 Chapter 4 of She and Alan. Reading by Lars Rolander. She and Alan by H. Rider Haggard. Chapter 4. The Lion and the Axe. Next day early I left the town of the people of the Axe, having been a formal for well-tuned Slopogas, saying in a voice that all could hear, that as the rivers were still flooded, I proposed to trick to the northern parts of Sululand and trade there until the weather was better. Our private arrangement however was that on the night of the next full moon, which happened about four weeks later, we should meet at the eastern foot of a certain great flat-top mountain known to both of us, which stands to the north of Sululand, but well beyond its borders. So northward I trekked, slowly to spare my oxen, trading as I went. The details do not matter, but as it happened I met with more luck upon that journey than had come my way for many a long year. Although I worked on credit since nearly all my goods were sold, as owing to my repute I could always do in Sululand. I made some excellent bargains in cattle, and to top up with, bought a large lot of ivory so cheap, that really I think it must have been stolen. All of this, cattle and ivory together, I sent to Natal in charge of a white friend of mine whom I could trust, where the stuff was sold very well indeed, and the proceeds paid to my account, the trade equivalents being duly remitted to the native vendors. In fact my good fortune was such that if I had been superstitious like Hans, I should have been inclined to attribute it to the influence of Cicale's great medicine. As it was I knew it to be one of the chances of a trader's life, and accepted it with a shrug as often as I had been accustomed to do, in the alternative of losses. Only one untoward incident happened to me. Of a sudden party of the king's soldiers under the command of a well-known Induna, or counselor, arrived, and insisted upon searching my wagon, as I thought at first in connection with that cheap lot of ivory which had already departed to Natal. However, never a word did they say of ivory, nor indeed was a single thing belonging to me taken by them. I was very indignant and expressed my feelings to the Induna in no measured terms. Here on his part was most apologetic and explained that what he did he was obliged to do by the king's orders. Also he let it slip that he was seeking for a certain evil doer who it was thought might be with me without my knowing his real character and as this evil doer whose name he would not mention was a very fierce man it had been necessary to bring a strong guard with him. Now I bethought me of umslupogas but merely looked blank and shrugged my shoulders saying that I was not in the habit of consorting with evil doers. Still unsatisfied, the Induna questioned me as to the places where I had been during this journey of mine in the Suluk country. I told him with the utmost frankness mentioning among others because I was sure that already he knew all my movements well the town or the people of the axe. Then he asked me if I had seen its chief a certain umslupogas or bolalio. I answered yes that I had met him there for the first time and thought him a very remarkable man. With this the Induna agreed emphatically saying that perhaps I did not know how remarkable. Next he asked me where he was now to which I replied that I had not the faintest idea what I presumed in his cruel where I had left him. The Induna explained that he was not in his cruel that he had gone away leaving one looster and his own head wife Monasi to administer the chieftainship for a while because as he stated he wished to make a journey. I joined as if wary of the subject of this chief and indeed of the whole business. Then the Induna said that I must come to the king and repeat to him all the words that I had spoken. I replied that I could not possibly do so as having finished my trading I had arranged to go north to shoot elephants. He answered that elephants lived a long while and would not die while I was visiting the king. Then followed an argument which grew heated and ended in his declaring that to the king I must come even if he had to take me there by force. I sat silent wondering what to say or do and lent forward to pick a piece of wood out of the fire wherewith to light my pipe. Now my shirt was not buttoned and as a chance this action caused the ivory image of Sicali that hung about my neck to appear between its edges. The Induna saw it and his eyes grew big with fear. Hide that! he whispered. Hide that! lest it should bewitch me. Indeed already I feel as though I were being bewitched. It is the great medicine itself. That will certainly happen to you, I said yawning again. If you insist upon my taking a week's trek to visit the black one or interfere with me in any way, now or afterwards, and I lifted my hand towards the talisman looking him steadily in the face. Perhaps after all, Marco Maasan, it is not necessary for you to visit the king, he said in an uncertain voice. I will go and make report to him that you know nothing of this evil doer. And he went in such a hurry that he never waited to say goodbye. Next morning, before the dawn, I went also and trekked steadily until I was clear of Zululand. In due course and without accident, for the weather, which had been so wet, had now turned beautifully fine and dry, we came to the great flat-topped hill that I have mentioned, trekking thither over a high sparsely-timbered weld that offered few difficulties to the wagon. This peculiar hill, known to such natives lived in those parts by a long word that means hut with a flat roof is surrounded by forest, for here trees grow wonderfully well, perhaps because of the water that flows from its slopes. Forcing our way through this forest, which was full of game, I reached its eastern foot and there camped five days before that night of full moan on which I had arranged to meet Umslopogas. That I should meet him, I did not in the least believe. Firstly, because I thought it very probable that he would have changed his mind about coming, and secondly for the excellent reason that I expected he had gone to call upon the king against his will, as I had been asked to do. It was evident to me that he was up to his eyes in some serious plot against Setivio, in which he was the old Worf's Sicalis partner, or rather tool, also that his plot had been betrayed by the result that he was wanted and would have little chance of passing safely through Sululand. So, taking one thing with another, I imagined that I had seen his grim face and his peculiar ancient looking acts for the last time. To tell the truth, I was glad. Although at first the idea had appealed to me a little, I did not want to make this wild goose or wild witch chase through unknown lands to seek for a totally fabulous person who dwelt far across the Sambesi. I had, as it were, been forced into the thing, but if Umslopogas did not appear, my obligations would be at an end and I should return to Natal at my leisure. First, however, I would do a little shooting since I found that a large herd of elephants haunted this forest. Indeed, I was tempted to attack them at once, but did not do so since, as Hans pointed out, if we were going north it would be difficult to carry the ivory, especially if we had to leave the wagon, and I was too old a hunter to desire to kill the great beasts for the fun of the thing. So, I just sat down and rested, letting the oxen feed throughout the hours a light on the rich grasses which grew upon the bottom-most slopes of the big mountain, where we were camped by a stream not more than a hundred yards above the timberline. At some time or other there had been a native village at this spot. Probably the Sulus had cleaned it out in long past years, for I found human bones black with age lying in the long grass. Indeed, the cattle-crawl still remained and in such good condition that my piling up a few stones here and there on the walls and closing the narrow entrances with thorn bushes, we could still use it to enclose our oxen at night. This I did for fear lest there should be lions about, though I had neither seen nor heard them. So the days went by pleasantly enough, with lots to eat, since whenever we wanted meat, I had only to go a few yards to shoot a fat buck at a spot whether they trekked to drink in the evening, till at last came the time of full moon. Of this I was also glad, since, to tell the truth, I had begun to be bored. Rest is good, but for a man who has always led an active life too much of it is very bad, for then he begins to think and thought in large doses is depressing. Of the fire-reading umsluporgas there was no sign, so I made up my mind that on the morrow I would start after those elephants, and when I had shot or failed to shoot