By this time I was thoroughly awake and had arisen from my blankets.
Throwing a kaross over my shoulders, I left the hut, made of boughs,
in which I was sleeping and walked a few paces to the crest of a rocky
ridge, whence I could see the dry vlei below. Here the mists of dawn
still clung, but from it rose sounds of grunts, bellows and tramplings
which I, an old hunter, could not mistake. Evidently a herd of buffalo,
one or two hundred of them, had established themselves in those reeds.
Just then my bastard servant, Scowl, and Saduko joined us, both of them
full of excitement.
It appeared that Scowl, who never seemed to sleep at any natural time,
had seen the buffalo entering the reeds, and estimated their number at
two or three hundred. Saduko had examined the cleft through which they
passed, and reported it to be so narrow that we could kill any number of
them as they rushed out to escape.
"Quite so. I understand," I said. "Well, my opinion is that we had
better let them escape. Only four of us, counting Umbezi, are armed with
guns, and assegais are not of much use against buffalo. Let them go, I
say."
Umbezi, thinking of a cheap raw material for the shields which had been
requisitioned by the King, who would surely be pleased if they were made
of such a rare and tough hide as that of buffalo, protested
violently, and Saduko, either to please one whom he hoped might be his
father-in-law or from sheer love of sport, for which he always had a
positive passion, backed him up. Only Scowl--whose dash of Hottentot
blood made him cunning and cautious--took my side, pointing out that we
were very short of powder and that buffalo "ate up much lead." At last
Saduko said: "The lord Macumazana is our captain; we must obey him, although it is a
pity. But doubtless the prophesying of Zikali weighs upon his mind, so
there is nothing to be done."
"Zikali!" exclaimed Umbezi. "What has the old dwarf to do with this
matter?"
"Never mind what he has or has not to do with it," I broke in, for
although I do not think that he meant them as a taunt, but merely as a
statement of fact, Saduko's words stung me to the quick, especially as
my conscience told me that they were not altogether without foundation.
"We will try to kill some of these buffalo," I went on, "although,
unless the herd should get bogged, which is not likely, as the swamp is
very dry, I do not think that we can hope for more than eight or ten at
the most, which won't be of much use for shields. Come, let us make a
plan. We have no time to lose, for I think they will begin to move again
before the sun is well up."