was beginning to find the

log on which I sat very hard, I should have grown quite sentimental over the beautiful sight; but I will defy

anybody to become sentimental when seated in the damp, on a very rough beam of wood, and halfway up a

tree. So I merely made a mental note that it was a particularly lovely night, and turned my attention to the

prospect of elephants. But no elephants came, and after waiting for another hour or so, I think that what

between weariness and disgust, I must have dropped into a gentle doze. Presently I awoke with a start. Gobo,

who was perched close to me, but as far off as the beam would allowfor neither white man nor black like

the aroma which each vows is the peculiar and disagreeable property of the otherwas faintly, very faintly

clicking his forefinger against his thumb. I knew by this signal, a very favourite one among native hunters

and gunbearers, that he must have seen or heard something. I looked at his face, and saw that he was staring

excitedly towards the dim edge of the bush beyond the deep green line of mealies. I stared too, and listened.

Presently I heard a soft large sound as though a giant were gently stretching out his hands and pressing back

the ears of standing corn. Then came a pause, and then, out into the open majestically stalked the largest

elephant I ever saw or ever shall see. Heavens! what a monster he was; and how the moonlight gleamed upon

his one splendid tuskfor the other was missingas he stood among the mealies gently moving his

enormous ears to and fro, and testing the wind with his trunk. While I was still marvelling at his girth, and

speculating upon the weight of that huge tusk, which I swore should be my tusk before very long, out stepped

a second bull and stood beside him. He was not quite so tall, but he seemed to me to be almost thickerset

than the first; and even in that light I could see that both his tusks were perfect. Another pause, and the third

emerged. He was shorter than either of the others, but higher in the shoulder than No. 2; and when I tell you,

as I afterwards learnt from actual measurement, that the smallest of these mighty bulls measured twelve feet

one and a half inches at the shoulder, it will give you some idea of their size. The three formed into line and

stood still for a minute, the onetusked bull gently caressing the elephant on the left with his trunk.

"Then they began to feed, walking forward and slightly to the right as they gathered great bunches of the

sweet mealies and thrust them into their mouths. All this time they were more than a hundred and twenty

yards away from me (this I knew, because I had paced the distances from the tree to various points), much

too far to allow of my attempting a shot at them in that uncertain light. They fed in a semicircle, gradually

drawing round towards the hut near my tree, in which the corn was stored and the old woman slept.

"This went on for between an hour and an hour and a half, till, what between excitement and hope, that

maketh the heart sick, I grew so weary that I was actually contemplating a descent from the tree and a

moonlight stalk. Such an act in ground so open would have been that of a stark staring lunatic, and that I

should even have been contemplating it will show you the condition of my mind. But everything comes to

him who knows how to wait, and sometimes too to him who doesn't, and so at last those elephants, or rather

"After they had fed their fill, which was a very large one, the noble three stood once more in line some

seventy yards to the left of the hut, and on the edge of the cultivated lands, or in all about eighty five yards

from where I was perched. Then at last the one with a single tusk made a peculiar rattling noise in his trunk,

just as though he were blowing his nose, and without more ado began to walk deliberately toward the hut

where the old woman slept. I made my rifle ready and glanced up at the moon, only to discover that a new

complication was looming in the immediate future. I have said that a wind rose with the moon. Well, the

wind brought rainclouds along its track. Several light ones had already lessened the light for a little while,

though without obscuring it, and now two more were coming up rapidly, both of them very black and dense.

The first cloud was small and long, and the one behind big and broad. I remember noticing that the pair of

them bore a most comical resemblance to a dray drawn by a very long rawboned horse. As luck would have

it, just as the elephant arrived within twentyfive yards or so of me, the head of the horse cloud floated over

the face of the moon, rendering it impossible for me to fire. In the faint twilight which remained, however, I

could just make out the gray mass of the great brute still advancing towards the hut. Then the light went

altogether and I had to trust to my ears. I heard him fumbling with his trunk, apparently at the roof of the hut;

next came a sound as of straw being drawn out, and then for a little while there was complete silence.

"The cloud began to pass; I could see the outline of the elephant; he was standing with his head quite over the

top of the hut. But I could not see his trunk, and no wonder, for it was inside the hut. He had thrust it through

the roof, and, attracted no doubt by the smell of the mealies, was groping about with it inside. It was growing

light now, and I got my rifle ready, when suddenly there was a most awful yell, and I saw the trunk reappear,

and in its mighty fold the old woman who had been sleeping in the hut. Out she came through the hole like a

periwinkle on the point of a pin, still wrapped up in her blanket, and with her skinny arms and legs stretched

to the four points of the compass, and as she did so, gave that most alarming screech. I really don't know who

was the most frightened, she, or I, or the elephant. At any rate the last was considerably startled; he had been

fishing for mealiesthe old woman was a mere accident, and one that greatly discomposed his nerves. He

gave a sort of trumpet, and threw her away from him right into the crown of a low mimosa tree, where she

stuck shrieking like a metropolitan engine. The old bull lifted his tail, and flapping his great ears prepared for

flight. I put up my eightbore, and aiming hastily at the point of his shoulder (for he was broadside on), I

fired. The report rang out like thunder, making a thousand echoes in the quiet hills. I saw him go down all of

a heap as though he were stone dead. Then, alas! whether it was the kick of the heavy rifle, or the excited

bump of that idiot Gobo, or both together, or merely an unhappy coincidence, I do not know, but the rotten

beam broke and I went down too, landing flat at the foot of the tree upon a certain humble portion of the

human frame. The shock was so severe that I felt as though all my teeth were flying through the roof of my

mouth, but although I sat slightly stunned for a few seconds, luckily for me I fell light, and was not in any

"Meanwhile the elephant began to scream with fear and fury, and, attracted by his cries, the other two

charged up. I felt for my rifle; it was not there. Then I remembered that I had rested it on a fork of the bough

in order to fire, and doubtless there it remained. My position was now very unpleasant. I did not dare to try

and climb the tree again, which, shaken as I was, would have been a task of some difficulty, because the

elephants would certainly see me, and Gobo, who had clung to a bough, was still aloft with the other rifle. I

could not run because there was no shelter near. Under these circumstances I did the only thing feasible,

clambered round the trunk as softly as possible, and keeping one eye on the elephants, whispered to Gobo to

bring down the rifle, and awaited the development of the situation. I knew that if the elephants did not see

mewhich, luckily, they were too enraged to dothey would not smell me, for I was upwind. Gobo,

however, either did not, or, preferring the safety of the tree, would not hear me. He said the former, but I

believed the latter, for I knew that he was not enough of a sportsman to really enjoy shooting elephants by

moonlight in the open. So there I was behind my tree, dismayed, unarmed, but highly interested, for I was

"When the two other bulls arrived the wounded elephant on the ground ceased to scream, but began to make a

low moaning noise, and to gently touch the wound near his shoulder, from which the blood was literally

spouting. The other two seemed to understand; at any rate, they did this. Kneeling down on either side, they

placed their trunks and tusks underneath him, and, aided by his own efforts, with one great lift got him on to

his feet. Then leaning against him on either side to support him, they marched off at a walk in the direction of

[*] The Editor would have been inclined to think that in relating this incident Mr. Quatermain was making

himself interesting at the expense of the exact truth, did it not happen that a similar incident has come within

"Presently, from a walk, as the wounded elephant gathered himself together a little, they broke into a trot, and

after that I could follow them no longer with my eyes, for the second black cloud came up over the moon and

put her out, as an extinguisher puts out a dip. I say with my eyes, but my ears gave me a very fair notion of

what was going on. When the cloud came up the three terrified animals were heading directly for the kraal,

probably because the way was open and the path easy. I fancy that they grew confused in the darkness, for

when they came to the kraal fence they did not turn aside, but crashed straight through it. Then there were

'times,' as the Irish servant girl says in the American book. Having taken the fence, they thought that they

might as well take the kraal also, so they just ran over it. One hiveshaped hut was turned quite over on to its

top, and when I arrived upon the scene the people who had been sleeping there were bumbling about inside

like bees disturbed at night, while two more were crushed flat, and a third had all its side torn out. Oddly

enough, however, nobody was hurt, though several people had a narrow escape of being trodden to death.

"On arrival I found the old head man in a state painfully like that favoured by Greek art, dancing about in

front of his ruined abodes as vigorously as though he had just been stung by a scorpion.

"I asked him what ailed him, and he burst out into a flood of abuse. He called me a Wizard, a Sham, a Fraud,

a Bringer of bad luck! I had promised to kill the elephants, and I had so arranged things that the elephants had

"This, still smarting, or rather aching, as I was from that most terrific bump, was too much for my feelings, so

I just made a rush at my friend, and getting him by the ear, I banged his head against the doorway of his own

"'You wicked old scoundrel,' I said, 'you dare to complain about your own trifling inconveniences, when you

gave me a rotten beam to sit on, and thereby delivered me to the fury of the elephant' (bump! bump! bump!),

'when your own wife' (bump!) 'has just been dragged out of her hut' (bump!) 'like a snail from its shell, and

"'Mercy, my father, mercy!' gasped the old fellow. 'Truly I have done amissmy heart tells me so.'

"'Mercy, great white man! I thought the log was sound. But what says the unequalled chiefis the old

woman, my wife, indeed dead? Ah, if she is dead all may yet prove to have been for the very best;' and he

clasped his hands and looked up piously to heaven, in which the moon was once more shining brightly.

"I let go his ear and burst out laughing, the whole scene and his devout aspirations for the decease of the

"'No, you old iniquity,' I answered; 'I left her in the top of a thorntree, screaming like a thousand bluejays.

"'Alas! alas!' he said, 'surely the back of the ox is shaped to the burden. Doubtless, my father, she will come

down when she is tired;' and without troubling himself further about the matter, he began to blow at the

"And, as a matter of fact, she did appear a few minutes later, considerably scratched and startled, but none the

"After that I made my way to my little camp, which, fortunately, the elephants had not walked over, and

"On the morrow I woke up full of painful recollections, and not without a certain feeling of gratitude to the

Powers above that I was there to wake up. Yesterday had been a tempestuous day; indeed, what between

buffalo, rhinoceros, and elephant, it had been very tempestuous. Having realized this fact, I next bethought

me of those magnificent tusks, and instantly, early as it was, broke the tenth commandment. I coveted my

neighbours tusks, if an elephant could be said to be my neighbour de jure, as certainly, so recently as the

previous night, he had been de factoa much closer neighbour than I cared for, indeed. Now when you

covet your neighbour's goods, the best thing, if not the most moral thing, to do is to enter his house as a

strong man armed, and take them. I was not a strong man, but having recovered my eightbore I was armed,

and so was the other strong man the elephant with the tusks. Consequently I prepared for a struggle to the

death. In other words, I summoned my faithful retainers, and told them that I was now going to follow those

elephants to the edge of the world, if necessary. They showed a certain bashfulness about the business, but

they did not gainsay me, because they dared not. Ever since I had prepared with all due solemnity to execute

"So I went up to bid adieu to the old head man, whom I found alternately contemplating the ruins of his kraal

and, with the able assistance of his last wife, thrashing the jealous lady who had slept in the mealie hut,

"Leaving them to work a way through their domestic differences, I levied a supply of vegetable food from the

kraal in consideration of services rendered, and left them with my blessing. I do not know how they settled

"Then I started on the spoor of the three bulls. For a couple of miles or so below the kraalas far, indeed, as

the belt of swamp that borders the riverthe ground is at this spot rather stony, and clothed with scattered

bushes. Rain had fallen towards the daybreak, and this fact, together with the nature of the soil, made

spooring a very difficult business. The wounded bull had indeed bled freely, but the rain had washed the

blood off the leaves and grass, and the ground being so rough and hard did not take the footmarks so clearly

as was convenient. However, we got along, though slowly, partly by the spoor, and partly by carefully lifting

leaves and blades of grass, and finding blood underneath them, for the blood gushing from a wounded animal

often falls upon their inner surfaces, and then, of course, unless the rain is very heavy, it is not washed away.

It took us something over an hour and a half to reach the edge of the marsh, but once there our task became

much easier, for the soft soil showed plentiful evidences of the great brutes' passage. Threading our way

through the swampy land, we came at last to a ford of the river, and here we could see where the poor

wounded animal had lain down in the mud and water in the hope of easing himself of his pain, and could see

also how his two faithful companions had assisted him to rise again. We crossed the ford, and took up the

spoor on the further side, and followed it into the marshlike land beyond. No rain had fallen on this side of

"All that day we followed the three bulls, now across open plains, and now through patches of bush. They

seemed to have travelled on almost without stopping, and I noticed that as they went the wounded bull

recovered his strength a little. This I could see from his spoor, which had become firmer, and also from the

fact that the other two had ceased to support him. At last evening closed in, and having travelled some

"Before dawn on the following day we were up, and the first break of light found us once more on the spoor.