some of them returned to Natal. I felt unable to remain idle any more. It never was my gift to do so, which is perhaps why I employ my ample leisure here in England in jotting down such reminiscences as these. Well, the full moon came up in silver glory, and after I had taken a good look at her for luck also at all the velled within sight, I turned in. An hour or two later some noise from the direction of the cattle-crawl worked me up. As it did not recur, I thought that I would go to sleep again. Then an uneasy thought came to me that I could not remember having looked to see whether the entrance was properly closed, as it was my habit to do. It was the same sort of troublesome doubt which in a civilized house makes a man get out of bed and go along the cold passages to the sitting-room to see whether he has put out the lamp. It always proves that he has put it out, but that does not prevent a repetition of the performance next time the perplexity arises. I reflected that perhaps the noise was caused by the oxen pushing their way through the carelessly closed entrance and at any rate that I had better go to see. So I slept on my boots and a coat and went without waking hands or the boys, only taking with me a loaded single-barred rifle which I used for shooting small buck but no spare cartridges. Now in front of the gateway of the cattle-crawl, shading it, grew a single big tree of the wild fig order. Passing under this tree I looked and saw that the gateway was quite securely closed as now I remembered I had noted at sunset. Then I started to go back but had not stepped more than two or three paces when in the bright moonlight I saw the head of my smallest ox, a beast of the Sula breed, suddenly appear over the top of the wall. About this there would have been nothing particularly astonishing had it not been for the fact that his head belonged to a dead animal as I could tell from the closed eyes and the hanging tongue. What in the name of goodness I began to myself when my reflections were cut short by the appearance of another head that of one of the biggest lions I ever saw which had the ox by the throat and with the enormous strength that is given to these creatures by getting its back beneath the body was deliberately hoisting it over the wall to drag it away to devour at its leisure. There was the brute within twelve feet of me and what is more it saw me as I saw it and stopped still holding the ox by the throat. What a chance for Alan Quatermain! Of course he shot it dead. One can fancy anyone saying who knows me by repute also that by the gift of God I am handy with a rifle. Well indeed it should have been for even with a small ball piece that I carried a bullet ought to have pierced through the soft parts of its throat to the brain and to have killed that lion as dead as Julius Caesar. Theoretically the thing was easy enough indeed although I was startled for a moment by the time that I had the rifle onto my shoulder I had little fear of the issue unless there was a misfire especially as the beast seemed so astonished that it remained quite still. Then the unexpected happened as generally it does in life particularly in hunting which in my case is a part of life I fired but by misfortune the bullet struck the tip of the horn of that confounded ox which tip either was or at that moment fell in front of the spot of the lion's throat where it half unconsciously I had aimed. Result? The ball was turned and departing at an angle just cut the skin of the lion's neck deeply enough to hurt it very much and to make it madder than all the hatters in the world. Dropping the ox with the most terrific roar it came over the wall at me. I remembered that there seemed to be yards of it I mean of the lion in front of which appeared a cavernous mouth full of gleaming teeth. I skipped back with much agility also a little to one side because there was nothing else to do reflecting in a kind of inconsequent way that after all Sicalis great medicine was not worth a curse. The lion landed on my side of the wall and reared itself upon its hind legs before getting to business towering high above me but slightly to my left. Then I saw a strange thing a shadow thrown by the moon flitted past me all I noted of it was the distorted shape of a great lifted axe probably because the axe came first the shadow fell and with it another shadow that of a lion's paw dropping to the ground. Next there was a most awful noise of roaring and wheeling round I saw such a fray as never I shall see again a tall green black man was fighting the great lion that now lacked one paw but still stood upon its hind legs striking at him with the other. The man who was absolutely silent dodged the blow and hit back with the axe catching the beast upon the breast with such weight that it came to the ground in a loop-sided fashion since now it had only one forefoot on which to light. The axe flashed up again and before the lion could recover itself or do anything else fell with a crash upon its skull sinking deep into the head after this all was over for the beast's brain was cut in two. I am here at the point of time, Mark Masan said Umslopogas, for it was he as with difficulty he dragged his axe from the lion's severed skull to find you watching by night as it is reported that you always do. No, I retorted for his tone irritated me. You are late, Bulaglio. The moon has been up some hours. I said, oh, Mark Masan, that I would meet you on the night of the full moon not at the rising of the moon. That is true, I replied mollified and at any rate you came at a good moment. Yes, he answered, though as it happens in this clear light the thing was easy to anyone who can handle an axe. Had it been darker, the end might have been different. But, Mark Masan, you are not so clever as I thought since otherwise you would not have come out against the lion with a toy like that and he pointed to the little rifle in my hand. I did not know that there was a lion Umslopogas. That is why you are not so clever as I thought since of one sort or another there is always a lion which wise men should be prepared to meet Mark Masan. You are right again, I replied. At that moment Hans arrived upon the scene followed at a discrete distance by the wagon boys and took in the situation at a glance. The great medicine of the Opner or Rhodes has worked well was all he said. The great medicine of the Opner or Heads has worked better remarked Umslopogas with a little laugh and pointed to his red axe. Never before since she came into my keeping has Incoci cars, that is Chief Tennis for so was this famous weapon named, going so low as to drink the blood of beasts. Still the stroke was a good one so she need not be shamed. But, jello man, how comes it that you who I have been told are cunning watch your master so ill? I was asleep, started Hans indignantly. Those who serve should never sleep, replied Umslopogas sternly. Then he turned and whistled and behold to the long grass that grew at a little distance emerged twelve great men all of them bearing axes and wearing cloaks of hyena skins who saluted me by racing their axes. Set a watch and skin me this piece by dawn. It will make us a mat, said Umslopogas, whereon again they saluted silently and melted away. Who are these? I asked. A few picked warriors whom I brought with me Makumasan. There were one or two more but they got lost on the way. Then we went to the wagon and spoke no more that night. Next morning I told Umslopogas of the visit I had received from the Induna of the king who wished me to come to the royal crown. He nodded and said, As it chances certain thieves attacked me on my journey which is why one or two of my people remain behind who will never travel again. We made good play with those thieves. Not one of them escaped, he added grimly and their bodies we threw into a river where are many crocodiles but their spears I brought away and I think they are such as the king's guard use. If so, his search for them will be long since the fight took place where no man lives and we burned the shields and trappings. Oh-ho, he will think that the goats have taken them. That morning we trekked on fast fearing lest the regiment searching for these thieves should strike and follow our spore. Luckily the ox that the lion had killed was one of some spare cattle which I was driving with me so its loss did not inconvenience us. As we went Umslopogas told me that he had duly appointed Lusta and his wife Monasi to rule the tribe during his absence an office which they accepted doubtfully Monasi acting as chief Tennis and Lusta as her head in Duna or counselor. I asked him whether he thought this wise under all the circumstances seeing that it had occurred to me since I made the suggestion that they might