I made no reply, and the old man retired.
Next morning he appeared bringing me a present, and
I made him one in return. There was not much trading
to be done, as the prices his people asked for beasts were
simply ridiculous. However, grain could be bought at
a fair rate for beads. Umsuazi took no great interest
in any of my affairs, except my firearms, and was
disagreeable in general. My men were much afraid of
him, and said he would send us away, if he did no worse.
On the second morning some women had appeared to sell
us maize, when all of a sudden the. chief appeared,
storming and swearing. He was foaming at the mouth,
and evidently drunk. He drove the women away with
a stick, approached my camp, and then suddenly went
off again swearing. In the afternoon he sent to say I
had better go back whence I came, which added to the
terror of my men. The next morning he appeared and
did not greet me, only stared at me in silence, which is
a great insult among the natives, f told him to go away,
which he did, but again sent to say he would not let rne
go further. Without troubling myself about his ravings
I made my preparations to go on. At the moment when
I was inspanning he appeared again, accompanied by
about a dozen men with assegais. He looked at me;
r looked at him. Seeing that I would not speak first,
he said to me:
“ What did you say ? ”
“ Nothing,” I replied ; “ did you say anything?”
He then turned to my men and threatened to kill them
if they followed me. They translated his threats to me,
and I made them tell him that if he had anything to say
he had better say it to me and not to my slaves. I had
had enough of his foolishness, I said, and was decided
to go on. If he did not want me to, he had better stop
me.
“ Where are you going ? ” he. asked.
“ I am going to the next village.” .
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“ Noj you won’t.”
“ Who will prevent me ? ”
“ I shall prevent you” ; and thereupon he called his
escort.
“ Now, look here, my friend,” I said, losing my temper,
“ no nonsense. I am going, and you won’t stop me.” At
the same time I seized my gun, and, seeing two birds
in a tree about a hundred yards off, I aimed at them.
The gun went off by accident, and to my amazement
the two birds dropped dead, cut in two by my express
bullet. .
“ You see,” I said, seizing the opportunity, “ that is how
■ I can shoot. So you needn’t try to stop me.”
The old chief responded that I was a bad man, that
he would send messengers to Lo Ben, who would send
an impi to kill-me. Knowing that I should be out of
the country before the messengers could reach Lo Ben,
I went on. He sent some armed men after us ; I
pretended to take no notice of them, and they soon
disappeared.
We trekked through a forest, and soon I noticed that
my leader was- guiding the oxen in such a way as to make
a circle and to come back on bur steps. I told him that it
was no use trying that game on me, and I marched
myself ahead of the waggon, following a footpath leading
to the north-west. Towards evening we passed a village,
where the people were most friendly ; they informed me
that in a day s march I would get to Matamdumba’s kraal,
thè residence of the biggest local chief. We camped that
night near a river. The next morning, after trekking for
five hours, we found the footpath obstructed by a huge
tree quite recently felled. With much difficulty we
removed it, but soon came across fresh obstructions. I
heard afterwards that Umsuazi had sent messengers ahead
to warn the various chiefs to stop me.
In the evening, however, we reached Matamdumba’s
kraal. My guide had bolted, afraid of Umsuazi’s threats ;
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