About halfpast five o'clock we reached the place where the elephants had fed and slept. The two unwounded

bulls had taken their fill, as the condition of the neighbouring bushes showed, but the wounded one had eaten

nothing. He had spent the night leaning against a goodsized tree, which his weight had pushed out of the

perpendicular. They had not long left this place, and could not be very far ahead, especially as the wounded

bull was now again so stiff after his night's rest that for the first few miles the other two had been obliged to

support him. But elephants go very quick, even when they seem to be travelling slowly, for shrub and

creepers that almost stop a man's progress are no hindrance to them. The three had now turned to the left, and

were travelling back again in a semicircular line toward the mountains, probably with the idea of working

"There was nothing for it but to follow their lead, and accordingly we followed with industry. Through all

that long hot day did we tramp, passing quantities of every sort of game, and even coming across the spoor of

other elephants. But, in spite of my men's entreaties, I would not turn aside after these. I would have those

"By evening we were quite close to our game, probably within a quarter of a mile, but the bush was dense,

and we could see nothing of them, so once more we must camp, thoroughly disgusted with our luck. That

night, just after the moon rose, while I was sitting smoking my pipe with my back against a tree, I heard an

elephant trumpet, as though something had startled it, and not three hundred yards away. I was very tired, but

my curiosity overcame my weariness, so, without saying a word to any of the men, all of whom were asleep,

I took my eight bore and a few spare cartridges, and steered toward the sound. The game path which we had

been following all day ran straight on in the direction from which the elephant had trumpeted. It was narrow,

but well trodden, and the light struck down upon it in a straight white line. I crept along it cautiously for some

two hundred yards, when it opened suddenly into a most beautiful glade some hundred yards or more in

width, wherein tall grass grew and flattopped trees stood singly. With the caution born of long experience I

watched for a few moments before I entered the glade, and then I saw why the elephant had trumpeted. There

in the middle of the glade stood a large maned lion. He stood quite still, making a soft purring noise, and

waving his tail to and fro. Presently the grass about forty yards on the hither side of him gave a wide ripple,

and a lioness sprang out of it like a flash, and bounded noiselessly up to the lion. Reaching him, the great cat

halted suddenly, and rubbed her head against his shoulder. Then they both began to purr loudly, so loudly

that I believe that in the stillness one might have heard them two hundred yards or more away.

"After a time, while I was still hesitating what to do, either they got a whiff of my wind, or they wearied of

standing still, and determined to start in search of game. At any rate, as though moved by a common impulse,

they bounded suddenly away, leap by leap, and vanished in the depths of the forest to the left. I waited for a

little while longer to see if there were any more yellow skins about, and seeing none, came to the conclusion

that the lions must have frightened the elephants away, and that I had taken my stroll for nothing. But just as I

was turning back I thought that I heard a bough break upon the further side of the glade, and, rash as the act

was, I followed the sound. I crossed the glade as silently as my own shadow. On its further side the path went

on. Albeit with many fears, I went on too. The jungle growth was so thick here that it almost met overhead,

leaving so small a passage for the light that I could scarcely see to grope my way along. Presently, however,

it widened, and then opened into a second glade slightly smaller than the first, and there, on the further side of

"They stood thus:Immediately opposite and facing me was the wounded onetusked bull. He was leaning

his bulk against a dead thorntree, the only one in the place, and looked very sick indeed. Near him stood the

second bull as though keeping a watch over him. The third elephant was a good deal nearer to me and

broadside on. While I was still staring at them, this elephant suddenly walked off and vanished down a path

"There are now two things to be doneeither I could go back to the camp and advance upon the elephants at

dawn, or I could attack them at once. The first was, of course, by far the wiser and safer course. To engage

one elephant by moonlight and singlehanded is a sufficiently rash proceeding; to tackle three was little short

of lunacy. But, on the other hand, I knew that they would be on the march again before daylight, and there

might come another day of weary trudging before I could catch them up, or they might escape me altogether.

"'No,' I thought to myself, 'faint heart never won fair tusk. I'll risk it, and have a slap at them. But how?' I

could not advance across the open, for they would see me; clearly the only thing to do was to creep round in

the shadow of the bush and try to come upon them so. So I started. Seven or eight minutes of careful stalking

brought me to the mouth of the path down which the third elephant had walked. The other two were now

about fifty yards from me, and the nature of the wall of bush was such that I could not see how to get nearer

to them without being discovered. I hesitated, and peeped down the path which the elephant had followed.

About five yards in, it took a turn round a shrub. I thought that I would just have a look behind it, and

advanced, expecting that I should be able to catch a sight of the elephant's tail. As it happened, however, I

met his trunk coming round the corner. It is very disconcerting to see an elephant's trunk when you expect to

see his tail, and for a moment I stood paralyzed almost under the vast brute's head, for he was not five yards

from me. He too halted, threw up his trunk and trumpeted preparatory to a charge. I was in for it now, for I

could not escape either to the right or left, on account of the bush, and I did not dare turn my back. So I did

the only thing that I could doraised the rifle and fired at the black mass of his chest. It was too dark for me

"The shot rung out like thunder on the quiet air, and the elephant answered it with a scream, then dropped his

trunk and stood for a second or two as still as though he had been cut in stone. I confess that I lost my head; I

ought to have fired my second barrel, but I did not. Instead of doing so, I rapidly opened my rifle, pulled out

the old cartridge from the right barrel and replaced it. But before I could snap the breech to, the bull was at

me. I saw his great trunk fly up like a brown beam, and I waited no longer. Turning, I fled for dear life, and

after me thundered the elephant. Right into the open glade I ran, and then, thank Heaven, just as he was

coming up with me the bullet took effect on him. He had been shot right through the heart, or lungs, and

"But in escaping from Scylla I had run into the jaws of Charybdis. I heard the elephant fall, and glanced

round. Straight in front of me, and not fifteen paces away, were the other two bulls. They were staring about,

and at that moment they caught sight of me. Then they came, the pair of themcame like thunderbolts, and

from different angles. I had only time to snap my rifle to, lift it, and fire, almost at haphazard, at the head of

"Now, as you know, in the case of the African elephant, whose skull is convex, and not concave like that of

the Indian, this is always a most risky and very frequently a perfectly useless shot. The bullet loses itself in

the masses of bone, that is all. But there is one little vital place, and should the bullet happen to strike there, it

will follow the channel of the nostrilsat least I suppose it is that of the nostrilsand reach the brain. And

this was what happened in the present casethe ball struck the fatal spot in the region of the eye and

travelled to the brain. Down came the great bull all of a heap, and rolled on to his side as dead as a stone. I

swung round at that instant to face the third, the monster bull with one tusk that I had wounded two days

before. He was already almost over me, and in the dim moonlight seemed to tower above me like a house. I

lifted the rifle and pulled at his neck. It would not go off! Then, in a flash, as it were, I remembered that it

was on the halfcock. The lock of this barrel was a little weak, and a few days before, in firing at a cow

eland, the left barrel had jarred off at the shock of the discharge of the right, knocking me backwards with the

recoil; so after that I had kept it on the halfcock till I actually wanted to fire it.

"I gave one desperate bound to the right, and, my lame leg notwithstanding, I believe that few men could

have made a better jump. At any rate, it was none too soon, for as I jumped I felt the wind made by the

"I ran like a buck, still keeping hold of my gun, however. My idea, so far as I could be said to have any fixed

idea, was to bolt down the pathway up which I had come, like a rabbit down a burrow, trusting that he would

lose sight of me in the uncertain light. I sped across the glade. Fortunately the bull, being wounded, could not

go full speed; but wounded or no, he could go quite as fast as I could. I was unable to gain an inch, and away

we went, with just about three feet between our separate extremities. We were at the other side now, and a

glance served to show me that I had miscalculated and overshot the opening. To reach it now was hopeless; I

should have blundered straight into the elephant. So I did the only thing I could do: I swerved like a course

hare, and started off round the edge of the glade, seeking for some opening into which I could plunge. This

gave me a moment's start, for the bull could not turn as quickly as I could, and I made the most of it. But no

opening could I see; the bush was like a wall. We were speeding round the edge of the glade, and the elephant

was coming up again. Now he was within about six feet, and now, as he trumpeted or rather screamed, I

could feel the fierce hot blast of his breath strike upon my head. Heavens! how it frightened me!

"We were three parts round the glade now, and about fifty yards ahead was the single large dead thorntree

against which the bull had been leaning. I spurted for it; it was my last chance of safety. But spurt as I would,

it seemed hours before I got there. Putting out my right hand, I swung round the tree, thus bringing myself

face to face with the elephant. I had not time to lift the rifle to fire, I had barely time to cock it, and run

sideways and backward, when he was on to me. Crash! he came, striking the tree full with his forehead. It

snapped like a carrot about forty inches from the ground. Fortunately I was clear of the trunk, but one of the

dead branches struck me on the chest as it went down and swept me to the ground. I fell upon my back, and

the elephant blundered past me as I lay. More by instinct than anything else I lifted the rifle with one hand

and pulled the trigger. It exploded, and, as I discovered afterwards, the bullet struck him in the ribs. But the

recoil of the heavy rifle held thus was very severe; it bent my arm up, and sent the butt with a thud against the

top of my shoulder and the side of my neck, for the moment quite paralyzing me, and causing the weapon to

jump from my grasp. Meanwhile the bull was rushing on. He travelled for some twenty paces, and then

suddenly he stopped. Faintly I reflected that he was coming back to finish me, but even the prospect of

imminent and dreadful death could not rouse me into action. I was utterly spent; I could not move.

"Idly, almost indifferently, I watched his movements. For a moment he stood still, next he trumpeted till the

welkin rang, and then very slowly, and with great dignity, he knelt down. At this point I swooned away.

"When I came to myself again I saw from the moon that I must have been insensible for quite two hours. I

was drenched with dew, and shivering all over. At first I could not think where I was, when, on lifting my

head, I saw the outline of the onetusked bull still kneeling some fiveandtwenty paces from me. Then I

remembered. Slowly I raised myself, and was instantly taken with a violent sickness, the result of

overexertion, after which I very nearly fainted a second time. Presently I grew better, and considered the

position. Two of the elephants were, as I knew, dead; but how about No. 3? There he knelt in majesty in the

lonely moonlight. The question was, was he resting, or dead? I rose on my hands and knees, loaded my rifle,

and painfully crept a few paces nearer. I could see his eye now, for the moonlight fell full upon itit was

open, and rather prominent. I crouched and watched; the eyelid did not move, nor did the great brown body,

or the trunk, or the ear, or the tailnothing moved. Then I knew that he must be dead.

"I crept up to him, still keeping the rifle well forward, and gave him a thump, reflecting as I did so how very

near I had been to being thumped instead of thumping. He never stirred; certainly he was dead, though to this

day I do not know if it was my random shot that killed him, or if he died from concussion of the brain

consequent upon the tremendous shock of his contact with the tree. Anyhow, there he was. Cold and beautiful

he lay, or rather knelt, as the poet nearly puts it. Indeed, I do not think that I have ever seen a sight more

imposing in its way than that of the mighty beast crouched in majestic death, and shone upon by the lonely

"While I stood admiring the scene, and heartily congratulating myself upon my escape, once more I began to

feel sick. Accordingly, without waiting to examine the other two bulls, I staggered back to the camp, which in

due course I reached in safety. Everybody in it was asleep. I did not wake them, but having swallowed a

mouthful of brandy I threw off my coat and shoes, rolled myself up in a blanket, and was soon fast asleep.

"When I woke it was already light, and at first I thought that, like Joseph, I had dreamed a dream. At that

moment, however, I turned my head, and quickly knew that it was no dream, for my neck and face were so

stiff from the blow of the buttend of the rifle that it was agony to move them. I collapsed for a minute or

two. Gobo and another man, wrapped up like a couple of monks in their blankets, thinking that I was still

asleep, were crouched over a little fire they had made, for the morning was damp and chilly, and holding

"Gobo said that he was getting tired of running after elephants which they never caught. Macumazahn (that

is, myself) was without doubt a man of parts, and of some skill in shooting, but also he was a fool. None but a

fool would run so fast and far after elephants which it was impossible to catch, when they kept cutting the

spoor of fresh ones. He certainly was a fool, but he must not be allowed to continue in his folly; and he,

Gobo, had determined to put a stop to it. He should refuse to accompany him any further on so mad a hunt.