be unwilling to surrender power on his return also that other domestic complications might ensure. It matters little, Magumazan, he said with a shrug of his great shoulders. For of this I am sure that I have played my part with the people of the axe and to stop among them would have meant my death. Who am a man betrayed? What do I care who love none and now have no children? Still it is true that I might have fled to Natal with a cattle and there have led a fat and easy life but ease and plenty I do not desire would live and fall as a warrior should. Never again may I shall I see the ghost mountain where the wolves raven and the old witch sits in stone waiting for the world to die or sleep in the town of the people of the axe. What do I want with wives and oxen while I have Inconceikas, the ground maker and she is true to me? He added, shaking the ancient axe above his head so that the sun gleamed upon the curd-blade and the hollow gouche or point at the back beyond the shaft socket. Where the axe goes there go the strength and virtue of the axe, O Makumasan. It is a strange weapon, I said. I, a strange and an old, forged far away, says Sikali by a warrior viscered hundreds of years ago. A great fighter who was also the first of Smith's and who sits in the underworld waiting for it to return to his hand when his work is finished beneath the sun. That will be soon, Makumasan, since Sikali told me that I am the last holder of the axe. Did you then see the opener of Rhodes, I asked. I, I saw him. He, it was, who told me which way to go to escape from Sulaland. Also, he laughed when he heard how the flooded rivers brought you to Mykral and sent you a message in which he said that the spirit of a snake had told him that you tried to throw the great medicine into a pool but were stopped by that snake whilst it was still alive. This, he said, you must do no more lest you should send another snake to stop you. Did he, I replied indignantly, for Sikali's power of seeing or learning about things that happened at a distance puzzled and annoyed me. Only hands grinned and said, I told you so bias, on we travelled from day to day meeting with such difficulties and dangers as are common on roadless weld in Africa. But no more for the grass was good and there was plenty of game of which we shot what we wanted for meat. Indeed, here in the back regions of what is known as Portuguese South East Africa every sort of wild animal was so numerous that personally I wished we could turn our journey into a shooting expedition. But of this Amslupugas whom hunting bored could not hear. In fact, he was much more anxious than myself to carry out our original purpose. When I asked him why he answered because of something Sikali had told him. This was, he would not say, except that in the country with the we wondered he would fight a great fight and win much honour. Now, Amslupugas was by nature a fighting man, one who took a positive joy in battle and like an old Norseman seemed to think that thus only could a man decorously die. This amazed me, a peaceful person who loves quiet at home. Still, I gave way partly to please him partly because I hoped that we might discover something of interest and still more because having once undertaken an enterprise my pride prompted me to see through. Now, while he was preparing to draw his map in the ashes or afterwards I forget which Sikali had told me that when we drew near to the great river we should come to a place on the edge of a bush weld that ran down to the river where a white man lived after casting his bones and reading from them that he thought this white man was a trek boar. This, I should explain means a Dutchman who has travelled away from wherever he lived and made a home for himself in the wilderness as some wandering spirit and the desire to be free of authority often prompt these people to do. Also, after another inspection of his enchanted knuckle bones he had declared that something remarkable would happen to this man or his family while I was visiting him. Lastly in that map he drew in the ashes the details of which were impressed so indelibly upon my memory he had shown me where I should find the dwelling of this white man of whom and of whose habitation doubtless he knew through the many spies who seemed to be at the service of all witch doctors and more especially of Sikali the greatest among them. Travelling by the sun and the compress I had trekked steadily in the exact direction which he indicated to find that in this useful particular he was well named as the opener of roads since always before me I found a practicable path although to the right or to the left there would have been none thus when we came to mountains it was at a spot where we discovered a pass. When we went to swamps it was where a ridge of high ground ran between and so forth. Also such tribes as we met upon our journey always proved of a friendly character although perhaps the aspect of Umslopogas and his fierce band whom rather irreverently I named his twelve apostles had a share in inducing this peaceful attitude. So smooth was our progress and so well marked by water at certain intervals that at last I came to the conclusion that we must be following some ancient road which at a forgotten period of history had run from south to north or vice versa. Or rather to be honest it was the observant Hans who made this discovery from various indications which had escaped my notice. I need not stop to detail them but one of these was that at certain places the waterholes on a high rather barren land had been dug out and in one or more instances lined with stones after the fashion of an ancient well. Evidently we were following an old trade route made perhaps in forgotten ages when Africa was more civilized than it is now. Passing over certain high misty lands during the third week of our trek where frequently this season of the year the sun never showed itself before at four o'clock and disappeared at three or four in the afternoon and where twice we were held up for two whole days by dense fog we came across a queer nomadic people who seemed to live in movable grass huts and to keep great herds of goats and long-tailed sheep. These folk ran away from us at first but when they found that we did them no harm became friendly and brought us offerings of milk also the kind of slug or caterpillar which they seemed to eat. Hans who was a great master of different native dialects discovered a tongue or a mixture of tongues in which he could make himself understood to some of them they told him that in their day they had never seen a white man although their father's father's an expression by which they meant their remote ancestors had known many of them they added however that if we went on steadily towards the north for another seven days journey we should come to a place where a white man lived one they had heard who had a long beard and killed animals with guns as we did Encouraged by this intelligence we pushed forward now traveling downhill out of the mists into a more genial country indeed the weld here was beautiful high rolling plains like those of the East African Plateau deep and fertile chocolate colored soil as we could see where the rains had washed out at Dongas the climate too seemed to be cool and very healthful all together it was a pity to see such lands lying idle and tenanted only by countless herds of game for there were not any native inhabitants or at least we met none on we trekked our road still sloping slightly downhill till at length we saw far away a vast sea of bush-belt which as I guessed correctly must fringe the great Sambesi river moreover we or rather Hans whose eyes were those of a hawk saw something else namely buildings of a more or less civilized kind which stood among trees by the side of a stream several miles on this side of the great belt of bush Look Bars said Hans those wonders did not lie there is the house of the white man I wonder if he drinks anything stronger than water he added with a sigh and a kind of reminiscent contraction of his yellow throat as it happened he did end of chapter 4 of She and Alan by H. Rider Haggard read by Lorsch Rolander chapter 5 of She and Alan this is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org reading by Lorsch Rolander She and Alan by H. Rider Haggard chapter 5 Eness we had sighted the house from far away shortly after sunrise and by midday we were there as we approached I saw that it stood almost immediately beneath two great baub trees Babian trees we call them in South Africa perhaps because monkeys eat their fruit it was a thatched house with whitewashed walls and a stoop or veranda around it apparently of the ordinary Dutch type moreover beyond it at a little distance were other houses