uld not require my attendance upon him--and on this I could
not reckon--yet he who wanders abroad at night incurs peril from the
staff of the `smeller-out,' for we hold that _tagati_ always takes place
during the hours of darkness, and the man who loves to wander abroad at
such times, what can he be seeking but means to practise the foul and
evil spells of wizardry?

"Long before we reached the camp it grew quite dark, and now we did not
separate, for I would not leave Nangeza; for multitudes of wild beasts
accompanied our migration, because of the abundant feasts we provided
them with almost daily--even the flesh of men--and already we could hear
their roarings and snarlings in the darkness. Moreover, it might be
easier for two to pass the outposts together, than to double the chances
of failure by making two separate attempts.

"As we advanced, noiselessly, stealthily, in the gloom, we heard a low
humming sound, which seemed to come from the earth. We stood for a
moment holding our breath, for we knew that sound. It was the voice of
a man, singing, and he might have been twelve spear-lengths in front of
us. We knew the ground also. We were in a little valley between two
low hills. Probably on each of the latter was another sentinel.
Nangeza threw her skin kaross over both our heads, and breathed forth
her plan--for the plan was hers. I was for taking the risk of slipping
past--she, for the bolder but safer method of overpowering the sentinel.

"Worming like serpents along the ground, we made our way up behind him
bit by bit, and the time consumed must have been enormous, for we would
not risk failure for the sake of impatience. But this fool surely
courted his own undoing, for he sat there singing. Every time he
stopped singing we stopped in our advance, but so fond was he of his own
voice that he soon began again. Then Nangeza, creeping up behind him,
flung her kaross over his head, at the same time throwing her arms
around him and pinioning his tightly to his sides.

"The man struggled, but with the kaross over his head and in his mouth
he could not cry out. Still, he struggled, and it took us both all we
could do to master him quickly. We could easily have killed him, but
had decided it were better not to. At length, with the thong Nangeza
had brought to tie the firewood we bound him hand and foot, having
gagged him with his own _mutya_, and thus we left him.

"All this while we had spoken no word,