ned the shore and hurried here to
advise you."

"And did you advise anyone else, you idiot?" I asked.

"Yes, sir. As I sped along I communicated to an officer of the port that
there was the devil of a mess upon the _Maria_ which he would do well to
investigate."

By this time I was in my shirt and trousers and shouting to Mavovo and
the others. Soon they arrived, for as the costume of Mavovo and his
company consisted only of a moocha and a blanket, it did not take them
long to dress.

"Mavovo," I began, "there is trouble on the ship----"

"O _Baba_," he interrupted with something resembling a grin, "it is very
strange, but last night I dreamed that I told you----"

"Curse your dreams," I said. "Gather the men and go down--no, that won't
work, there would be murder done. Either it is all over now or it is
all right. Get the hunters ready; I come with them. The luggage can be
fetched afterwards."

Within less than an hour we were at that wharf off which the _Maria_
lay in what one day will be the splendid port of Durban, though in
those times its shipping arrangements were exceedingly primitive. A
strange-looking band we must have been. I, who was completely dressed,
and I trust tidy, marched ahead. Next came Hans in the filthy wide-awake
hat which he usually wore and greasy corduroys and after him the
oleaginous Sammy arrayed in European reach-me-downs, a billy-cock and a
bright blue tie striped with red, garments that would have looked very
smart had it not been for his recent immersion. After him followed the
fierce-looking Mavovo and his squad of hunters, all of whom wore the
"ring" or _isicoco_, as the Zulus call it; that is, a circle of polished
black wax sewn into their short hair. They were a grim set of fellows,
but as, according to a recent law it was not allowable for them to
appear armed in the town, their guns had already been shipped, while
their broad stabbing spears were rolled up in their sleeping mats, the
blades wrapped round with dried grass.

Each of them, however, bore in his hand a large knobkerry of red-wood,
and they marched four by four in martial fashion. It is true that when
we embarked on the big boat to go to the ship much of their warlike
ardour evaporated, since these men, who feared nothing on the land, were
terribly afraid of that unfamiliar element, the water.

We reached the _Maria_, an unimposing kind of tub, and climbed aboard.
On looking aft the first thing that I saw was