"'Yes,' the other answered, 'the poor man certainly was sick in his head, and it was quite time that they

checked his folly while they still had a patch of skin left upon their feet. Moreover, he for his part certainly

did not like this country of Wambe's, which really was full of ghosts. Only the last night he had heard the

spooks at work they were out shooting, at least it sounded as though they were. It was very queer, but

"'Gobo, you scoundrel!' I shouted out at this juncture, sitting bolt upright on the blankets, 'stop idling there

"Up sprang Gobo and his friend, and in half a moment were respectfully skipping about in a manner that

contrasted well with the lordly contempt of their previous conversation. But all the time they were in earnest

in what they said about hunting the elephants any further, for before I had finished my coffee they came to

me in a body, and said that if I wanted to follow those elephants I must follow them myself, for they would

"I argued with them, and affected to be much put out. The elephants were close at hand, I said; I was sure of

"'Yes,' answered the men mysteriously, 'they too had heard things in the night, things not nice to hear; they

had heard the spooks out shooting, and no longer would they remain in a country so vilely haunted.'

"'It was nonsense,' I replied. 'If ghosts went out shooting, surely they would use airguns and not black

powder, and one would not hear an airgun. Well, if they were cowards, and would not come, of course I

could not force them to, but I would make a bargain with them. They should follow those elephants for one

halfhour more, then if we failed to come upon them I would abandon the pursuit, and we would go straight

"To this compromise the men agreed readily. Accordingly about halfan hour later we struck our camp and

started, and notwithstanding my aches and bruises, I do not think that I ever felt in better spirits in my life. It

is something to wake up in the morning and remember that in the dead of the night, singlehanded, one has

given battle to and overthrown three of the largest elephants in Africa, slaying them with three bullets. Such a

feat to my knowledge had never been done before, and on that particular morning I felt a very 'tall man of my

hands' indeed. The only thing I feared was, that should I ever come to tell the story nobody would believe it,

for when a strange tale is told by a hunter, people are apt to think it is necessarily a lie, instead of being only

[*] For the satisfaction of any who may be so disbelieving as to take this view of Mr. Quatermain's story, the

Editor may state that a gentleman with whom he is acquainted, and whose veracity he believes to be beyond

doubt, not long ago described to him how he chanced to kill four African elephants with four consecutive

bullets. Two of these elephants were charging him simultaneously, and out of the four three were killed with

the head shot, a very uncommon thing in the case of the African elephant.Editor.

"Well, we passed on till, having crossed the first glade where I had seen the lions, we reached the neck of

bush that separated it from the second glade, where the dead elephants were. And here I began to take

elaborate precautions, amongst others ordering Gobo to keep some yards ahead and look out sharp, as I

thought that the elephants might be about. He obeyed my instructions with a superior smile, and pushed

ahead. Presently I saw him pull up as though he had been shot, and begin to snap his fingers faintly.

"I crept up beside him. There knelt the bull as I had left him last night, and there too lay the other bulls.

"'Yes, Gobo, and I am that man. Look, you idle, lazy cowards; while you slept last night I rose, and alone I

hunted those great elephants, and slew them by the moonlight. To each of them I gave one bullet and only

one, and it fell dead. Look,' and I advanced into the glade, 'here is my spoor, and here is the spoor of the great

bull charging after me, and there is the tree that I took refuge behind; see, the elephant shattered it in his

charge. Oh, you cowards, you who would give up the chase while the blood spoor steamed beneath your

"'Ou!' said the men, 'ou! Koos! Koos y umcool!' (Chief, great Chief!) And then they held their tongues, and

"But after that those men looked upon me with awe as being almost more than mortal. No mere man, they

said, could have slain those three elephants alone in the nighttime. I never had any further trouble with

them. I believe that if I had told them to jump over a precipice and that they would take no harm, they would

"Well, I went up and examined the bulls. Such tusks as they had I never saw and never shall see again. It took

us all day to cut them out; and when they reached Delagoa Bay, as they did ultimately, though not in my

keeping, the single tusk of the big bull scaled one hundred and sixty pounds, and the four other tusks

averaged ninetynine and a half poundsa most wonderful, indeed an almost unprecedented, lot of ivory.[*]

Unfortunately I was forced to saw the big tusk in two, otherwise we could not have carried it."

[*] The largest elephant tusk of which the Editor has any certain knowledge scaled one hundred and fifty

"Oh, Quatermain, you barbarian!" I broke in here, "the idea of spoiling such a tusk! Why, I would have kept

"Oh yes, young man," he answered, "it is all very well for you to talk like that, but if you had found yourself

in the position which it was my privilege to occupy a few hours afterwards, it is my belief that you would

"Oh," said Good, "so that isn't the end of the yarn? A very good yarn, Quatermain, by the wayI couldn't

The old gentleman looked at Good severely, for it irritated him to be chaffed about his stories.

"I don't know what you mean, Good. I don't see that there is any comparison between a true story of

adventure and the preposterous tales which you invent about ibex hanging by their horns. No, it is not the end

of the story; the most exciting part is to come. But I have talked enough for tonight; and if you go on in that

"Sorry I spoke, I'm sure," said Good, humbly. "Let's have a split to show that there is no illfeeling." And

On the following evening we once more dined together, and Quatermain, after some pressure, was persuaded

"At last," he went on, "a few minutes before sunset, the task was finished. We had laboured at it all day,

stopping only once for dinner, for it is no easy matter to hew out five such tusks as those which now lay

before me in a white and gleaming line. It was a dinner worth eating, too, I can tell you, for we dined off the

heart of the great onetusked bull, which was so big that the man whom I sent inside the elephant to look for

his heart was forced to remove it in two pieces. We cut it into slices and fried it with fat, and I never tasted

heart to equal it, for the meat seemed to melt in one's mouth. By the way, I examined the jaw of the elephant;

it never grew but one tusk; the other had not been broken off, nor was it present in a rudimentary form.

"Well, there lay the five beauties, or rather four of them, for Gobo and another man were engaged in sawing

the grand one in two. At last with many sighs I ordered them to do this, but not until by practical experiment I

had proved that it was impossible to carry it in any other way. One hundred and sixty pounds of solid ivory,

or rather more in its green state, is too great a weight for two men to bear for long across a broken country. I

sat watching the job and smoking the pipe of contentment, when suddenly the bush opened, and a very

handsome and dignified native girl, apparently about twenty years of age, stood before me, carrying a basket

"Although I was rather surprised to see a native girl in such a wild spot, and, so far as I knew, a long way

from any kraal, the matter did not attract my particular notice; I merely called to one of the men, and told him

to bargain with the woman for the mealies, and ask her if there were any more to be bought in the

neighbourhood. Then I turned my head and continued to superintend the cutting of the tusk. Presently a

shadow fell upon me. I looked up, and saw that the girl was standing before me, the basket of mealies still on

"'Mar�me, Mar�me,' she said, gently clapping her hands together. The word Mar�me among these Matuku

(though she was no Matuku) answers to the Zulu 'Koos,' and the clapping of hands is a form of salutation

"'Ah,' I grumbled, 'the old storynothing for nothing in this wicked world. What do you wantbeads?'

"She nodded, and I was about to tell one of the men to go and fetch some from one of the packs, when she

"'A gift from the giver's own hand is twice a gift,' she said, and I thought that she spoke meaningly.

"I rose to go with her. 'How is it that, being of the Matuku, you speak in the Zulu tongue?' I asked

"'I am not of the Matuku,' she answered as soon as we were out of hearing of the men. 'I am of the people of

Nala, whose tribe is the Butiana tribe, and who lives there,' and she pointed over the mountain. 'Also I am one

"We reached the packs, and undoing one of them, I extracted a handful of beads. 'Now,' I said, 'a gift for a

"She took the beads without even looking at them, which struck me as curious, and setting the basket of

"At the bottom of the basket were some curiouslyshaped green leaves, rather like the leaves of the

guttapercha tree in shape, only somewhat thicker and of a more fleshy substance. As though by hazard, the

girl picked one of these leaves out of the basket and smelt it. Then she handed it to me. I took the leaf, and

supposing that she wished me to smell it also, was about to oblige her by doing so, when my eye fell upon

"'Ah,' said the girl (whose name, by the way, was Maiwa), speaking beneath her breath, 'read the signs, white

"Without answering her I continued to stare at the leaf. It had been scratched or rather written upon with a

sharp tool, such as a nail, and wherever this instrument had touched it, the acid juice oozing through the outer

skin had turned a rusty blood colour. Presently I found the beginning of the scrawl, and read this in English,

"'I hear that a white man is hunting in the Matuku country. This is to warn him to fly over the mountain to

Nala. Wambe sends an impi at daybreak to eat him up, because he has hunted before bringing hongo. For

God's sake, whoever you are, try to help me. I have been the slave of this devil Wambe for nearly seven

years, and am beaten and tortured continually. He murdered all the rest of us, but kept me because I could

work iron. Maiwa, his wife, takes this; she is flying to Nala her father because Wambe killed her child. Try to

get Nala to attack Wambe; Maiwa can guide them over the mountain. You won't come for nothing, for the

stockade of Wambe's private kraal is made of elephants' tusks. For God's sake, don't desert me, or I shall kill

"'Great heavens!' I gasped. 'Every!why, it must be my old friend.' The girl, or rather the woman Maiwa,

pointed to the other side of the leaf, where there was more writing. It ran thus'I have just heard that the

white man is called Macumazahn. If so, it must be my friend Quatermain. Pray Heaven it is, for I know he

won't desert an old chum in such a fix as I am. It isn't that I'm afraid of dying, I don't care if I die, but I want

"'No, old boy,' thought I to myself, 'it isn't likely that I am going to leave you there while there is a chance of

getting you out. I have played fox before nowthere's still a double or two left in me. I must make a plan,

that's all. And then there's that stockade of tusks. I am not going to leave that either.' Then I spoke to the

"'Why do you fly? Stay, I would give an order,'and calling to Gobo, I ordered him to get the men ready for

instant departure. The woman, who, as I have said, was quite young and very handsome, put her hand into a

little pouch made of antelope hide which she wore fastened round the waist, and to my horror drew from it

the withered hand of a child, which evidently had been carefully dried in the smoke.

"'I fly for this cause,' she answered, holding the poor little hand towards me. 'See now, I bore a child. Wambe

was its father, and for eighteen months the child lived and I loved it. But Wambe loves not his children; he

kills them all. He fears lest they should grow up to slay one so wicked, and he would have killed this child

also, but I begged its life. One day, some soldiers passing the hut saw the child and saluted him, calling him

the "chief who soon shall be." Wambe heard, and was mad. He smote the babe, and it wept. Then he said that

it should weep for good cause. Among the things that he had stolen from the white men whom he slew is a

trap that will hold lions. So strong is the trap that four men must stand on it, two on either side, before it can

"Look here, you fellows," he said, "I can't bear to go on with this part of the story, because I never could

stand either seeing or talking of the sufferings of children. You can guess what that devil did, and what the

poor mother was forced to witness. Would you believe it, she told me the tale without a tremor, in the most

"'Well,' I said, as unconcernedly as though I had been talking of the death of a lamb, though inwardly I was

sick with horror and boiling with rage, 'and what do you mean to do about the matter, Maiwa, wife of

"'I mean to do this, white man,' she answered, drawing herself up to her full height, and speaking in tones as

hard as steel and cold as ice'I mean to work, and work, and work, to bring this to pass, and to bring that to

pass, until at length it comes to pass that with these living eyes I behold Wambe dying the death that he gave

"'Ay, well said, Macumazahn, well said, and not easily forgotten. Who could forget, oh, who could forget?

See where this dead hand rests against my side; so once it rested when alive. And now, though it is dead, now

every night it creeps from its nest and strokes my hair and clasps my fingers in its tiny palm. Every night it

does this, fearing lest I should forget. Oh, my child! my child! ten days ago I held thee to my breast, and now

this alone remains of thee,' and she kissed the dead hand and shivered, but never a tear did she weep.

"'See now,' she went on, 'the white man, the prisoner at Wambe's kraal, he was kind to me. He loved the child

that is dead, yes, he wept when its father slew it, and at the risk of his life told Wambe, my husbandah, yes,

my husband!that which he is! He too it was who made a plan. He said to me, "Go, Maiwa, after the custom

of thy people, go purify thyself in the bush alone, having touched a dead one. Say to Wambe thou goest to

purify thyself alone for fifteen days, according to the custom of thy people. Then fly to thy father, Nala, and

stir him up to war against Wambe for the sake of the child that is dead." This then he said, and his words

seemed good to me, and that same night ere I left to purify myself came news that a white man hunted in the

country, and Wambe, being mad with drink, grew very wrath, and gave orders that an impi should be

gathered to slay the white man and his people and seize his goods. Then did the "Smiter of Iron" (Every)

write the message on the green leaves, and bid me seek thee out, and show forth the matter, that thou mightest

save thyself by flight; and behold, this thing have I done, Macumazahn, the hunter, the Slayer of Elephants.'

