in all likelihood thinking that when I was writing his
name I was merely consulting my spirit as to the advisability
of accepting his services.* Before he had gone fifty
yards, the whole transaction was obliterated from his erratic
mind.
He would wander off and meet a friend who, after a snuff,
would inquire if he had seen the white man. On receiving
an emphatic reply in the negative, they would return to me
in company; the man I had just arranged with coming up
unabashed as a distinctly new man; and, looking as though
he had never seen me before in his lifetime, he would ask
for quite a different and a fresh lot of things, thus upsetting
all the former agreement which I had written against his
name, for I was especially careful not to give anything away
until all was in readiness for an immediate start. I t seems
to be indispensable that the natives should get presents.
In fact they must get them, or they will do nothing; and
even afterwards they must have promises of other donations
to follow.
Sometimes it would seem quite hopeless to try and do
anything with such volatile and insensate beings. Any
number of them were ready to go on a hunt for meat; but
the fact of being required as carriers seemed to be utterly
beyond their comprehension. Sadly perplexed by such
troubles, I turned round to look for John, especially as I
was coming to terms with an unusually tractable black.
Where was he? Certainly nowhere within the range of
vision; but, after looking about for some time, I found him
behind a rock, in company with the higher ape and
Sagwam, melting down elephant’s fat, and at the same
* The natives have not the slightest idea of the meaning of writing.
So far as I can make out, they fancy that the white man discovers everything
in his papers, and these he finds “ ready made.”
OLD TAR OMAN AO A IN ! 113
time busily chewing the gristly bits, that would not liquefy
into a money-getting commodity.
“ What are you doing, John ? ”
“ I melt de fat of de olifant, master, to take back when I
go home. Dar is man in Natal, dat give me one pound for
de small cup full.”
Hurriedly taking the melter away from his absorbing
occupation, I ran back with him to the place where stood
the hesitating recruit, who had just been on the eve of
accepting the bounty. He was gone !
Where was Karemba ? There he was dancing with a group
of brother Mashona, who keep time as he deftly touches
the iron keys of the native piano; for Karemba was budding
out, and here he unexpectedly turned up as a musician of
note among his own feather.
Amidst all this confusion and distraction, the reader may
imagine how difficult a matter it was to keep the temper
within the bounds of reason. And yet, just as I was
struggling against the formidable flood of annoyances,
another provocation to wrath made its appearance in the
person of the long lost and incorrigible old scoundrel
Taroman, whom we had not seen since he had sent the
prairie fire careering after us to accomplish our destruction.
In my present state of worrying excitement I could have
annihilated the fellow; and yet there he stood, grinning
from ear to ear, and calmly saying that he would “ like a
blanket! ”
Words cannot express the wildness of my feelings at this
particular moment. Without egotism I can repeat the
oft spoken simile that compared to my outward resignation
Job’s patience was not a circumstance. The patriarch
would have gone “ bald crazy” had he been similarly
situated. More than once I felt inclined to retire and have
v o l . i. x