ey move about the country. The old man saluted Langley and
asked in his own language for a pipeful of tobacco. Langley always
carried some loose leaves broken up in his pocket, so he at once pulled
some of these out and half filled the claw-like hand outstretched to
receive them. The old native was voluble in thanks. There was a large
ant-heap close to the one on which he had been sitting, and on which he
reseated himself whilst filling his pipe. Against this Langley leant
and took a good look at his companion. The man had a most extraordinary
face. His lower jaw and cheek-bones were largely developed, but Langley
hardly noticed this, so struck was he with the strange formation of the
upper jaw. That portion of the superior maxillary bone which lies
between the sockets of the eye-teeth protruded, with the sockets, to a
remarkable degree, and instead of being curved, appeared to be quite
straight. The incisor teeth were very large and white, but it was the
development of the eye-teeth that was most startling. These, besides
being very massive, were produced below the level of the incisors to a
depth of nearly a quarter of an inch. They distinctly suggested to
Langley the tusks of a baboon.

As is very unusual with natives, the man was perfectly bald. His back
was bent, and his limbs were somewhat shrunken, but he did not appear
in the least degree decrepit. His eyelids were very red, and his eyes,
though dim, had a deep and intent look. Ugly as was the man--or perhaps
by virtue of his ugliness--he exercised a strange fascination over
Langley.

The old man, whose name turned out to be Ghamba, proved himself a
talker after Langley's own heart. They discussed all sorts of things.
Ghamba startled his hearer by his breadth of experience and his
shrewdness. He said he was a "Hlubi" Kafir from Qumbu in the territory
of Griqualand East, but that he had for some time past been living in
Basutoland, which is situated just behind the frowning wall of the
Drakensberg, to the south-west of where they were speaking, and not
twenty miles distant.

They talked until it was time for Langley to return to camp. He was so
pleased at the entertainment afforded by Ghamba, that all the tobacco
he had with him found its way into the claw-like hand of that strange-looking
man of many experiences and quaint ideas. So Langley asked him
to come to the ant-heap again on the following day, and have another
talk at the same hour. This, Ghamba, with