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bewitch the headman.
"Peace," I said, for I feared that blood would be shed. "Peace, and

let me see if my snake will tell me where the cattle are."
"You are nothing but a boy," answered the headman. "Can a boy have

wisdom?"
"That shall soon be known," I said, taking the bones in my hand.[1]

[1] The Kafir witch-doctors use the knuckle-bones of animals in their
magic rites, throwing them something as we throw dice.--ED.

"Leave the bones alone!" screamed Noma. "We will ask nothing more of
our snakes for the good of this son of a dog."

"He shall throw the bones," answered the headman. "If you try to stop
him, I will let sunshine through you with my assegai." And he lifted

his spear.
Then I made haste to begin; I threw the bones. The headman sat on the

ground before me and answered my questions. You know of these matters,
my father--how sometimes the witch-doctor has knowledge of where the

lost things are, for our ears are long, and sometimes his Ehlose tells
him, as but the other day it told me of your oxen. Well, in this case,

my snake stood up. I knew nothing of the man's cattle, but my Spirit
was with me and soon I saw them all, and told them to him one by one,

their colour, their age--everything. I told him, too, where they were,
and how one of them had fallen into a stream and lay there on its back

drowned, with its forefoot caught in a forked root. As my Ehlose told
me so I told the headman.

Now, the man was pleased, and said that if my sight was good, and he
found the cattle, the gifts should be taken from Noma and given to me;

and he asked the people who were sitting round, and there were many,
if this was not just. "Yes, yes," they said, it was just, and they

would see that it was done. But Noma sat still and looked at me
evilly. He knew that I had made a true divination, and he was very

angry. It was a big matter: the herd of cattle were many, and, if they
were found where I had said, then all men would think me the greater

wizard. Now it was late, and the moon had not yet risen, therefore the
headman said that he would sleep that night in our kraal, and at the

first light would go with me to the spot where I said the cattle were.
After that he went away.

I too went into my hut and lay down to sleep. Suddenly I awoke,
feeling a weight upon my breast. I tried to start up, but something

cold pricked my throat. I fell back again and looked. The door of the
hut was open, the moon lay low on the sky like a ball of fire far

away. I could see it through the door, and its light crept into the
hut. It fell upon the face of Noma the witch-doctor. He was seated

across me, glaring at me with his one eye, and in his hand was a
knife. It was that which I had felt prick my throat.

"You whelp whom I have bred up to tear me!" he hissed into my ear,
"you dared to divine where I failed, did you? Very well, now I will

show you how I serve such puppies. First, I will pierce through the
root of your tongue, so that you cannot squeal, then I will cut you to

pieces slowly, bit by bit, and in the morning I will tell the people
that the spirits did it because you lied. Next, I will take off your

arms and legs. Yes, yes, I will make you like a stick! Then I will"--
and he began driving in the knife under my chin.

"Mercy, my uncle," I said, for I was frightened and the knife hurt.
"Have mercy, and I will do whatever you wish!"

"Will you do this?" he asked, still pricking me with the knife. "Will
you get up, go to find the dog's cattle and drive them to a certain

place, and hide them there?" And he named a secret valley that was
known to very few. "If you do that, I will spare you and give you

three of the cows. If you refuse or play my false, then, by my
father's spirit, I will find a way to kill you!"

"Certainly I will do it, my uncle," I answered. "Why did you not trust
me before? Had I known that you wanted to keep the cattle, I would

never have smelt them out. I only did so fearing lest you should lose
the presents."

"You are not so wicked as I thought," he growled. "Get up, then, and
do my bidding. You can be back here two hours after dawn."

So I got up, thinking all the while whether I should try to spring on
him. But I was without arms, and he had the knife; also if, by chance,

I prevailed and killed him, it would have been thought that I had
murdered him, and I should have tasted the assegai. So I made another

plan. I would go and find the cattle in the valley where I had smelt
them out, but I would not bring them to the secret hiding-place. No; I

would drive them straight to the kraal, and denounce Noma before the
chief, my father, and all the people. But I was young in those days,

and did not know the heart of Noma. He had not been a witch-doctor
till he grew old for nothing. Oh! he was evil!--he was cunning as a

jackal, and fierce like a lion.. He had planted me by him like a tree,
but he meant to keep me clipped like a bush. Now I had grown tall and

overshadowed him; therefore he would root me up.
I went to the corner of my hut, Noma watching me all the while, and

took a kerrie and my small shield. Then I started through the
moonlight. Till I was past the kraal I glided along quietly as a

shadow. After that, I began to run, singing to myself as I went, to
frighten away the ghosts, my father.

For an hour I travelled swiftly over the plain, till I came to the
hillside where the bush began. Here it was very dark under the shade

of the trees, and I sang louder than ever. At last I found the little
buffalo path I sought, and turned along it. Presently I came to an

open place, where the moonlight crept in between the trees. I knelt
down and looked. Yes! my snake had not lied to me; there was the spoor

of the cattle. Then I went on gladly till I reached a dell through
which the water ran softly, sometimes whispering and sometimes talking

out loud. Here the trail of the cattle was broad: they had broken down
the ferns with their feet and trampled the grass. Presently I came to

a pool. I knew it--it was the pool my snake had shown me. And there at
the edge of the pool floated the drowned ox, its foot caught in a

forked root. All was just as I had seen it in my heart.
I stepped forward and looked round. My eye caught something; it was

the faint grey light of the dawn glinted on the cattle's horns. As I
looked, one of them snorted, rose and shook the dew from his hide. He

seemed big as an elephant in the mist and twilight.
Then I collected them all--there were seventeen--and drove them before

me down the narrow path back towards the kraal. Now the daylight came
quickly, and the sun had been up an hour when I reached the spot where

I must turn if I wished to hide the cattle in the secret place, as
Noma had bid me. But I would not do this. No, I would go on to the

kraal with them, and tell all men that Noma was a thief. Still, I sat
down and rested awhile, for I was tired. As I sat, I heard a noise,

and looked up. There, over the slope of the rise, came a crowd of men,
and leading them was Noma, and by his side the headman who owned the

cattle. I rose and stood still, wondering; but as I stood, they ran
towards me shouting and waving sticks and spears.