"'There to the north. It follows on thy spoor. I saw it pass yesterday, but myself I guessed that thou wouldst

be nigher to the mountain, and came this way, and found thee. Tomorrow at the daybreak the slayers will be

"'Very possibly,' I thought to myself; 'but they won't find Macumazahn. I have half a mind to put some

strychnine into the carcases of those elephants for their especial benefit though.' I knew that they would stop

to eat the elephants, as indeed they did, to our great gain, but I abandoned the idea of poisoning them,

"Or because you did not like to play the trick, Quatermain?" I suggested with a laugh.

"I said because I had not enough strychnine. It would take a great deal of strychnine to poison three elephants

I said nothing further, but I smiled, knowing that old Allan could never have resorted to such an artifice,

however severe his strait. But that was his way; he always made himself out to be a most unmerciful person.

"Well," he went on, "at that moment Gobo came up and announced that we were ready to march. 'I am glad

that you are ready,' I said, 'because if you don't march, and march quick, you will never march again, that is

"Gobo turned positively green, and his knees knocked together. 'Ah, what did I say?' he exclaimed. 'Fate

"'Very good; now all you have to do is to walk a little quicker than he does. No, no, you don't leave those

"Gobo said no more, but hastily directed the men to take up their loads, and then asked which way we were to

"'There,' she answered, pointing towards the great mountain spur which towered up into the sky some forty

miles away, separating the territories of Nala and Wambe'there, below that small peak, is one place where

men may pass, and one only. Also it can easily be blocked from above. If men pass not there, then they must

"'All tonight shall you walk and all tomorrow, and if you walk fast, at sunset you shall stand on the peak.'

"I whistled, for that meant a fiveandforty miles trudge without sleep. Then I called to the men to take each

of them as much cooked elephant's meat as he could carry conveniently. I did the same myself, and forced the

woman Maiwa to eat some as we went. This I did with difficulty, for at that time she seemed neither to sleep

"Then we started, Maiwa guiding us. After going for a halfhour over gradually rising ground, we found

ourselves on the further edge of a great bushclad depression something like the bottom of a lake. This

depression, through which we had been travelling, was covered with bush to a very great extent, indeed

almost altogether so, except where it was pitted with glades such as that wherein I had shot the elephants.

"At the top of this slope Maiwa halted, and putting her hand over her eyes looked back. Presently she touched

me on the arm and pointed across the sea of forest towards a comparatively vacant space of country some six

or seven miles away. I looked, and suddenly I saw something flash in the red rays of the setting sun. A pause,

"'Fear not; they will stay to feast upon the elephants, and while they feast we shall journey. We may yet

"After that we turned and pushed on again, till at length it grew so dark that we had to wait for the rising of

the moon, which lost us time, though it gave us rest. Fortunately none of the men had seen that ominous

flashing of the spears; if they had, I doubt if even I could have kept control of them. As it was, they travelled

faster than I had ever known loaded natives to go before, so thoroughpaced was their desire to see the last of

Wambe's country. I, however, took the precaution to march last of all, fearing lest they should throw away

their loads to lighten themselves, or, worse still, the tusks; for these kind of fellows would be capable of

throwing anything away if their own skins were at stake. If the pious �neas, whose story you were reading to

me the other night, had been a mongrel Delagoa Bay native, Anchises would have had a poor chance of

"At moonrise we set out again, and with short occasional halts travelled till dawn, when we were forced to

rest and eat. Starting once more, about halfpast five, we crossed the river at noon. Then began the long

toilsome ascent through thick bush, the same in which I shot the bull buffalo, only some twenty miles to the

west of that spot, and not more than twentyfive miles on the hither side of Wambe's kraal. There were six or

seven miles of this dense bush, and hard work it was to get through it. Next came a belt of scattered forest

which was easier to pass, though, in revenge, the ground was steeper. This was about two miles wide, and we

passed it by about four in the afternoon. Above this scattered bush lay a long steep slope of boulderstrewn

ground, which ran up to the foot of the little peak some three miles away. As we emerged, footsore and

weary, on to this inhospitable plain, some of the men looking round caught sight of the spears of Wambe's

"At first there was a panic, and the bearers tried to throw off their loads and run, but I harangued them,

calling out to them that certainly I would shoot the first man who did so and that if they would but trust in me

I would bring them through the mess. Now, ever since I had killed those three elephants singlehanded, I had

gained great influence over these men, and they listened to me. So off we went as hard as ever we could

gothe members of the Alpine Club would not have been in it with us. We made the boulders burn, as a

"When we had done about a mile the spears began to emerge from the belt of scattered bush, and the whoop

of their bearers as they viewed us broke upon our ears. Quick as our pace had been before, it grew much

quicker now, for terror lent wings to my gallant crew. But they were sorely tired, and the loads were heavy,

so that run, or rather climb, as we would, Wambe's soldiers, a scrubbylooking lot of men armed with big

spears and small shields, but without plumes, climbed considerably faster. The last mile of that pleasing

chase was like a fox hunt, we being the fox, and always in view. What astonished me was the extraordinary

endurance and activity shown by Maiwa. She never even flagged. I think that girl's muscles must have been

made of iron, or perhaps it was the strength of her will that supported her. At any rate she reached the foot of

the peak second, poor Gobo, who was an excellent hand at running away, being first.

"Presently I came up panting, and glanced at the ascent. Before us was a wall of rock about one hundred and

fifty feet in height, upon which the strata were laid so as to form a series of projections sufficiently

resembling steps to make the ascent easy, comparatively speaking, except at one spot, where it was necessary

to climb over a projecting angle of cliff and bear a little to the left. It was not a really difficult place, but what

made it awkward was, that immediately beneath this projection gaped a deep fissure or donga, on the brink of

which we now stood, originally dug out, no doubt, by the rush of water from the peak and cliff. This gulf

beneath would be trying to the nerves of a weakheaded climber at the critical point, and so it proved in the

result. The projecting angle once passed, the remainder of the ascent was very simple. At the summit,

however, the brow of the cliff hung over and was pierced by a single narrow path cut through it by water, in

such fashion that a single boulder rolled into it at the top would make the cliff quite impassable to men

"At this moment Wambe's soldiers were about a thousand yards from us, so it was evident that we had no

time to lose. I at once ordered the men to commence the ascent, the girl Maiwa, who was familiar with the

pass, going first to show them the way. Accordingly they began to mount with alacrity, pushing and lifting

their loads in front of them. When the first of them, led by Maiwa, reached the projecting angle, they put

down their loads upon a ledge of rock and clambered over. Once there, by lying on their stomachs upon a

boulder, they could reach the loads which were held to them by the men beneath, and in this way drag them

"But all of this took time, and meanwhile the soldiers were coming up fast, screaming and brandishing their

big spears. They were now within about four hundred yards, and several loads, together with all the tusks,

had yet to be got over the rock. I was still standing at the bottom of the cliff, shouting directions to the men

above, but it occurred to me that it would soon be time to move. Before doing so, however, I thought that it

might be well to try and produce a moral effect upon the advancing enemy. In my hand I held a Winchester

repeating carbine, but the distance was too great for me to use it with effect, so I turned to Gobo, who was

shivering with terror at my side, and handing him the carbine, took my express from him.

"The enemy was now about three hundred and fifty yards away, and the express was only sighted to three

hundred. Still I knew that it could be trusted for the extra fifty yards. Running in front of Wambe's soldiers

were two mencaptains, I supposeone of them very tall. I put up the three hundred yard flap, and sitting

down with my back against the rock, I drew a long breath to steady myself, and covered the tall man, giving

him a full sight. Feeling that I was on him, I pulled, and before the sound of the striking bullet could reach

my ears, I saw the man throw up his arms and pitch forward on to his head. His companion stopped dead,

giving me a fair chance. I rapidly covered him, and fired the left barrel. He turned round once, and then sank

down in a heap. This caused the enemy to hesitatethey had never seen men killed at such a distance before,

and thought that there was something uncanny about the performance. Taking advantage of the lull, I gave

the express back to Gobo, and slinging the Winchester repeater over my back I began to climb the cliff.

"When we reached the projecting angle all the loads were over, but the tusks still had to be passed up, and

owing to their weight and the smoothness of their surface, this was a very difficult task. Of course I ought to

have abandoned the tusks; often and often have I since reproached myself for not doing so. Indeed, I think

that my obstinacy about them was downright sinful, but I was always obstinate about such things, and I could

not bear the idea of leaving those splendid tusks which had cost me so much pains and danger to come by.

Well, it nearly cost me my life also, and did cost poor Gobo his, as will be seen shortly, to say nothing of the

loss inflicted by my rifle on the enemy. When I reached the projection I found that the men, with their usual

stupidity, were trying to hand up the tusks point first. Now the result of this was that those above had nothing

to grip except the round polished surface of the ivory, and in the position in which they were, this did not

give them sufficient hold to enable them to lift the weight. I told them to reverse the tusks and push them up,

so that the rough and hollow ends came to the hands of the men above. This they did, and the first two were

"At this point, looking behind me, I saw the Matukus streaming up the slope in a rough extended order, and

not more than a hundred yards away. Cocking the Winchester I turned and opened fire on them. I don't quite

know how many I missed, but I do know that I never shot better in my life. I had to keep shifting myself from

one enemy to the other, firing almost without getting a sight, that is, by the eye alone, after the fashion of the

experts who break glass balls. But quick as the work was, men fell thick, and by the time that I had emptied

the carbine of its twelve cartridges, for the moment the advance was checked. I rapidly pushed in some more

cartridges, and hardly had I done so when the enemy, seeing that we were about to escape them altogether,

came on once more with a tremendous yell. By this time the two halves of the single tusk of the great bull

alone remained to be passed up. I fired and fired as effectively as before, but notwithstanding all that I could

do, some men escaped my hail of bullets and began to ascend the cliff. Presently my rifle was again empty. I

slung it over my back, and, drawing my revolver, turned to run for it, the attackers being now quite close. As

"The last half of the tusk was now vanishing over the rock, and I sung out to Gobo and the other man who

had been pushing it up to vanish after it. Gobo, poor fellow, required no second invitation; indeed, his haste

was his undoing. He went at the projecting rock with a bound. The end of the tusk was still hanging over, and

instead of grasping the rock he caught at it. It twisted in his handhe slipped he fell; with one wild shriek

he vanished into the abyss beneath, his falling body brushing me as it passed. For a moment we stood aghast,

and presently the dull thud of his fall smote heavily upon our ears. Poor fellow, he had met the Fate which, as

he declared, walked about loose in Wambe's country. Then with an oath the remaining man sprung at the rock

and clambered over it in safety. Aghast at the awfulness of what had happened, I stood still, till I saw the

great blade of a Matuku spear pass up between my feet. That brought me to my senses, and I began to

clamber up the rock like a cat. I was half way round it. Already I had clasped the hand of that brave girl

Maiwa, who came down to help me, the men having scrambled forward with the ivory, when I felt some one

"'Pull, Maiwa, pull,' I gasped, and she certainly did pull. Maiwa was a very muscular woman, and never

before did I appreciate the advantages of the physical development of females so keenly. She tugged at my

left arm, the savage below tugged at my right leg, till I began to realize that something must give way ere

long. Luckily I retained my presence of mind, like the man who threw his motherinlaw out of the window,

and carried the mattress downstairs, when a fire broke out in his house. My right hand was still free, and in

it I held my revolver, which was secured to my wrist by a leather thong. The pistol was cocked, and I simply

pointed it downwards and fired. The result was instantaneousand so far as I am concerned, most

satisfactory. The bullet hit the man beneath me somewhere, I am sure I don't know where; at any rate, he let

go of my leg and plunged headlong into the gulf beneath to join Gobo. In another moment I was on the top of

the rock, and going up the remaining steps like a lamplighter. A single other soldier appeared in pursuit, but

one of my boys at the top fired my elephant gun at him. I don't know if he hit him or only frightened him; at

any rate, he vanished whence he came. I do know, however, that he very nearly hit me, for I felt the wind of

"Another thirty seconds, and I and the woman Maiwa were at the top of the cliff panting, but safe.