or rather shanties with wagon sheds etc and beyond and mixed up with ease a number of native huts further on were considerable fields green with springing corn also we saw herds of cattle grazing on the slopes evidently our white man was rich Omslopogas surveyed the place with a soldier's eye and said to me this must be a peaceful country Makumasan where no attack is feared sins of defense I see none yes I answered why not with a wilderness behind it and bushveld and a great river in front men can cross rivers and travel through bushveld he answered and was silent up to this time we had seen no one although it might have been presumed that a wagon trekking towards the house was a sufficiently unusual sight to have attracted attention where can they be I asked Omslopogas I think said Hans and as a matter of fact he was right the whole population of the place was indulging in a noonday siesta at last we came so near to the house that I halted the wagon and descended from the driving box in order to investigate at this moment someone did appear the sight of whom astonished me not a little, namely a very striking looking young woman she was tall handsome with large dark eyes good features a rather pale complexion and I think the saddest face that I ever saw evidently she had heard the noise and had come out to see what caused it for she had nothing on her head which was covered with thick care of a raven blackness catching sight of the great Omslopogas with his gleaming axe and of his savage looking bodyguard she uttered an exclamation and not unnaturally turned to fly him it's all right I sang out emerging from behind the oxen and in English though before the words had left my lips I reflected that there was not the slightest reason to suppose that she would understand him probably she was Dutch or Portuguese although by some instinct I had addressed her in English to my surprise she answered me in the same tongue spoken it is true with a peculiar accent which I could not place as it was neither Scotch nor Irish you she said I sir was frightened your friends look here she stumbled for a word and added I laughed at this composite adjective and answered well so they are in a way though they will not harm you or me but young lady tell me can we outspun here perhaps your husband I have no husband and she sighed well then could I speak to your father my name is Alan quarter main and I'm making a journey of exploration to find out about the country beyond you know yes I will go to wake him he's asleep everyone sleeps here at midday except me she said with another sigh why do you not follow their example I asked jokersly for this young woman puzzled me and I wanted to find out about her because I sleep little sir who thinks too much there will be plenty of time to sleep soon for all of us well they're not I stared at her and inquired her name because I did not know what else to say my name is Ines Robertson she answered I will go to wake my father meanwhile please unyoke your oxen they can feed with the others they look as though they want to dress poor things then she turned and went into the house Ines Robertson I said to myself that's a queer combination English father and Portuguese mother I suppose but what can an Englishman be doing in a place like this if it had been a trek boa I should not have been surprised I began to give directions about outspanning we had just got the oxen out of the jokes when a big raw-boned red-buried blue-eyed roughly clad man about 50 years of age appeared from the house joining I threw my eye over him as he advanced with a peculiar rolling gate and formed certain conclusions a drunkard who has once been a gentleman I reflected to myself that there was something peculiarly discolored in his appearance also one who has had to do with the sea a diagnosis which proved very accurate How do you do, Mr Allen quarter-main which I think my daughter said is your name unless I dreamt it for it is one that I seem to have heard before he exclaimed with a broad scotch accent which I do not attempt to reproduce what in the name of the place brings you here where no real white man has been for years well I am glad enough to see you anyway for I am sick of half-breed Portuguese and niggers and snuff and butter-girls and gin and bad whiskey leave your people to attend to those oxen and come in and have a drink Thank you, Mr Robertson Captain Robertson interrupted man, don't look astonished you might not guess it but I commanded a male steamer once and should like to hear myself called rightly again before I die I beg your pardon, Captain Robertson but myself I don't drink anything before sundown however if you have something to eat oh yes Ines, she's my daughter will find you a bite those men of yours Juliet, umslipogas and his savage company will want food as well I'll have a beast killed for them they look as if they could eat it for horns and all where are my people all asleep I suppose the lazy lovers wait a bit, I'll wake them up going to the house he snatched a great shambok cut from hippopotamus hide from where it hang on a nail in the wall and ran towards the group of huts which I have mentioned roaring out the name Tomaso also a string of oaths such as semen used mixed with others of a portuguese variety what happened there I could not see because bows were in the way but presently I heard blows and screams and caught sight of people all dark skin flying from the huts a little later a fat half bread man I could not say from his curling hair that his mother was a negro and his father a portuguese appeared with some other nondescript fellows and began to give directions in competent fashion about auction also as to the killing of a calf he spoke in bastard portugese which I could understand and I heard him talk of umslipogas to whom he pointed as that nigger after the fashion of such cross spread the men who chose to consider themselves white men also he made uncomplimentary remarks about hands who of course understood every word he said evidently Tomaso's temper had been ruffled by this sudden and violent disturbance of his snap just then our host appeared puffing with his exertions and declaring that he had stirred up the swine with a vengeance in proof of which he pointed to the shambo reddened with blood Captain Robertson I said I wish to give you a hint to be passed on to Mr. Tomaso if that is he he spoke of the soulless soldier there as a nigger etc well he is a chief of a high rank and rather a terrible fellow if roused therefore I recommend Mr. Tomaso not to let him understand that he is insulting him oh that's the way these snuffin butters one whose grandmother once met a white man replied the captain laughing but I'll tell him and he did in Portuguese his retainer listened in silence looking at Umslopogastro the salkily then we walked into the house as we went the captain said Senor Tomaso he calls himself Senor is my manager here and a clever man on his two in his way and attached to me perhaps because I saved his life once but he has a nasty temper as have all these crossbreeds so I hope he won't get wrong with that native who carries a big axe I hope so too for his own sake I replied emphatically the captain led the way into the sitting room it proved a queer kind of place with rude furniture seated with strips of hide after the bore fashion and yet bearing a certain error of refinement which was stoutless due to Ines who with the assistance of a stout native girl was already engaged in setting the table thus there was a shelf with books Shakespeare was one of these I noticed over which hung an ivory crucifix and noted that Ines was a Catholic on the walls too were some good portraits and on the window ledge a jar full of flowers also the forks and spoons were of silver as were the mugs and in grade with a tremendous coat of arms and a Portuguese model presently the food appeared which was excellent and plentiful and the captain, his daughter and I sat down and ate I noted that he drank gin and water an innocent looking beaverage but strong as he took it it was offered to me but like Miss Ines I preferred coffee during the meal and afterwards while we smoked upon the veranda I told them as much as I thought desirable of my plans I said that I was engaged upon a journey of exploration of the country beyond the Sambisi and that having heard of this settlement which by the way was called as I gathered after a place in faraway Scotland where the captain had been born and passed his childhood I had come here to inquire as to how to cross the Great River and about other things the captain was interested especially when I informed him that I was that same hunter quarter-main of whom he had heard in past years but he told me that it would be impossible