face that would follow her about.
She carried my little sister Baleka riding on her hip; Baleka was a
baby then. We walked till we met the lads driving in the cows. My mother
called the white-faced cow and gave it mealie leaves which she had
brought with her. Then the boys went on with the cattle, but the
white-faced cow stopped by my mother. She said that she would bring it
to the kraal when she came home. My mother sat down on the grass and
nursed her baby, while I played round her, and the cow grazed. Presently
we saw a woman walking towards us across the plain. She walked like one
who is tired. On her back was a bundle of mats, and she led by the hand
a boy of about my own age, but bigger and stronger than I was. We waited
a long while, till at last the woman came up to us and sank down on the
veldt, for she was very weary. We saw by the way her hair was dressed
that she was not of our tribe.

"Greeting to you!" said the woman.

"Good-morrow!" answered my mother. "What do you seek?"

"Food, and a hut to sleep in," said the woman. "I have travelled far."

"How are you named?--and what is your people?" asked my mother.

"My name is Unandi: I am the wife of Senzangacona, of the Zulu tribe,"
said the stranger.

Now there had been war between our people and the Zulu people, and
Senzangacona had killed some of our warriors and taken many of our
cattle. So, when my mother heard the speech of Unandi she sprang up in
anger.

"You dare to come here and ask me for food and shelter, wife of a dog of
a Zulu!" she cried; "begone, or I will call the girls to whip you out of
our country."

The woman, who was very handsome, waited till my mother had finished her
angry words; then she looked up and spoke slowly, "There is a cow by you
with milk dropping from its udder; will you not even give me and my
boy a gourd of milk?" And she took a gourd from her bundle and held it
towards us.

"I will not," said my mother.

"We are thirsty with long travel; will you not, then, give us a cup of
water? We have found none for many hours."

"I will not, wife of a dog; go and seek water for yourself."

The woman's eyes filled with tears, but the boy folded his arms on his
breast and scowled. He was a very handsome boy, with bright black eyes,
but when he scowled his eyes were like the sky before a thunderstorm.

"Mother," he said, "we are not wanted here any more than we were wanted
yonder," and he nodded towards the country where