"My men, being directed thereto by Maiwa, had most fortunately rolled up some big boulders which lay

about, and with these we soon managed to block the passage through the overhanging ridge of rock in such

fashion that the soldiers below could not possibly climb over it. Indeed, so far as I could see, they did not

"Then having rested a few moments we took up the loads, including the tusks of ivory that had cost us so

dear, and in silence marched on for a couple of miles or more, till we reached a patch of dense bush. And

here, being utterly exhausted, we camped for the night, taking the precaution, however, of setting a guard to

"Notwithstanding all that we had gone through, perhaps indeed on account of it, for I was thoroughly worn

out, I slept that night as soundly as poor Gobo, round whose crushed body the hy�nas would now be

prowling. Rising refreshed at dawn we went on our way towards Nala's kraal, which we reached at nightfall.

It is built on open ground after the Zulu fashion, in a ring fence and with beehive huts. The cattle kraal is

behind and a little to the left. Indeed, both from their habits and their talk it was easy to see that these Butiana

belong to that section of the Bantu people which, since T'Chaka's time, has been known as the Zulu race. We

did not see the chief Nala that night. His daughter Maiwa went on to his private huts as soon as we arrived,

and very shortly afterwards one of his head men came to us bringing a sheep and some mealies and milk with

him. 'The chief sent us greeting,' he said, 'and would see us on the morrow.' Meanwhile he was ordered to

bring us to a place of resting, where we and our goods should be safe and undisturbed. Accordingly he led the

way to some very good huts just outside Nala's private enclosure, and here we slept comfortably.

"On the morrow about eight o'clock the head man came again, and said that Nala requested that I would visit

him. I followed him into the private enclosure and was introduced to the chief, a finelooking man of about

fifty, with very delicatelyshaped hands and feet, and a rather nervous mouth. The chief was seated on a

tanned oxhide outside his hut. By his side stood his daughter Maiwa, and squatted on their haunches round

him were some twenty head men or Indunas, whose number was continually added to by fresh arrivals. These

men saluted me as I entered, and the chief rose and took my hand, ordering a stool to be brought for me to sit

on. When this was done, with much eloquence and native courtesy he thanked me for protecting his daughter

in the painful and dangerous circumstances in which she found herself placed, and also complimented me

very highly upon what he was pleased to call the bravery with which I had defended the pass in the rocks. I

answered in appropriate terms, saying that it was to Maiwa herself that thanks were due, for had it not been

for her warning and knowledge of the country we should not have been here today; while as to the defence

"These courtesies concluded, Nala called upon his daughter Maiwa to tell her tale to the head men, and this

she did most simply and effectively. She reminded them that she had gone as an unwilling bride to

Wambethat no cattle had been paid for her, because Wambe had threatened war if she was not sent as a

free gift. Since she had entered the kraal of Wambe her days had been days of heaviness and her nights nights

of weeping. She had been beaten, she had been neglected and made to do the work of a lowborn wifeshe,

a chief's daughter. She had borne a child, and this was the story of the child. Then amidst a dead silence she

told them the awful tale which she had already narrated to me. When she had finished, her hearers gave a

"'Ay,' she went on with flashing eyes, 'ay, it is true; my mouth is as full of truth as a flower of honey, and for

tears my eyes are like the dew upon the grass at dawn. It is true I saw the child diehere is the proof of it,

"'Yes,' she continued, 'it is the dead hand of my dead child, and I bear it with me that I may never forget,

never for one short hour, that I live that I may see Wambe die, and be avenged. Will you bear it, my father,

that your daughter and your daughter's child should be so treated by a Matuku? Will ye bear it, men of my

"'No,' said an old Induna, rising, 'it is not to be borne. Enough have we suffered at the hands of these Matuku

"'It is not to be borne indeed,' said Nala; 'but how can we make head against so great a people?'

"At this moment an interruption occurred. A man entered and said that messengers had arrived from Wambe.

"'They come to ask that thy daughter Maiwa be sent back, and with her the white hunter.'

"'How shall I make answer to this, Macumazahn?' said Nala, when the man had withdrawn.

"'Thus shalt thou answer,' I said after reflection; 'say that the woman shall be sent and I with her, and then bid

the messengers be gone. Stay, I will hide myself here in the hut that the men may not see me,' and I did.

"Shortly afterwards, through a crack in the hut, I saw the messengers arrive, and they were great

truculentlooking fellows. There were four of them, and evidently they had travelled night and day. They

"'We come from Wambe, bearing the orders of Wambe to Nala his servant,' answered the spokesman of the

"'These are the words of Wambe: "Send back the woman, my wife, who has run away from my kraal, and

send with her the white man who has dared to hunt in my country without my leave, and to slay my soldiers."

"'Then on behalf of Wambe we declare war upon you. Wambe will eat you up. He will wipe you out; your

kraals shall be stamped flatso,' and with an expressive gesture he drew his hand across his mouth to show

"Then followed a little piece of acting that was really very creditable to the untutored savage mind. The

heralds withdrew, but not out of sight, and Nala went through the show of earnestly consulting his Indunas.

The girl Maiwa too flung herself at his feet, and appeared to weep and implore his protection, while he wrung

his hands as though in doubt and tribulation of mind. At length he summoned the messengers to draw near,

"'Wambe is a great chief,' said Nala, 'and this woman is his wife, whom he has a right to claim. She must

return to him, but her feet are sore with walking, she cannot come now. In eight days from this day she shall

be delivered at the kraal of Wambe; I will send her with a party of my men. As for the white hunter and his

men, I have nought to do with them, and cannot answer for their misdeeds. They have wandered hither

unbidden by me, and I will deliver them back whence they came, that Wambe may judge them according to

his law; they shall be sent with the girl. For you, go your ways. Food shall be given you without the kraal,

and a present for Wambe in atonement of the illdoing of my daughter. I have spoken.'

"At first the heralds seemed inclined to insist upon Maiwa's accompanying them then and there, but on being

shown the swollen condition of her feet, ultimately they gave up the point and departed.

"When they were well out of the way I emerged from the hut, and we went on to discuss the situation and

make our plans. First of all, as I was careful to explain to Nala, I was not going to give him my experience

and services for nothing. I heard that Wambe had a stockade round his kraal made of elephant tusks. These

tusks, in the event of our succeeding in the enterprise, I should claim as my perquisite, with the proviso that

"To this modest request Nala and the head men gave an unqualified and hearty assent, the more hearty

"The next thing I stipulated was, that if we conquered, the white man John Every should be handed over to

me, together with any goods which he might claim. His cruel captivity was, I need hardly say, the only reason

that induced me to join in so hairbrained an expedition, but I was careful from motives of policy to keep this

fact in the background. Nala accepted this condition. My third stipulation was that no women or children

should be killed. This being also agreed to, we went on to consider ways and means. Wambe, it appeared,

was a very powerful petty chief, that is, he could put at least six thousand fighting men into the field, and

always had from three to four thousand collected about his kraal, which was supposed to be impregnable.

Nala, on the contrary, at such short notice could not collect more than from twelve to thirteen hundred men,

though, being of the Zulu stock, they were of much better stuff for fighting purposes than Wambe's Matukus.

"These odds, though large, under the circumstances were not overwhelming. The real obstacle to our chance

of success was the difficulty of delivering a crushing assault against Wambe's strong place. This was, it

appeared, fortified all round with schanses or stone walls, and contained numerous caves and koppies in the

hillside and at the foot of the mountain which no force had ever been able to capture. It is said that in the

time of the Zulu monarch Dingaan, a great impi of that king's having penetrated to this district, had delivered

an assault upon the kraal then owned by a forefather of Wambe's, and been beaten back with the loss of more

"Having thought the question over, I interrogated Maiwa closely as to the fortifications and the topographical

peculiarities of the spot, and not without results. I discovered that the kraal was indeed impregnable to a front

attack, but that it was very slightly defended to the rear, which ran up a slope of the mountain, indeed only by

two lines of stone walls. The reason of this was that the mountain is quite impassable except by one secret

path supposed to be known only to the chief and his councillors, and this being so, it had not been considered

"'Well,' I said, when she had done, 'and now as to this secret path of thineknowest thou aught of it?'

"'Ay,' she answered, 'I am no fool, Macumazahn. Knowledge learned is power earned. I won the secret of that

"'And canst thou guide an impi thereon so that it shall fall upon the town from behind?'

"'Yes, I can do this, if only Wambe's people know not that the impi comes, for if they know, then they can

"'So then here is my plan. Listen, Nala, and say if it be good, or if thou hast a better, show it forth. Let

messengers go out and summon all thy impi, that it be gathered here on the third day from now. This being

done, let the impi, led by Maiwa, march on the morrow of the fourth day, and crossing the mountains let it

travel along on the other side of the mountains till it come to the place on the further side of which is the kraal

of Wambe; that shall be some three days' journey in all.[*] Then on the night of the third day's journey, let

Maiwa lead the impi in silence up the secret path, so that it comes to the crest of the mountain that is above

"'Meanwhile on the sixth day from now let one of thy Indunas, Nala, bring with him two hundred men that

have guns, and lead me and my men as prisoners, and take also a girl from among the Butiana people, who by

form and face is like unto Maiwa, and bind her hands, and pass by the road on which we came and through

the cutting in the cliff on to the kraal of Wambe. But the men shall take no shields or plumes with them, only

their guns and one short spear, and when they meet the people of Wambe they shall say that they come to

give up the woman and the white man and his party to Wambe, and to make atonement to Wambe. So shall

they pass in peace. And travelling thus, on the evening of the seventh day we shall come to the gates of the

place of Wambe, and nigh the gates there is, so says Maiwa, a koppie very strong and full of rocks and caves,

but having no soldiers on it except in time of war, or at the worst but a few such as can easily be

"'This being done, at the dawn of day the impi on the mountain behind the town must light a fire and put wet

grass on it, so that the smoke goes up. Then at the sight of the smoke we in the koppie will begin to shoot into

the town of Wambe, and all the soldiers will run to kill us. But we will hold our own, and while we fight the

impi shall charge down the mountain side and climb the schanses, and put those who defend them to the

assegai, and then falling upon the town shall surprise it, and drive the soldiers of Wambe as a wind blows the

"'Ou!' said Nala, 'it is good, it is very good. The white man is cleverer than a jackal. Yes, so shall it be; and

may the snake of the Butiana people stand up upon its tail and prosper the war, for so shall we be rid of

"After that the girl Maiwa stood up, and once more producing the dreadful little dried hand, made her father

and several of his head councillors swear by it and upon it that they would carry out the war of vengeance to

the bitter end. It was a very curious sight to see. And by the way, the fight that ensued was thereafter known

"The next two days were busy ones for us. Messengers were sent out, and every available man of the Butiana

tribe was ordered up to 'a great dance.' The country was small, and by the evening of the second day, some

twelve hundred and fifty men were assembled with their assegais and shields, and a fine hardy troop they

were. At dawn of the following day, the fourth from the departure of the heralds, the main impi, having been

doctored in the usual fashion, started under the command of Nala himself, who, knowing that his life and

chieftainship hung upon the issue of the struggle, wisely determined to be present to direct it. With them went

Maiwa, who was to guide them up the secret path. Of course we were obliged to give them two days' start, as

they had more than a hundred miles of rough country to pass, including the crossing of the great mountain

range which ran north and south, for it was necessary that the impi should make a wide d�tour in order to

"At length, however, at dawn on the sixth day, I took the road, accompanied by my most unwilling bearers,

who did not at all like the idea of thus putting their heads into the lion's mouth. Indeed, it was only the fear of

Nala's spears, together with a vague confidence in myself, that induced them to accept the adventure. With

me also were about two hundred Butianas, all armed with guns of various kinds, for many of these people had

guns, though they were not very proficient in the use of them. But they carried no shields and wore no

headdress or armlets; indeed, every warlike appearance was carefully avoided. With our party went also a

sister of Maiwa's, though by a different mother, who strongly resembled her in face and form, and whose

"That evening we camped upon the top of the cliff up which we had so barely escaped, and next morning at

the first breaking of the light we rolled away the stones with which we had blocked the passage some days

before, and descended to the hillside beneath. Here the bodies, or rather the skeletons of the men who had

fallen before my rifle, still lay about. The Matuku soldiers had left their comrades to be buried by the

vultures. I descended the gully into which poor Gobo had fallen, and searched for his body, but in vain,

although I found the spot where he and the other man had struck, together with the bones of the latter, which I

recognized by the waistcloth. Either some beast of prey had carried Gobo off, or the Matuku people had

disposed of his remains, and also of my express rifle which he carried. At any rate, I never saw or heard any

"Once in Wambe's country, we adopted a very circumspect method of proceeding. About fifty men marched

ahead in loose order to guard against surprise, while as many more followed behind. The remaining hundred

were gathered in a bunch between, and in the centre of these men I marched, together with the girl who was

personating Maiwa, and all my bearers. We were disarmed, and some of my men were tied together to show

that we were prisoners, while the girl had a blanket thrown over her head, and moved along with an air of

great dejection. We headed straight for Wambe's place, which was at a distance of about twentyfive miles

"When we had gone some five miles we met a party of about fifty of Wambe's soldiers, who were evidently

on the lookout for us. They stopped us, and their captain asked where we were going. The head man of our

party answered that he was conveying Maiwa, Wambe's runaway wife, together with the white hunter and his

men, to be given up to Wambe in accordance with his command. The captain then wanted to know why we

were so many, to which our spokesman replied that I and my men were very desperate fellows, and that it

was feared that if we were sent with a smaller escort we should escape, and bring disgrace and the wrath of

Wambe upon their tribe. Thereon this gentleman, the Matuku captain, began to amuse himself at my expense,

and mock me, saying that Wambe would make me pay for the soldiers whom I had killed. He would put me

into the 'Thing that bites,' in other words, the lion trap, and leave me there to die like a jackal caught by the

leg. I made no answer to this, though my wrath was great, but pretended to look frightened. Indeed there was

not much pretence about it, I was frightened. I could not conceal from myself that ours was a most hazardous

enterprise, and that it was very possible that I might make acquaintance with that lion trap before I was many

days older. However, it seemed quite impossible to desert poor Every in his misfortune, so I had to go on, and

"And now a fresh difficulty arose. Wambe's soldiers insisted upon accompanying us, and what is more, did

all they could to urge us forward, as they were naturally anxious to get to the chief's place before evening.