to take the wagon down into the low bush which we could see beneath us as there all the oxen would die of the bite of the tsetse fly I answered that I was aware of this and proposed to try to make an arrangement to leave it in his charge till I returned that might be managed Mr. quarter-main he answered but man will you ever return they say there are queer folk living on the other side of the Sambisi savage men who are cannibals Amahagar I think they call them it was they who in past years cleaned out all this country except for a few river tribes who live in floating huts or on islands among the reeds and that's why it is so empty but this happened long ago much before my time and I don't suppose they will ever cross the river again if I might ask what brought you here captain I said for the point was one on which I felt curious that which brings most men to wild places Mr. quarter-main trouble if you want to know I had a misfortune and pile up my ship there was some lives lost and rightly or wrongly I got the sack then I started as a traitoring a god forsaken whole named the Sambisi mouths you know and did very well as we Scotsmen have a way of doing there I married a Portuguese lady a real lady of high blood one of the old sort when my girl Enes was about 12 years old I got into more trouble for my wife died and it pleased a certain relative of hers to say that it was because I had neglected her this ended in a row and the truth is that I killed him in fair fight mind you still kill him I did though I scarcely knew that I had done it at the time after which the place grew too hard to hold me so I sold up and swore that I would have no more to do with what they are pleased to call civilization on the east coast during my trading I had heard that there was a fine country of this way and here I came and settled years ago bringing my girl and Tomaso who was one of my managers also a few other people with me and here I have been ever since doing very well as before for I trade a lot of ivory and other things and grow stuff and cattle which I sell to the river natives yes I'm a rich man now and could go to live on my means in Scotland or anywhere why don't you I asked oh for many reasons I've less touch with all that and become a half wild and I like this life and the sunshine and being my own master also if I did things might be raked up against me about that man's death also though I dare say it will make you think badly of me for it Mr. Quartermane I have ties down there and he waved his hand towards the village if so it could be called which it wouldn't be easy for me to break a man may be fond of his children Mr. Quartermane even if their skins ain't so white as they ought to be lastly I have habits you see I'm speaking out to you as man to man which might get me into trouble again if I went back to the world and he nodded his fine capable looking head in the direction of the bottle on the table I see I said hastily for this kind of confession bursting out to the man's lonely heart when what he had drunk took hold of him was painful to hear but how about your daughter Miss Enos ah he said with a quiver in his voice there you touch it she ought to go away there is no one for her to marry here where we haven't seen a white man for years and she's a lady right enough like her mother but who is she to go to being a Roman Catholic whom my own door Presbyterian folk in Scotland if any of them are left would turn their backs on moreover she loves me in her own of her and she wouldn't leave me because she thinks it's her duty to stay and knows that if she did I should go to the devil all together still perhaps you might help me about her Mr. Quatermain that is if you live to come back from your journey he added doubtfully I felt inclined to ask how I could possibly help in such a matter but thought it wisest not to say nothing this however he did not notice for he went on now I think I will have a nap as I do my work in the early morning and sometimes late at night when my brain seems to clear up again for you see I was a sailor for many years and accustomed to keeping watches you look after yourself won't you and treat the place as your own then he vanished into the house to lie down when I had finished my pipe I went for a walk first I visited the wagon but I found umsloporgas and his company engaged in cooking the beast that had been given them solo fashion hence with this usual cunning had already secured a meal probably from the servants or from Ines herself at least he left them and followed me first we went down to the huts where a number of good looking young women of mixed blood all decently dressed and engaged about their household duties also we saw four or five boys and girls to say nothing of a baby in arms fine young people one or two of whom were more white than colored those children are very like the boss with a red beard remarked hands reflectively yes I said and shivered for now I understood the awfulness of this poor man's case he was the father of a number of half-breds who tied him to this spot as anchors tie a ship I went on rather hastily past some sheds to a long low building which proved to be a store here the quarter blood called to Marso and some assistants were engaged in trading with natives from the Sambesis swamps men of a kind that I had never seen but in a way more civilized than many further south what they were selling or buying I did not stop to see but I noticed that the store was full of goods of one sort or another including a great deal of ivory which as I supposed had come down the river from inland then we walked on to the cultivated fields where we saw corn growing very well also tobacco and other crops beyond this were cattle crawls and in the distance we perceived a great number of cattle and goats feeding on the slopes this red-bed bass must be very rich in all things remarked the observant Hans when we had completed our investigations yes I answered rich and yet poor how can a man be both rich and yet poor asked Hans just at that moment some of the half-bred children whom I have mentioned ran past us more naked than dressed and whooping like little savages Hans contemplated them gravely then said I think I understand now pass a man may be rich in things he loves and yet does not want which makes him poor in other ways yes I answered as you are Hans when you take too much to drink just then we met the stately mis-enus returning from the store carrying some articles in a basket so I think and tea in a packet amongst them I told Hans to take the basket and bear it to the house for her he went off with it and walking slowly we fell into conversation your father must do very well here I said nodding at the store with a crowd of natives around it yes she answered he makes much money which he puts in a bank at the coast for living costs as nothing and there is great profit in what he buys and sells also in the crops he grows and in the cattle but she added pathetically what is the use of money in a place like this you can get things with it I answered vaguely the father says but what does he get strong stuff to drink dresses for those women down there and sometimes pearls, jewels and other things for me which I do not want I have a box full of them set in ugly gold or loose which I cannot use and if I put them on who is there to see them that clever half-breed to Marso for he is clever in his way down there, no one else you do not seem to be happy Miss Ines no, I cannot tell how unhappy others are who have met none but sometimes I think that I must be the most miserable woman in the world oh no, I replied cheerfully plenty are worse off then, Mr. Quarterman it must be because they cannot feel did you ever have a father whom you loved yes, Miss Ines he is dead, but he was a very good man a kind of saint ask my servant the little hot and hot hands he will tell you about him ah, a very good man well, as you may have guessed mine is not though there is much good in him for he has a kind heart and a big brain but the drink and those women down there they ruin him and she wrung her hands why don't you go away I blurted out because it is my duty to stop that is what my religion teaches me although of it I know little except through books who have seen no priest for years except one who was a missionary a Baptist I think who told me that my faith was false and would lead me to hell yes I am not understanding how I live he said that who did not know that hell is here no I cannot go who hopes always that still God and the saints will show me how to save my father even though it be with my blood and now I have said too much to you who are quite a stranger yet I do not know why I feel that you will not betray me and what is more that you will help