ing to me:

"Chief, have I done well?" and expired.

I was breathless and spent, but as in a dream I saw some Amangwane drag
up a gaunt old savage, crying:

"Here is Bangu, Bangu the Butcher, whom we have caught alive."

Saduko stepped up to him.

"Ah! Bangu," he said, "now say, why should I not kill you as you would
have killed the little lad Saduko long ago, had not Zikali saved him?
See, here is the mark of your spear."

"Kill," said Bangu. "Your Spirit is stronger than mine. Did not Zikali
foretell it? Kill, Saduko."

"Nay," answered Saduko. "If you are weary I am weary, too, and wounded
as well. Take a spear, Bangu, and we will fight."

So they fought there in the moonlight, man to man; fought fiercely while
all watched, till presently I saw Bangu throw his arms wide and fall
backwards.

Saduko was avenged. I have always been glad that he slew his enemy thus,
and not as it might have been expected that he would do.

CHAPTER VII. SADUKO BRINGS THE MARRIAGE GIFT

We reached my wagons in the early morning of the following day, bringing
with us the cattle and our wounded. Thus encumbered it was a most
toilsome march, and an anxious one also, for it was always possible that
the remnant of the Amakoba might attempt pursuit. This, however, they
did not do, for very many of them were dead or wounded, and those who
remained had no heart left in them. They went back to their mountain
home and lived there in shame and wretchedness, for I do not believe
there were fifty head of cattle left among the tribe, and Kafirs without
cattle are nothing. Still, they did not starve, since there were plenty
of women to work the fields, and we had not touched their corn. The
end of them was that Panda gave them to their conqueror, Saduko, and he
incorporated them with the Amangwane. But that did not happen until some
time afterwards.

When we had rested a while at the wagons the captured beasts were
mustered, and on being counted were found to number a little over twelve
hundred head, not reckoning animals that had been badly hurt in the
flight, which we killed for beef. It was a noble prize, truly, and,
notwithstanding the wound in his thigh, which hurt him a good deal now
that it had stiffened, Saduko stood up and surveyed them with glistening
eyes. No wonder, for he who had been so poor was now rich, and would
remain so even after he had paid over whatever number of cows Umbezi
chose to demand as the price of Ma