But we, on the other hand, had excellent reasons for not arriving till night was closing in, since we relied

upon the gloom to cover our advance upon the koppie which commanded the town. Finally, they became so

importunate that we were obliged to refuse flatly to move faster, alleging as a reason that the girl was tired.

They did not accept this excuse in good part, and at one time I thought that we should have come to blows,

for there is no love lost between Butianas and Matukus. At last, however, either from motives of policy, or

because they were so evidently outnumbered, they gave in and suffered us to go our own pace. I earnestly

wished that they would have added to the obligation by going theirs, but this they declined absolutely to do.

On the contrary, they accompanied us every foot of the way, keeping up a running fire of allusions to the

"About halfpast four in the afternoon we came to a neck or ridge of stony ground, whence we could see

Wambe's town plainly lying some six or seven miles away, and three thousand feet beneath us. The town is

built in a valley, with the exception of Wambe's own kraal, that is situated at the mouth of some caves upon

the slope of the opposing mountains, over which I hoped to see our impi's spears flashing in the morrow's

light. Even from where we stood, it was easy to see how strongly the place was fortified with schanses and

stone walls, and how difficult of approach. Indeed, unless taken by surprise, it seemed to me quite

impregnable to a force operating without cannon, and even cannon would not make much impression on

"Then came the descent of the pass, and an arduous business it was, for the pathif it may be called a

pathis almost entirely composed of huge waterworn boulders, from the one to the other of which we must

jump like so many grasshoppers. It took us two hours to climb down, and, travelling through that burning

sun, when at last we did reach the bottom, I for one was nearly played out. Shortly afterwards, just as it was

growing dark, we came to the first line of fortifications, which consisted of a triple stone wall pierced by a

gateway, so narrow that a man could hardly squeeze through it. We passed this without question, being

accompanied by Wambe's soldiers. Then, came a belt of land three hundred paces or more in width, very

rocky and broken, and having no huts upon it. Here in hollows in this belt the cattle were kraaled in case of

danger. On the further side were more fortifications and another small gateway shaped like a V, and just

beyond and through it I saw the koppie we had planned to seize looming up against the line of mountains

"As we went I whispered my suggestions to our captain, with the result that at the second gateway he halted

the cavalcade, and addressing the captain of Wambe's soldiers, said that we would wait here till we received

Wambe's word to enter the town. The other man said that this was well, only he must hand over the prisoners

to be taken up to the chief's kraal, for Wambe, was 'hungry to begin upon them,' and his 'heart desired to see

the white man at rest before he closed his eyes in sleep,' and as for his wife, 'surely he would welcome her.'

Our leader replied that he could not do this thing, because his orders were to deliver the prisoners to Wambe

at Wambe's own kraal, and they might not be broken. How could he be responsible for the safety of the

prisoners if he let them out of his hand? No, they would wait there till Wambe's word was brought.

"To this, after some demur, the other man consented, and went away, remarking that he would soon be back.

As he passed me he called out with a sneer, pointing as he did so to the fading red in the western sky'Look

your last upon the light, White Man, for the "Thing that bites" lives in the dark.'

"Next day it so happened that I shot this man, and, do you know, I think that he is about the only human

being who has come to harm at my hands for whom I do not feel sincere sorrow and, in a degree, remorse.

"Just where we halted ran a little stream of water. I looked at it, and an idea struck me: probably there would

be no water on the koppie. I suggested this to our captain, and, acting on the hint, he directed all the men to

drink what they could, and also to fill the seven or eight cooking pots which we carried with us with water.

Then came the crucial moment. How were we to get possession of the koppie? When the captain asked me, I

said that I thought that we had better march up and take it, and this accordingly we went on to do. When we

came to the narrow gateway we were, as I expected stopped by two soldiers who stood on guard there and

asked our business. The captain answered that we had changed our minds, and would follow on to Wambe's

"To this we replied by pushing them to one side and marching in single file through the gateway, which was

not distant more than a hundred yards from the koppie. While we were getting through, the men we had

pushed away ran towards the town calling for assistance, a call that was promptly responded to, for in another

minute we saw scores of armed men running hard in our direction. So we ran too, for the koppie. As soon as

they understood what we were after, which they did not at first, owing to the dimness of the light, they did

their best to get there before us. But we had the start of them, and with the exception of one unfortunate man

who stumbled and fell, we were well on to the koppie before they arrived. This man they captured, and when

fighting began on the following morning, and he refused to give any information, they killed him. Luckily

they had no time to torture him, or they would certainly have done so, for these Matuku people are very fond

"When we reached the koppie, the base of which covers about half an acre of ground, the soldiers who had

been trying to cut us off halted, for they knew the strength of the position. This gave us a few minutes before

the light had quite vanished to reconnoitre the place. We found that it was unoccupied, fortified with a regular

labyrinth of stone walls, and contained three large caves and some smaller ones. The next business was to

post the soldiers to such advantage as time would allow. My own men I was careful to place quite at the top.

They were perfectly useless from terror, and I feared that they might try to escape and give information of our

plans to Wambe. So I watched them like the apple of my eye, telling them that should they dare to stir they

"Then it grew quite dark, and presently out of the darkness I heard a voiceit was that of the leader of the

soldiers who had escorted us calling us to come down. We replied that it was too dark to move, we should

hit our feet against the stones. He insisted upon our descending, and we flatly refused, saying that if any

attempt was made to dislodge us we would fire. After that, as they had no real intention of attacking us in the

dark, the men withdrew, but we saw from the fires which were lit around that they were keeping a strict

"That night was a wearing one, for we never quite knew how the situation was going to develop. Fortunately

we had some cooked food with us, so we did not starve. It was lucky, however, that we drunk our fill before

coming up, for, as I had anticipated, there was not a drop of water on the koppie.

"At length the night wore away, and with the first tinge of light I began to go my rounds, and stumbling along

the stony paths, to make things as ready as I could for the attack, which I felt sure would be delivered before

we were two hours older. The men were cramped and cold, and consequently lowspirited, but I exhorted

them to the best of my ability, bidding them remember the race from which they sprang, and not to show the

white feather before a crowd of Matuku dogs. At length it began to grow light, and presently I saw long

columns of men advancing towards the koppie. They halted under cover at a distance of about a hundred and

fifty yards, and just as the dawn broke a herald came forward and called to us. Our captain stood up upon a

"'These are the words of Wambe,' the herald said. 'Come forth from the koppie, and give over the evildoers,

"'It is too early to come out as yet,' answered our man in fine diplomatic style. 'When the sun sucks up the

"'Not if I know it, my boy,' said I to myself; but the captain replied that he would come out when he thought

"'Then make ready to die,' said the herald, for all the world like the villain of a transpontine piece, and

"I made my final arrangements, and looked anxiously at the mountain crest a couple of miles or so away,

from which the mist was now beginning to lift, but no column of smoke could I see. I whistled, for if the

attacking force had been delayed or made any mistake, our position was likely to grow rather warm. We had

barely enough water to wet the mouths of the men, and when once it was finished we could not hold the place

"At length, just as the sun rose in glory over the heights behind us, the Matuku soldiers, of whom about

fifteen hundred were now assembled, set up a queer whistling noise, which ended in a chant. Then some shots

were fired, for the Matuku had a few guns, but without effect, though one bullet passed just by a man's head.

"'Now they are going to begin,' I thought to myself, and I was not far wrong, for in another minute the body

of men divided into three companies, each about five hundred strong, and, heralded by a running fire, charged

at us on three sides. Our men were now all well under cover, and the fire did us no harm. I mounted on a rock

so as to command a view of as much of the koppie and plain as possible, and yelled to our men to reserve

their fire till I gave the word, and then to shoot low and load as quickly as possible. I knew that, like all

natives, they were sure to be execrable shots, and that they were armed with weapons made out of old

gaspipes, so the only chance of doing execution was to let the enemy get right on to us.

"On they came with a rush; they were within eighty yards now, and as they drew near the point of attack, I

"'Sixty yardsfiftyfortythirty. Fire, you scoundrels!' I yelled, setting the example by letting off both

barrels of my elephant gun into the thickest part of the company opposite to me.

"Instantly the place rang out with the discharge of two hundred and odd guns, while the air was torn by the

passage of every sort of missile, from iron pot legs down to slugs and pebbles coated with lead. The result

was very prompt. The Matukus were so near that we could not miss them, and at thirty yards a leadcoated

stone out of a gaspipe is as effective as a Martini rifle, or more so. Over rolled the attacking soldiers by the

dozen, while the survivors, fairly frightened, took to their heels. We plied them with shot till they were out of

rangeI made it very warm for them with the elephant gun, by the wayand then we loaded up in quite a

cheerful frame of mind, for we had not lost a man, whereas I could count more than fifty dead and wounded

Matukus. The only thing that damped my ardour was that, stare as I would, I could see no column of smoke

"Half an hour elapsed before any further steps were taken against us. Then the attacking force adopted

different tactics. Seeing that it was very risky to try to rush us in dense masses, they opened out into

skirmishing order and ran across the open space in lots of five and six. As it happened, right at the foot of the

koppie the ground broke away a little in such fashion that it was almost impossible for us to search it

effectually with our fire. On the hither side of this dip Wambe's soldiers were now congregating in

considerable numbers. Of course we did them as much damage as we could while they were running across,

but this sort of work requires good shots, and that was just what we had not got. Another thing was, that so

many of our men would insist upon letting off the things they called guns at every little knot of the enemy

that ran across. Thus, the first few lots were indeed practically swept away, but after that, as it took a long

while to load the gaspipes and old flint muskets, those who followed got across in comparative safety. For

my own part, I fired away with the elephant gun and repeating carbine till they grew almost too hot to hold,

but my individual efforts could do nothing to stop such a rush, or perceptibly to lessen the number of our

"At length there were at least a thousand men crowded into the dip of ground within a few yards of us,

whence those of them who had guns kept up a continued fusillade upon the koppie. They killed two of my

bearers in this way, and wounded a third, for being at the top of the koppie these men were most exposed to

the fire from the dip at its base. Seeing that the situation was growing most serious, at length, by the dint of

threats and entreaties, I persuaded the majority of our people to cease firing useless shots, to reload, and

prepare for the rush. Scarcely had I done so when the enemy came for us with a roar. I am bound to say that I

should never have believed that Matukus had it in them to make such a determined charge. A large party

rushed round the base of the koppie, and attacked us in flank, while the others swarmed wherever they could

"'Fire!' I cried, and we did with terrible effect. Many of their men fell, but though we checked we could not

stop them. They closed up and rushed the first fortification, killing a good number of its defenders. It was

almost all cold steel work now, for we had no time to reload, and that suited the Butiana habits of fighting

well enough, for the stabbing assegai is a weapon which they understand. Those of our people who escaped

from the first line of walls took refuge in the second, where I stood myself, encouraging them, and there the

fight raged fiercely. Occasionally parties of the enemy would force a passage, only to perish on the hither

side beneath the Butiana spears. But still they kept it up, and I saw that, fight as we would, we were doomed.