me if you can since you are not one of those who drink or and she waved her hand towards the huts I have my false misiness I answered yes no doubt else you would be a saint not a man and even the saints had their faults or so I seem to remember and became saints by repentance still I am sure that you will help me if you can then with a sudden flash of her dark eyes that said more than all her words she turned and left me here is a pretty kettle of fish thought I to myself as I strolled back to the wagon to see how things were going on there and how to get the live fish out of the kettle before they boil or spoil is more than I know I wonder why fate is always finding me such jobs to do even as I thought thus a voice in my heart seem to echo that poor girl's words because it is your duty and to add others to them who betide him who neglects his duty I was appointed to try to hook a fish out the vast kettle of human woe and therefore I must go on hooking meanwhile this particular problem seemed beyond me perhaps fate would help I reflected as a matter of fact in the end fate did if fate is the right word to use in this connection end of chapter 5 of she and Alan by H. Rider Haggad read by Lars Rolander chapter 6 of she and Alan this is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org reading by Lars Rolander she and Alan by H. Rider Haggad chapter 6 the sea cow hunt now it had been my intention to push forward across the river at once but here luck or our old friend fate was against me to begin with several of unslupogas men fell sick with a kind of stomach trouble arising no doubt from something they had eaten this however was not their view or that of unslupogas himself it happened that one of these men Goroko by name who practiced as a witch doctor in his lighter moments naturally suspected that a spell had been cast upon them for such people see magic in everything therefore he organized a smelling out at witchum slupogas who was as superstitious as the rest assisted so did Hans although he called himself a Christian partly out of curiosity for he was as curious as a magpie and partly from fear lest some implication should be brought against him in his absence I saw the business going on from a little distance and unseen myself thought it well to keep an eye upon the proceedings in case anything untoward should occur this I did with Miss Ines who had never witnessed anything of the sort as a companion the circle a small one was formed in the usual fashion Goroko rigged up in the best witch doctor's costume that he could improvise duly came under the influence of his spirit and skipped about waving a wild besties tail and so forth finally to my horror he broke out of the ring and running to a group of spectators from the village switched to Marso who was standing among them with a lordly and contemptuous air across the face with a goose tail shouting out that he was the wizard who had poisoned the balls of the sick men there on to Marso who although he could be insolent like most crossbreeds was not remarkable for courage seeing the stir that this announcement created amongst the fierce face Sulus and fearing developments promptly bolted none attempting to follow him after this just as I thought that everything was over and that the time had come for me to speak a few earnest words to Umslopogas pointing out that matters must go no further as regards to Marso whom I knew that he and his people hated Goroko went back to the circle and was seized with a new twist of inspiration throwing down his whisk he lifted his arms above his head and stared at the heavens then he began to shout out something in a loud voice which I was too far off to catch whatever it may have been evidently it frightened his hearers as I could see from the expression on their faces even Umslopogas was alarmed for he let his axe fall for a moment rose as though to speak then sat down again and covered his eyes with his hands in a minute it was over Goroko seemed to become normal took some snuff and as I guessed after the usual fashion of these doctors began to ask what he had been saying while the spirit possessed him which he either had or affected to have forgotten the circle too broke up and his members began to talk to each other in a subdued way while Umslopogas remained seated on the ground brooding and hands slipped away in his snake-like fashion doubtless in search of me what was it all about Mr. Quatermain asked Dinas a lot of nonsense I said I fancy that which doctor declared that your friend Tomaso put something into those men's foods to make them sick I daresay that he did it would be just like him as I know that he hates them especially Umslopogas whom I'm very fond he brought me some beautiful flowers this morning which he had found somewhere and made a long speech which I could not understand the idea of Umslopogas that man of blood and iron bringing flowers to a young lady was so absurd that I broke out laughing and even the sad-faced Enus smiled then she left me to see about something and I went to speak to Hans and asked him what had happened something rather queer I think bass he answered vacuously though I did not quite understand the last part the doctor Goroko smelt out to Tomaso as the man who had made them sick and though they will not kill him because we are guests here those Sulus are very angry with Tomaso and I think will beat him if they get a chance but that is only the small half of the stick and he paused what is the big half then I asked with irritation bass the spirit in Goroko the jackass in Goroko you mean I interrupted how can you who are a Christian talk such rubbish about spirits I only wish that my father could hear you oh bass your reverent father the predicate is now wise enough to know all about spirits and that there are some who come into black witch doctors though who use at white men and leave them alone however whatever it is that makes Goroko speak got hold of him so that his lips said though he remembered nothing of it afterwards that soon this place would be red with blood that there would be a great killing here bass that is all red with blood whose blood what did the fool mean I don't know bass but what you call the jackass in Goroko I swear that those who are with a great medicine meaning what you wear bass will be quite safe so I hope that it will not be our blood also that you will get out of this place as soon as you can well I scolded Hans because he believed in what this doctor said for I could see that he did believe it then went to questionum Slopogas whom I found looking quite pleased which annoyed me still more what is it that Goroko has been saying and why do you smile Bolagio I asked nothing much Makosuman expect that the man who looks like Talon that has gone bad put something in our food which made us sick for which I would kill him where he not red bears servant and that he would frighten the lady his daughter also he said that soon there will be fighting which is why I smiled who grow weary of peace we came out to fight did we not certainly not I answered we came out to make a quiet journey in strange lands which is what I mean to do ah well Makumazan in strange lands one meets strange men with whom one does not always agree and then in Kosikas begins to talk and he whirled the great axe round his head making the air whistle as it was forced through the gauche at his back we could not get more out of him so having extracted and promised from him that nothing should happen to Tomaso who I pointed out was probably quite unjustly accused I went away still the whole incident left a disagreeable impression on my mind and I began to wish that we were safe across the Sambisi without more trouble but we could not start at once because two of the Soulos were still not well enough to travel and there were many preparations to be made and so forth since the wagon must be left behind also and this was another complication Hans had a sore upon his foot resulting from the prick of a poisonous thorn and it was desirable that this should be quite healed before we marched so it came about that I was really glad when Captain Robertson suggested that we should go down to a certain swamp formed I gathered by some small tributary of the Sambisi to take part in a kind of hippopotamus battu it seemed that at this season of the year the great animals always frequented the place in numbers also that by bearing a neck of deep water through which they gained it they or a proportion of them could be cut off and killed this had been done once or twice in the past though not of late perhaps because Captain Robertson had lacked the energy to organize such a hunt now he wished to do so again taking advantage of my presence both because of the value of the