it drew near its close Saduko sent for Nandie, who at
first refused to come as there were no women present--I think because he
wished to show his friends that he had a princess of the royal blood
for his wife, who had borne him a son that one day would be great in the
land. For Saduko, as I have said, had become a "self-eater," and this
day his pride was inflamed by the adulation of the company and by the
beer that he had drunk.

At length Nandie did come, carrying her babe, from which she never would
be parted. In her dignified, ladylike fashion (although it seems an odd
term to apply to a savage, I know none that describes her better) she
greeted first me and then sundry of the other guests, saying a few words
to each of them. At length she came opposite to Masapo, who had dined
not wisely but too well, and to him, out of her natural courtesy, spoke
rather longer than to the others, inquiring after his wife, Mameena, and
others. At the moment it occurred to me that she did this in order to
assure him that she bore no malice because of the accident of a while
before, and was a party to her husband's reconciliation with him.

Masapo, in a hazy way, tried to reciprocate these kind intentions.
Rising to his feet, his fat, coarse body swaying to and fro because of
the beer that he had drunk, he expressed satisfaction at the feast that
had been prepared in her house. Then, his eyes falling on the child, he
began to declaim about its size and beauty, until he was stopped by the
murmured protests of others, since among natives it is held to be not
fortunate to praise a young child. Indeed, the person who does so is apt
to be called an "umtakati", or bewitcher, who will bring evil upon its
head, a word that I heard murmured by several near to me. Not satisfied
with this serious breach of etiquette, the intoxicated Masapo snatched
the infant from its mother's arms under pretext of looking for the hurt
that had been caused to its brow when it fell to the ground at my camp,
and finding none, proceeded to kiss it with his thick lips.

Nandie dragged it from him, saying:

"Would you bring death upon my son, O Chief of the Amasomi?"

Then, turning, she walked away from the feasters, upon whom there fell a
certain hush.

Fearing lest something unpleasant should ensue, for I saw Saduko biting
his lips with rage not unmixed with fear, and remembering Masapo's
reputation as a wizard, I took advantage of this pause to bid a general