We were altogether outnumbered, and to make matters worse, fresh bodies of soldiers were pouring across

the plain to the assistance of our assailants. So I made up my mind to direct a retreat into the caves, and there

expire in a manner as heroic as circumstances would allow; and while mentally lamenting my hard fate and

reflecting on my sins I fought away like a fiend. It was then, I remember, that I shot my friend the captain of

our escort of the previous day. He had caught sight of me, and making a vicious dig at my stomach with a

spear (which I successfully dodged), shouted out, or rather began to shout out, one of his unpleasant allusions

to the 'Thing that' He never got as far as 'bites,' because I shot him after 'that.'

"Well, the game was about up. Already I saw one man throw down his spear in token of surrenderwhich

"I glanced up, and there sure enough, about halfway down the mountain, nearing the first fortification, the

longplumed double line of Nala's warriors was rushing down to battle, the bright light of the morning

glancing on their spears. Afterwards we discovered that the reason of their delay was that they had been

stopped by a river in flood, and could not reach the mountain crest by dawn. When they did reach it,

however, they saw instantly that the fight was already going on, was 'in flower,' as they put it, and so

"Meanwhile they had been observed from the town, and parties of soldiers were charging up the steep side of

the hill, to occupy the schanses, and the second line of fortifications behind them. The first line they did not

now attempt to reach or defend; Nala pressed them too close. But they got to the schanses or pits protected

with stone walls, and constructed to hold from a dozen to twenty men, and soon began to open fire from

them, and from isolated rocks. I turned my eyes to the gates of the town, which were placed to the north and

south. Already they were crowded with hundreds of fugitive women and children flying to the rocks and

"As for ourselves, the appearance of Nala's impi produced a wonderful change for the better in our position.

The soldiers attacking us turned, realizing that the town was being assailed from the rear, and clambering

down the koppie streamed off to protect their homes against this new enemy. In five minutes there was not a

man left except those who would move no more, or were too sorely wounded to escape. I felt inclined to

ejaculate 'Saved!' like the gentleman in the play, but did not because the occasion was too serious. What I did

do was to muster all the men and reckon up our losses. They amounted to fifty one killed and wounded,

sixteen men having been killed outright. Then I sent men with the cookingpots to the stream of water, and

we drank. This done I set my bearers, being the most useless part of the community, from a fighting point of

"By this time Nala's impi had climbed the first line of fortifications without opposition, and was advancing in

a long line upon the schanses or pits which were scattered about between it and the second line, singing a war

chant as it came. Presently puffs of smoke began to start from the schanses, and with my glasses I could see

several of our men falling over. Then as they came opposite a schanse that portion of the long line of warriors

would thicken up and charge it with a wild rush. I could see them leap on to the walls and vanish into the

depths beneath, some of their number falling backward on each occasion, shot or stabbed to death.

"Next would come another act in the tragedy. Out from the hither side of the schanse would pour such of its

defenders as were left alive, perhaps three or four and perhaps a dozen, running for dear life, with the war

dogs on their tracks. One by one they would be caught, then up flashed the great spear and down fell the

pursueddead. I saw ten of our men leap into one large schanse, but though I watched for some time nobody

came out. Afterwards we inspected the place and found these men all dead, together with twentythree

Matukus. Neither side would give in, and they had fought it out to the bitter end.

"At last they neared the second line of fortifications, behind which the whole remaining Matuku force,

numbering some two thousand men, was rapidly assembling. One little pause to get their breath, and Nala's

men came at it with a rush and a long wild shout of 'Bulala Matuku' (kill the Matuku) that went right through

me, thrilling every nerve. Then came an answering shout, and the sounds of heavy firing, and presently I saw

our men retreating, somewhat fewer in numbers than they had advanced. Their welcome had been a warm

one for the Matuku fight splendidly behind walls. This decided me that it was necessary to create a diversion;

if we did not do so it seemed very probable that we should be worsted after all. I called to the captain of our

"Seeing the urgency of the occasion, he agreed with me that we must risk it, and in two minutes more, with

the exception of my own men, whom I left to guard the wounded, we were trotting across the open space and

through the deserted town towards the spot where the struggle was taking place, some seven hundred yards

away. In six or eight minutes we reached a group of hutsit was a head man's kraal, that was situated about

a hundred and twenty yards behind the fortified wall, and took possession of it unobserved. The enemy was

too much engaged with the foe in front of him to notice us, and besides, the broken ground rose in a

hogback shape between. There we waited a minute or two and recovered our breath, while I gave my

directions. So soon as we heard the Butiana impi begin to charge again, we were to run out in a line to the

brow of the hogback and pour our fire into the mass of defenders behind the wall. Then the guns were to be

thrown down and we must charge with the assegai. We had no shields, but that could not be helped; there

would be no time to reload the guns, and it was absolutely necessary that the enemy should be disconcerted at

"The men, who were as plucky a set of fellows as ever I saw, and whose blood was now thoroughly up,

consented to this scheme, though I could see that they thought it rather a large order, as indeed I did myself.

But I knew that if the impi was driven back a second time the game would be played, and for me at any rate it

would be a case of the 'Thing that bites,' and this sure and certain knowledge filled my breast with valour.

"We had not long to wait. Presently we heard the Butiana warsong swelling loud and long; they had

commenced their attack. I made a sign, and the hundred and fifty men, headed by myself, poured out of the

kraal, and getting into a rough line ran up the fifty or sixty yards of slope that intervened between ourselves

and the crest of the hogbacked ridge. In thirty seconds we were there, and immediately beyond us was the

main body of the Matuku host waiting the onslaught of the enemy with guns and spears. Even now they did

not see us, so intent were they upon the coming attack. I signed to my men to take careful aim, and suddenly

called out to them to fire, which they did with a will, dropping thirty or forty Matukus.

"'Charge!' I shouted, again throwing down my smoking rifle and drawing my revolver, an example which

they followed, snatching up their spears from the ground where they had placed them while they fired. The

men set up a savage whoop, and we started. I saw the Matuku soldiers wheel around in hundreds, utterly

taken aback at this new development of the situation. And looking over them, before we had gone twenty

yards I saw something else. For of a sudden, as though they had risen from the earth, there appeared above

the wall hundreds of great spears, followed by hundreds of savage faces shadowed with drooping plumes.

With a yell they sprang upon the wall shaking their broad shields, and with a yell they bounded from it

"Crash! we were in them now, and fighting like demons. Crash! from the other side. Nala's impi was at its

work, and still the spears and plumes appeared for a moment against the brown background of the mountain,

and then sprang down and rushed like a storm upon the foe. The great mob of men turned this way and turned

"Meanwhile the slayers stayed not their hands, and on every side spears flashed, and the fierce shout of

triumph went up to heaven. There too on the wall stood Maiwa, a white garment streaming from her

shoulders, an assegai in her hand, her breast heaving, her eyes flashing. Above all the din of battle I could

catch the tones of her clear voice as she urged the soldiers on to victory. But victory was not yet. Wambe's

soldiers gathered themselves together, and bore our men back by the sheer weight of numbers. They began to

"'Slay, you warwhelps,' cried Maiwa from the wall. 'Are you afraid, you women, you chickenhearted

women! Strike home, or die like dogs! Whatyou give way! Follow me, children of Nala.' And with one

long cry she leapt from the wall as leaps a stricken antelope, and holding the spear poised rushed right into

the thickest of the fray. The warriors saw her, and raised such a shout that it echoed like thunder against the

mountains. They massed together, and following the flutter of her white robe crashed into the dense heart of

the foe. Down went the Matuku before them like trees before a whirlwind. Nothing could stand in the face of

such a rush as that. It was as the rush of a torrent bursting its banks. All along their line swept the wild

desperate charge; and there, straight in the forefront of the battle, still waved the white robe of Maiwa.

"Then they broke, and, stricken with utter panic, Wambe's soldiers streamed away a scattered crowd of

"The fight was over, we had won the day; and for my part I sat down upon a stone and wiped my forehead,

thanking Providence that I had lived to see the end of it. Twenty minutes later Nala's warriors began to return

panting. 'Wambe's soldiers had taken to the bush and the caves,' they said, 'where they had not thought it safe

"I was utterly dazed, and now that the fight was over my energy seemed to have left me, and I did not pay

much attention, till presently I was aroused by somebody calling me by my name. I looked up, and saw that it

was the chief Nala himself, who was bleeding from a flesh wound in his arm. By his side stood Maiwa

"'They are gone, Macumazahn,' said the chief; 'there is little to fear from them, their heart is broken. But

"Close to where we stood lay a Matuku, a young man who had been shot through the fleshy part of the calf. It

"'Say, thou dog,' said Nala, stalking up to him and shaking his red spear in his face, 'say, where is Wambe?

"'Nay, lord, I know not,' groaned the terrified man, 'he fought not with us; Wambe has no stomach for

fighting. Perchance he is in his kraal yonder, or in the cave behind the kraal,' and he pointed to a small

enclosure on the hillside, about four hundred yards to the right of where we were.

"The impi formed up; alas, an hour before it had been stronger by a third than it was now. Then Nala

detached two hundred men to collect and attend to the injured, and at my suggestion issued a stringent order

that none of the enemy's wounded, and above all no women or children, were to be killed, as is the savage

custom among African natives. On the contrary, they were to be allowed to send word to their women that

they might come in to nurse them and fear nothing, for Nala made war upon Wambe the tyrant, and not on

"Then we started with some four hundred men for the chief's kraal. Very soon we were there. It was, as I have

said, placed against the mountain side, but within the fortified lines, and did not at all cover more than an acre

and a half of ground. Outside was a tiny reed fence, within which, neatly arranged in a semicircular line,

stood the huts of the chief's principal wives. Maiwa of course knew every inch of the kraal, for she had lived

in it, and led us straight to the entrance. We peeped through the gatewaynot a soul was to be seen. There

were the huts and there was the clear open space floored with a concrete of lime, on which the sun beat

"'The jackal has gone to earth,' said Maiwa; 'he will be in the cave behind his hut,' and she pointed with her

spear towards another small and semicircular enclosure, over which a large hut was visible, that had the cliff

itself for a background. I stared at this fence; by George! it was true, it was entirely made of tusks of ivory

planted in the ground with their points bending outwards. The smallest ones, though none were small, were

placed nearest to the cliff on either side, but they gradually increased in size till they culminated in two

enormous tusks, which, set up so that their points met, something in the shape of an inverted V, formed the

gateway to the hut. I was dumbfoundered with delight; and indeed, where is the elephanthunter who would

not be, if he suddenly saw five or six hundred picked tusks set up in a row, and only waiting for him to take

them away? Of course the stuff was what is known as 'black' ivory; that is, the exterior of the tusks had

become black from years or perhaps centuries of exposure to wind and weather, but I was certain that it

would be none the worse for that. Forgetting the danger of the deed, in my excitement I actually ran right

across the open space, and drawing my knife scratched vigorously at one of the great tusks to see how deep

the damage might be. As I thought, it was nothing; there beneath the black covering gleamed the pure white

ivory. I could have capered for joy, for I fear that I am very mercenary at heart, when suddenly I heard the

faint echo of a cry for assistance. 'Help!' screamed a voice in the Sisutu dialect from somewhere behind the

"I knew the voice; it was John Every's. Oh, what a selfish brute was I! For the moment that miserable ivory

had driven the recollection of him out of my head, and nowperhaps it was too late.

"Nala, Maiwa, and the soldiers had now come up. They too heard the voice and interpreted its tone, though

"'This way,' cried Maiwa, and we started at a run, passing round the hut of Wambe. Behind was the narrow

entrance to a cave. We rushed through it heedless of the danger of the ambush, and this is what we saw,

"In the centre of the cave, and with either end secured to the floor by strong stakes, stood a huge

doublespringed lion trap edged with sharp and grinning teeth. It was set, and beyond the trap, indeed almost

over it, a terrible struggle was in progress. A naked or almost naked white man, with a great beard hanging

down over his breast, in spite of his furious struggles, was being slowly forced and dragged towards the trap

by six or eight women. Only one man was present, a fat, cruellooking man with small eyes and a hanging

lip. It was the chief Wambe, and he stood by the trap ready to force the victim down upon it so soon as the

"At this instant they caught sight of us, and there came a moment's pause, and then, before I knew what she

was going to do, Maiwa lifted the assegai she still held, and whirled it at Wambe's head. I saw the flash of

light speed towards him, and so did he, for he stepped backward to avoid itstepped backward right into the

trap. He yelled with pain as the iron teeth of the 'Thing that bites' sprang up with a rattling sound like living

fangs and fastened into himsuch a yell I have not often heard. Now at last he tasted of the torture which he

had inflicted upon so many, and though I trust I am a Christian, I cannot say that I felt sorry for him.