heights of the sea cows which were cut up to be sent to the coast and soulless shumbocks or whips and because of the sport of the thing also I think he decided to show me that he was not altogether sunk in sloth and drink I fell in with the idea readily enough since in all my hunting life I had never seen anything of the sort especially as I was told that the expedition would not take more than a week and I reckon that the sick men and hans would not be fit to travel sooner so great preparations were made the riverside natives whose share of the spoil was to be the carcasses of the slain sea cows were summoned by hundreds and sent off to their appointed stations to beat the swamps at the signal giving by the firing of a great pile of reeds also but many other things were done upon which I need not enter then came the time for us to depart to the appointed spot over 20 miles away most of which distance it seemed we could trek in the wagon Captain Robertson who for the time had cut off his gin was as active about the affair as though he were once more in command of a mail steamer nothing escaped his attention indeed in the care which he gave he reminded me of the captain of the great sheep that is leaving port and from it I learnt how able a man he must once have been does your daughter accompany us I asked on the night before we started oh no he answered she would only be in the way she will be quite safe here especially as Tomaso who is snow hunter remains in charge of the place with some of the older natives children later I saw Ines herself who said that she would have liked to come although she hated to see great beasts killed but that her father was against it because he thought she might catch fever so she supposed that she had better remain where she was I agreed though in my heart I was doubtful and said that I would leave Hans whose foot was not as yet quite well and with whom she had made friends as she had done with Umslopogas to look after her also there would be with him the two great sulus who were now recovering from their attack of stomach sickness so that she would have nothing to fear she answered with her slow smile that she feared nothing still she would have liked to come with us then we parted as it proved for a long time it was quite a ceremony Umslopogas in the name of the axe he gave over Ines to the charge of his two followers bidding them to guard her with so much earnestness that I began to suspect he feared something which he did not chose to mention my mind went back indeed to the prophecy of the witch doctor Goroko of which it was possible that he might be thinking but as while he spoke he kept his fierce eyes fixed upon the fat and pompous quarter bread to Marso I concluded that here was the object of his doubts it might have occurred to him that this to Marso would take the opportunity of her father's absence to annoy Ines if so I was sure that he was mistaken for various reasons of which I need only vote one namely that even if such an idea had ever ended his head to Marso was far too great a coward to translate it into action still suspecting something I also gave Hans instructions to keep a sharp eye on Ines and generally it to watch the place and if he saw anything suspicious to communicate with us at once Yes, boss said Hans I will look after sad eyes for so with their usual quickness of observation Arsulus had named Ines as though she were my grandmother though what there is to fear for her I do not know but boss I would much rather come and look after you as your reverend father the predicate told me to do always which is my duty not girl-herding boss also my foot is now quite well and I want to shoot sea cows and here he paused and what Hans and Goroko said that there was going to be much fighting and if there should be fighting and you should come to harm because I was not there to protect you what would your reverend father think of me then all of which meant two things that Hans never liked being separated from me if he could help it and that he much preferred a shooting trip to stopping alone in this strange place with nothing to do except eat and sleep so I concluded though indeed I did not quite see the bottom of the business in reality Hans was putting up a most gallant struggle against temptation as I found out afterwards Captain Roberts had been giving him strong drink on the sly moved there too by sympathy with a fellow topper also he had shown him where if he wanted it he could get more and Hans always wanted in very badly indeed to leave it within his reach was like leaving a handful of diamonds lying about in the room of the thief they seen you but was ashamed to tell me the truth and then came much trouble you will stop here Hans look after the young lady and nurse your foot I said sternly whereon he collapsed with a sigh and asked for some tobacco meanwhile Captain Robertson who I think had been taking a stirrup cup to cheer him on the road was making his farewells to the village for I saw him there kissing a collection of half bread children and giving to mass instructions to look after them and their mothers returning at length he called to Enes who remained upon the veranda for she always seemed to shrink from her father after his visit to the village to keep a stiff upper lip and not feel lonely and commanded the cavalcade to start so off we went about 20 of the village natives crew armed with every kind of gun marching ahead and singing songs then came the wagon with Captain Robertson and myself seated on the driving box and lastly Umslopogas and Isulus except the two had been left behind we trekked along a kind of native road of a fine veld of the same character as that on which Strathmore stood having the lower lying bush veld which ran down to the Sambisi on our right before nightfall we came to a ridge where on this bush veld turned south friending that tributary of the great river in the swamps of which we were to hunt for sea cows here we camped and next morning leaving the wagon in charge of my forloper and a couple of the Strathmore natives for the driver was to act as my gun bearer we marched down into the sea bush veld it proved to be full of game but at this we dared not fire for fearing of disturbing the hippopotamie in the swamps beneath whence in that event they might escape us back to the river above midday we passed out the bush veld and reached the place where the dry was to be here bordered by the steep banks covered with bush was swampy ground not more than 200 yards wide down the centre which ran a narrow channel or rather deep water draining a vast expanse of morass above it was up this channel that sea cows travelled to the feeding ground where they loved to collect at that season of the year there with the assistance of some of the riverside natives we made our preparations under the direction of captain robertsson the rest of these men to the number of several hundreds had made a wide detour to the head of the swamps miles away whence they were to advance at a certain signal these preparations were simple a quantity of thorn trees were cut down and by means of heavy stones fastened to their trunks anchored in the narrow channel of deep water to their tops which floated on the placid surface were tied a variety of rags which we had brought with us such as old red flannel shirts gay coloured but worn out blankets and I know not what besides some of these fragments also were attached to the anchored ropes under water also we selected places for the guns upon the steep banks that I have mentioned between which this channel ran foreseeing what would happen I chose one for myself behind a particularly stout rock and what is more built a stone wall to the height of several feet on the landward side of it as I guess that the natives posted near to me would prove wild in their shooting these labours occupy the rest of that day and at night we just retired to high ground to sleep before dawn on the following morning we returned and took up our stations some on one side of the channel and some on the other which we had to reach in a canoe brought for the purpose by the river natives then before the sun rose Captain Robertson fired a huge pile of dried reeds and bushes which was to give the signal to the river natives far away to begin their beat this done we sat down and waited making sure that every gun had plenty of ammunition ready as the dawn broke by climbing a tree near my shantse or shelter I saw a good many miles away to the south a wide circle of little fires and guessed that the natives were beginning to burn the dry seats of the swamp presently these fires drew together into thin wall of flame then I knew that it was time to return to the shantse and prepare the light however before anything