"There he is!" screamed Noma. "There he is!--the clever boy whom I
have brought up to bring shame on me. What did I tell you? Did I not

tell you that he was a thief? Yes--yes! I know your tricks, Mopo, my
child! See! he is stealing the cattle! He knew where they were all the

time, and now he is taking them away to hide them. They would be
useful to buy a wife with, would they not, my clever boy?" And he made

a rush at me, with his stick lifted, and after him came the headman,
grunting with rage.

I understood now, my father. My heart went mad in me, everything began
to swim round, a red cloth seemed to lift itself up and down before my

eyes. I have always seen it thus when I was forced to fight. I
screamed out one word only, "Liar!" and ran to meet him. On came Noma.

He struck at me with his stick, but I caught the blow upon my little
shield, and hit back. Wow! I did hit! The skull of Noma met my kerrie,

and down he fell dead at my feet. I yelled again, and rushed on at the
headman. He threw an assegai, but it missed me, and next second I hit

him too. He got up his shield, but I knocked it down upon his head,
and over he rolled senseless. Whether he lived or died I do not know,

my father; but his head being of the thickest, I think it likely that
he lived. Then, while the people stood astonished, I turned and fled

like the wind. They turned too, and ran after me, throwing spears at
me and trying to cut me off. But none of them could catch me--no, not

one. I went like the wind; I went like a buck when the dogs wake it
from sleep; and presently the sound of their chase grew fainter and

fainter, till at last I was out of sight and alone.
CHAPTER III

MOPO VENTURES HOME
I threw myself down on the grass and panted till my breath came back;

then I went and hid in a patch of reeds down by a swamp. All day long
I lay there thinking. What was I to do? Now I was a jackal without a

hole. If I went back to my people, certainly they would kill me, whom
they thought a thief. My blood would be given for Noma's, and that I

did not wish, though my heart was sad. Then there came into my mind
the thought of Chaka, the boy to whom I had given the cup of water

long ago. I had heard of him: his name was known in the land; already
the air was big with it; the very trees and grass spoke it. The words

he had said and the vision that my mother had seen were beginning to
come true. By the help of the Umtetwas he had taken the place of his

father Senzangacona; he had driven out the tribe of the Amaquabe; now
he made war on Zweete, chief of the Endwande, and he had sworn that he

would stamp the Endwande flat, so that nobody could find them any
more. Now I remembered how this Chaka promised that he would make me

great, and that I should grow fat in his shadow; and I thought to
myself that I would arise and go to him. Perhaps he would kill me;

well, what did it matter? Certainly I should be killed if I stayed
ehre. Yes, I would go. But now my heart pulled another way. There was

but one whom I loved in the world--it was my sister Baleka. My father
had betrothed her to the chief of a neighbouring tribe, but I knew

that this marriage was against her wish. Perhaps my sister would run
away with me if I could get near her to tell her that I was going. I

would try--yes, I would try.
I waited till the darkness came down, then I rose from my bed of weeds

and crept like a jackal towards the kraal. In the mealie gardens I
stopped awhile, for I was very hungry, and filled myself with the

half-ripe mealies. Then I went on till I came to the kraal. Some of my
people were seated outside of a hut, talking together over a fire. I

crept near, silently as a snake, and hid behind a little bush. I knew
that they could not see me outside the ring of the firelight, and I

wanted to hear what they said. As I guessed, they were talking of me
and called me many names. They said that I should bring ill-luck on

the tribe by having killed so great a witch-doctor as Noma; also that
the people of the headman would demand payment for the assault on him.

I learned, moreover, that my father had ordered out all the men of the
tribe to hunt for me on the morrow and to kill me wherever they found

me. "Ah!" I thought, "you may hunt, but you will bring nothing home to
the pot." Just then a dog that was lying by the fire got up and began

to sniff the air. I could not see what dog it was--indeed, I had
forgotten all about the dogs when I drew near the kraal; that is what

comes of want of experience, my father. The dog sniffed and sniffed,
then he began to growl, looking always my way, and I grew afraid.

"What is the dog growling at?" said one man to another. "Go and see."
But the other man was taking snuff and did not like to move. "Let the

dog go and see for himself," he answered, sneezing, "what is the good
of keeping a dog if you have to catch the thief?"

"Go on, then," said the first man to the dog. And he ran forward,
barking. Then I saw him: it was my own dog, Koos, a very good dog.

Presently, as I lay not knowing what to do, he smelt my smell, stopped
barking, and running round the bush he found me and began to lick my

face. "Be quiet, Koos!" I whispered to him. And he lay down by my
side.

"Where has that dog gone now?" said the first man. "Is he bewitched,
that he stops barking suddenly and does not come back?"

"We will see," said the other, rising, a spear in his hand.
Now once more I was terribly afraid, for I thought that they would

catch me, or I must run for my life again. But as I sprang up to run,
a big black snake glided between the men and went off towards the

huts. They jumped aside in a great fright, then all of them turned to
follow the snake, saying that this was what the dog was barking at.

That was my good Ehlose, my father, which without any doubt took the


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