"The assegai sped on and struck one of the women who had hold of the unfortunate Every, piercing through

her arm. This made her leave go, an example that the other women quickly followed, so that Every fell to the

"'Kill the witches,' roared Nala, in a voice of thunder, pointing to the group of women.

"'Nay,' gasped Every, 'spare them. He made them do it,' and he pointed to the human fiend in the trap. Then

Maiwa waved her hand to us to fall back, for the moment of her vengeance was come. We did so, and she

strode up to her lord, and flinging the white robe from her stood before him, her fierce beautiful face fixed

"'Who am I?' she cried in so terrible a voice that he ceased his yells. 'Am I that woman who was given to thee

for wife, and whose child thou slewest? Or am I an avenging spirit come to see thee die?

"'What is this?' she went on, drawing the withered babyhand from the pouch at her side.

"'Is it the hand of a babe? and how came that hand to be thus alone? What cut it off from the babe? and where

is the babe? Is it a hand? or is it the vision of a hand that shall presently tear thy throat?

"'Where are thy soldiers, Wambe? Do they sleep and eat and go forth to do thy bidding? or are they

"'Art thou still a chief, Wambe? or does another take thy place and power, and say, Lord, what doest thou

"'Is it a dream, Wambe, great lord and chief? or'and she lifted her clenched hands and shook them in his

face'hath a woman's vengeance found thee out and a woman's wit o'ermatched thy tyrannous strength? and

art thou about to slowly die in torments horrible to think on, oh, thou accursed murderer of little children?'

"And with one wild scream she dashed the dead hand of the child straight into his face, and then fell senseless

on the floor. As for the demon in the trap, he shrank back so far as its iron bounds would allow, his yellow

eyes starting out of his head with pain and terror, and then once more began to yell.

"'Nala,' I said, 'this must stop. That man is a fiend, but he must not be left to die there. See thou to it.'

"'Nay," answered Nala, 'let him taste of the food wherewith he hath fed so many; leave him till death shall

"'As thou wilt, Macumazahn,' answered the chief, with a shrug of the shoulders; 'first let the white man and

"So the soldiers came forward and carried Every and the woman into the open air. As the former was borne

past his tormentor, the fallen chief, so cowardly was his wicked heart, actually prayed him to intercede for

him, and save him from a fate which, but for our providential appearance, would have been Every's own.

"So we went away, and in another moment one of the biggest villains on the earth troubled it no more. Once

in the fresh air Every recovered quickly. I looked at him, and horror and sorrow pierced me through to see

such a sight. His face was the face of a man of sixty, though he was not yet forty, and his poor body was cut

to pieces with stripes and scars, and other marks of the torments which Wambe had for years amused himself

"As soon as he recovered himself a little he struggled on to his knees, burst into a paroxysm of weeping, and

"'What are you about, old fellow?' I said, for I am not accustomed to that sort of thing, and it made me feel

"'Oh, God bless you?' he moaned, 'God bless you! If only you knew what I have gone through; and to think

that you should have come to help me, and at the risk of your own life! Well, you were always a true

"'Bosh,' I answered testily; 'I'm a trader, and I came after that ivory,' and I pointed to the stockade of tusks.

'Did you ever hear of an elephanthunter who would not have risked his immortal soul for them, and much

"But he took no notice of my explanations, and went on God blessing me as hard as ever, till at last I

bethought me that a nip of brandy, of which I had a flask full, might steady his nerves a bit. I gave it him, and

was not disappointed in the result, for he brisked up wonderfully. Then I hunted about in Wambe's hut, and

found a kaross to put over his poor bruised shoulders, and he was quite a man again.

"'Because as soon as they heard that the fight was going against them, and that Maiwa was charging at the

head of Nala's impi, one of the women told Wambe that she had seen me write something on some leaves and

give them to Maiwa before she went away to purify herself. Then of course he guessed that I had to do with

your seizing the koppie and holding it while the impi rushed the place from the mountain, so he determined to

torture me to death before help could come. Oh, heavens! what a mercy it is to hear English again.'

"'Six years and a bit, Quatermain; I have lost count of the odd months lately. I came up here with Major

Aldey and three other gentlemen and forty bearers. That devil Wambe ambushed us, and murdered the lot to

get their guns. They weren't much use to him when he got them, being breechloaders, for the fools fired

away all the ammunition in a month or two. However, they are all in good order, and hanging up in the hut

there. They didn't kill me because one of them saw me mending a gun just before they attacked us, so they

kept me as a kind of armourer. Twice I tried to make a bolt of it, but was caught each time. Last time Wambe

had me flogged very nearly to deathyou can see the scars upon my back. Indeed I should have died if it

hadn't been for the girl Maiwa, who nursed me by stealth. He got that accursed lion trap among our things

also, and I suppose he has tortured between one and two hundred people to death in it. It was his favourite

amusement, and he would go every day and sit and watch his victim till he died. Sometimes he would give

him food and water to keep him alive longer, telling him or her that he would let him go if he lived till a

certain day. But he never did let them go. They all died there, and I could show you their bones behind that

"'The devil!' I said, grinding my teeth. 'I wish I hadn't interfered; I wish I had left him to the same fate.'

"'Well, he got a taste of it any way,' said Every; 'I'm glad he got a taste. There's justice in it, and now he's

gone to hell, and I hope there is another one ready for him there. By Jove! I should like to have the setting of

"And so he talked on, and I sat and listened to him, wondering how he had kept his reason for so many years.

But he didn't talk as I have told it, in plain English. He spoke very slowly, and as though he had got

something in his mouth, continually using native words because the English ones had slipped his memory.

"At last Nala came up and told us that food was made ready, and thankful enough we were to get it, I can tell

you. After we had eaten we held a consultation. Quite a thousand of Wambe's soldiers were put hors de

combat, but at least two thousand remained hidden in the bush and rocks, and these men, together with those

in the outlying kraals, were a source of possible danger. The question arose, therefore, what was to be

donewere they to be followed or left alone? I waited till everybody had spoken, some giving one opinion

and some another, and then being appealed to I gave mine. It was to the effect that Nala should take a leaf out

of the great Zulu T'Chaka's book, and incorporate the tribe, not destroy it. We had a good many women

among the prisoners. Let them, I suggested, be sent to the hidingplaces of the soldiers and make an offer. If

the men would come and lay down their arms and declare allegiance to Nala, they and their town and cattle

should be spared. Wambe's cattle alone would be seized as the prize of war. Moreover, Wambe having left no

children, his wife Maiwa should be declared chieftainess of the tribe, under Nala. If they did not accept this

offer by the morning of the second day it should be taken as a declaration that they wished to continue the

war. Their town should be burned, their cattle, which our men were already collecting and driving in in great

"This advice was at once declared to be wise, and acted on. The women were despatched, and I saw from

their faces that they never expected to get such terms, and did not think that their mission would be in vain.

Nevertheless, we spent that afternoon in preparations against possible surprise, and also in collecting all the

wounded of both parties into a hospital, which we extemporized out of some huts, and there attending to them

"That evening Every had the first pipe of tobacco that he had tasted for six years. Poor fellow, he nearly cried

with joy over it. The night passed without any sign of attack, and on the following morning we began to see

the effect of our message, for women, children, and a few men came in in little knots, and took possession of

their huts. It was of course rather difficult to prevent our men from looting, and generally going on as natives,

and for the matter of that white men too, are in the habit of doing after a victory. But one man who after

warning was caught maltreating a woman was brought out and killed by Nala's order, and though there was a

"On the second morning the head men and numbers of their followers came in in groups, and about midday a

deputation of the former presented themselves before us without their weapons. They were conquered, they

said, and Wambe was dead, so they came to hear the words of the great lion who had eaten them up, and of

the crafty white man, the jackal, who had dug a hole for them to fall in, and of Maiwa, Lady of War, who had

"So we let them hear the words, and when we had done an old man rose and said, that in the name of the

people he accepted the yoke that was laid upon their shoulders, and that the more gladly because even the

rule of a woman could not be worse than the rule of Wambe. Moreover, they knew Maiwa, the Lady of War,

"Then Nala asked his daughter if she was willing to become chieftainess of the tribe under him.

"Maiwa, who had been very silent since her revenge was accomplished, answered yes, that she was, and that

her rule should be good and gentle to those who were good and gentle to her, but the froward and rebellious

she would smite with a rod of iron; which from my knowledge of her character I thought exceedingly

"The head man replied that that was a good saying, and they did not complain at it, and so the meeting ended.

"Next day we spent in preparations for departure. Mine consisted chiefly in superintending the digging up of

the stockade of ivory tusks, which I did with the greatest satisfaction. There were some five hundred of them

altogether. I made inquiries about it from Every, who told me that the stockade had been there so long that

nobody seemed to know exactly who had collected the tusks originally. There was, however, a kind of

superstitious feeling about them which had always prevented the chiefs from trying to sell this great mass of

ivory. Every and I examined it carefully, and found that although it was so old its quality was really as good

as ever, and there was very little soft ivory in the lot. At first I was rather afraid lest, now that my services

had been rendered, Nala should hesitate to part with so much valuable property, but this was not the case.

When I spoke to him on the subject he merely said, 'Take it, Macumazahn, take it; you have earned it well,'

and, to speak the truth, though I say it who shouldn't, I think I had. So we pressed several hundred Matuku

"Before we went I took a formal farewell of Maiwa, whom we left with a bodyguard of three hundred men to

assist her in settling the country. She gave me her hand to kiss in a queenly sort of way, and then said,

"'Macumazahn, you are a brave man, and have been a friend to me in my need. If ever you want help or

shelter, remember that Maiwa has a good memory for friend and foe. All I have is yours.

"And so I thanked her and went. She was certainly a very remarkable woman. A year or two ago I heard that

her father Nala was dead, and that she had succeeded to the chieftainship of both tribes, which she ruled with

"I can assure you that we ascended the pass leading to Wambe's town with feelings very different from those

with which we had descended it a few days before. But if I was grateful for the issue of events, you can easily

imagine what poor Every's feelings were. When we got to the top of the pass, before the whole impi he

actually flopped down upon his knees and thanked Heaven for his escape, the tears running down his face.

But then, as I have said, his nerves were shakenthough now that his beard was trimmed and he had some

sort of clothes on his back, and hope in his heart, he looked a very different man from the poor wretch whom

"Well, we separated from Nala at the little stairway or pass over the mountainEvery and I and the ivory

going down the river which I had come up a few weeks before, and the chief returning to his own kraal on the

further side of the mountain. He gave us an escort of a hundred and fifty men, however, with instructions to

accompany us for six days' journey, and to keep the Matuku bearers in order and then return. I knew that in

six days we should be able to reach a district where porters were plentiful, and whence we could easily get

"Well no," said Quatermain, "we lost about a third of it in crossing a river. A flood came down suddenly just

as the men were crossing and many of them had to throw down their tusks to save their lives. We had no

means of dragging it up, and so we were obliged to leave it, which was very sad. However, we sold what

remained for nearly seven thousand pounds, so we did not do so badly. I don't mean that I got seven thousand

pounds out of it, because, you see, I insisted upon Every taking a half share. Poor fellow, he had earned it, if

ever a man did. He set up a store in the old colony on the proceeds and did uncommonly well."

"Oh, I brought that away with me also, and when I reached Durban I put it in my house. But really I could not

bear to sit opposite to it at nights as I smoked. Visions of that poor woman and the hand of her dead child

would rise up in my mind, and also of all the horrors of which it had been the instrument. I began to dream at

last that it held me by the leg. This was too much for my nerves, so I just packed it up and shipped it to its

maker in England, whose name was stamped upon the steel, sending him a letter at the same time to tell him

to what purpose the infernal machine had been put. I believe that he gave it to some museum or other."

"And what became of the tusks of the three bulls which you shot! You must have left them at Nala's kraal, I

"Ah," he said, "that is a very sad story. Nala promised to send them with my goods to my agent at Delagoa,

and so he did. But the men who brought them were unarmed, and, as it happened, they fell in with a slave

caravan under the command of a halfbred Portuguese, who seized the tusks, and what is worse, swore that

he had shot them. I paid him out afterwards, however," he added with a smile of satisfaction, "but it did not

give me back my tusks, which no doubt have been turned into hair brushes long ago;" and he sighed.

"But I don't think that it was so good as mine about the ibexit hasn't the same finish."

"Do you know, gentlemen," he said, "it is halfpast two in the morning, and if we are going to shoot the big

"Oh, if you shoot for a hundred years you will never beat the record of those three W.s," I said.

And then we all went to bed, and I dreamed that I had married Maiwa, and was much afraid of that attractive