After being seated for some time, tbe headman of my
Landin escort conveyed me to a hut, which by all appearances
had not been occupied for some time.
One of the six men who had accompanied me had
disappeared at an early period of our march. He was now
seen approaching accompanied hy a number of men armed
with clubs and shields. They sat around and seemed to be
in earnest conversation with the headman and people of the
village.
I took up a position outside the hut set apart for me,
and sat musing and speculating upon the probable upshot
of all this palaver. In no very cheerful mood, I remained
here until the evening star had jsunk, and the southern
cross uprose in the star-jewelled firmament, and, touching
its zenith, went on its endless empyrean way.
Wearied with looking at the passers-by, I at length
retired to the den, a turmoil of voices in high dispute
seeming to follow me in my dreams. Twice I was awakened
by a man trying to close the grass-formed door of the h u t;
but on both occasions I shoved it down again.
E a ts ! ra ts ! rats ! What a high revel they held! Again
my abode. was alive with these detestable tenants of the
damp dungeon and the drain. The small umbrella which,
by advice, I had procured at Tette as a means of protection
against the fierce rays of the sun, was here found
useful for another purpose. I put it over my head as
a shelter, because the vermin in the straw-thatch roof
continued to send down straw, sticks and mud, until they
sounded like hail upon my gingham, only it was a hail
of dirt.
Sleep, as may be imagined, came only in snatches. I
fairly shudder at the memory of the horrors of that hideous
night. I did not know whether I could effect a start on the
following day. Surely I could never spend another night
there.
I thought of the miserable nights I had spent at Chi-
binga, but the new state of affairs beat them to shivers.
What did that man want at the door? My mind was
tortured, my body was fatigued, and my inside seemed torn
with the bad food, consisting of half-husked rice which
formed my only sustenance. I copy from my pocket-
journal, written about that time: “ Such is the life of an
explorer who sets out without great resources! ”
In course of time I became so restless that I went out of
the hut for a change, and to take a look about. The pale
moon cast clear shadows upon the footworn streets, pencilling
with its truthful beams the numerous forms of hut and
hovel, and the shaggy lines of rough fence and straw-
thatched roof.
Again I saw the figure of the man. The thought that
occurred to me was that he had been placed there to
Watch the movements of the strange being who had visited
them.
There was something dramatic in the appearance of this
ghostly visitant. Dreaming and waking, the sight of him
haunted me like a “ familiar,” and aroused ogreish thoughts.
His figure appeared grim and gaunt, shadowed upon the
glimmering street.
Imagination being fevered, I could fancy him saying:
Shadow of the departed, whose material form has been
dead a thousand years; white rover of the desert, why come
you alone into the land of the black man, to stop the rain
and poison the earth ? Away! Away!. back to your den,
and keep to yourself the baneful influence of your evil
spirits who dance to the rattle of dead men’s bones! ”
“ Demon of a legendless ra c e ! ” I thought. “ What
h 2