happened watching the still channel of water I saw ripples on it and bubbles of air rising suddenly there appeared the head of a great bull hippopotamus which having caught sight of our rag barricade either above or below water had risen to the surface to see what it might be I put a bullet from an 8-ball rifle through its brain where on it sank I guessed stone dead to the bottom of the channel thus helping to increase the barricade by the bulk of its great body also it had another effect I have observed that sea cows cannot bear the smell and taint of blood which frightens them horribly so that they will expose themselves to almost any risk rather than get it into their nostrils now in this still water where there was no perceptible current the blood from the dead bull soon spread all about so that when the herd following their leader began to arrive they were much alarmed indeed the first of them on winding or tasting it turned and tried to get back up the channel where however they met others following and there ensued a tremendous confusion they rose to the surface blowing, snorting, bellowing and scrambling over each other in the water while continually more and more arrived behind them till there was a perfect pandemonium in that narrow place all our guns opened fire wildly upon the mass it was like a battle and through the smoke I caught sight of the riverside natives who were acting as speeders advancing far away fantastically dressed screaming with excitement and waving spears or sometimes torches of flaming reeds most of these were scrambling along the banks but some of the bolder spirits advanced over their lagoon in canoes driving the hippopotamid towards the mouth of the channel by which alone they could escape into the great swamps below and so on to the river in all my hunting experience I do not think I ever saw a more remarkable scene still in a way to me it was unpleasant for I flatter myself that I am a sportsman and a battle of this sort is not sport as I understand the term at length it came to this the channel for quite a long way was literally full of hippopotamid I should think there must have been a hundred of them or more of all sorts and sizes from great balls down to little cars some of these were killed not many for the shooting of our gallant company was excreable and almost a tassel also for every sea cow that died of which number I think that Captain Robertson accounted for most many were only wounded still the unhappy beasts crazed with noise and fire and blood did not seem to dare to face our frail barricade probably for the reason that I have given for a while they remained massed together in the water or under it making a most horrible noise then of a sudden they seemed to take a resolution a few of them broke back towards the burning reeds the stairs and the advancing canoes one of these indeed a wounded bull charged a canoe crushed it in its huge shores and killed the rower how exactly I do not know for his body was never found the majority of them however took another console for emerging from the water on either side they began to scramble towards us along the steep banks or even climbing up them with surprising agility it was at this point in the proceedings that I congratulated myself earnestly upon the solid character of the water wound rock which I had selected as a shelter behind this rock together with my gun bearer and umslup Horgas who as he did not shoot had elected to be my companion I crouched and banged away at the unwieldy creatures as they advanced but fire fast as I might with two rifles I could not stop the half of them they were drawing unpleasantly near I glanced at umslup Horgas and even then was amused to see that probably for the first time in his life that redoubtable warrior was in a genuine fright this is madness you shouted about the din are we to stop here and be stamped flat by a hold of water pigs it seems so I answered unless you prefer to be stamped flat or eaten I added pointing to a great crocodile that had also emerged from the channel and was coming along towards us with open jaws by the axe shouted umslup Horgas again I a warrior will not die thus trodden on like a slug by an ox now I have mentioned a tree which I climbed in his extremity umslup Horgas rushed for that tree and went up it like a lamp lighter just as the crocodile wriggled his past its trunk snapping at his retreating legs after this I took no more note of him partly because of the advancing sea cars and more for the reason that one of the village natives posted above me firing wildly put a large round bullet through the sleeve on my coat indeed had it not been for the war which I built that protected us I'm certain that both my bearer and I would have been killed for afterwards I found it splashed over with lead from bullets which had struck the stones well thanks to the strength of my rock and to the wall or as Hans said afterwards to Sicali's great medicine we escaped unhurt the rush went by me indeed I killed one sea cow so close that a powder from the rifle actually burned its hide but it did go by leaving us untouched all however were not so fortunate that one of the village natives too were trampled to death while the third had his leg broken also and this was really amusing a bewildered bullet sharding at full speed crashed into the trunk of umslupogastri and as it was not very thick snapped it into down came the top in which the dignified chief was ensconed like a bird in their nest though at that moment there was precious little dignity about him except for scratches he was not hurt as the hippopotamus had other business in urgent need of attention and did not stop to settle with him such other things which happened to a man or mixes himself up with matters of which he knows nothing sedumslupogast sententiously are to me afterwards but all the same he could never bear any illusion to this tree climbing episode in his martial career which as it happened had taken place in full view of his retainers among whom it remained the greatest of jokes indeed he wanted to kill a man the wag of the party who gave him a slang name which being translated means he who is so brave that he dares to ride a water horse up a tree it was all over at last for which I thanked providence devoutly a good many of the sea cows were dead I think 21 was out exact bag but the majority of them had escaped in one way or another many as I fear wounded I imagine that at the last the bulk of the herd overcame its fears and swimming through our screen passed away down the channel at any rate they were gone and having a certain that there was nothing to be done for the man who had been trampled on my side of the channel I crossed in the canoe with the object of returning quietly to our camp to rest but as yet there was to be no quiet for me here I found captain Robertson who I think had been refreshing himself out of a bottle and was in great state of excitement about a native who had been killed near him who was a favorite of his and another whose leg was broken he declared vehemently that the hippopotamus which had done this had been wounded and rushed into some bushes a few hundred yards away and that he meant to take vengeance upon it indeed he was just setting off to do so seeing his agitated state what it vices to follow him what happened need not to be set out in detail it is sufficient to say that he found that hippopotamus and blazed both barrels at it in the bushes hitting it but not seriously out lumbered the creature with his mouth open wishing to escape Robertson turned to fly as he was in its path but from one course or another tripped and fell down certainly he would have been crushed beneath its huge feet had I not looked in front of him and sent two solid eight-ball bullets down that yawning throat killing it dead within three feet of where Robertson was trying to rise and I may add of myself this narrow escape sobered him and I'm bound to say that his gratitude was profuse you are a brave man he said and had it not been for you by now I should be wherever bad people go I'll not forget it Mr. Maine and if ever you want anything that John Robertson can give why it's yours very well I answered being seized by an inspiration I do want something that you can give easily enough give it a name and it is yours half my place if you like I want I went on as I sleep new cartridge into the rifle I want you to promise to give up drink for your daughter's sake that's what nearly did for you just now you know man you ask a hard thing he said slowly but by God I try for her sake and for yours too then I went to help set the leg of the engine man which was all the rest I got that morning end of chapter six of she and Alan by H. Rider Haggard by Lars Rolander