ld him I had been
thinking over the way in which he had acquired the two white girls, and
had come to the conclusion that he had no right to them at all.
Therefore, I continued airily, it was my intention to take them away
forthwith. I pointed out to the repulsive giant that he had not obtained
the girls by fair means, and if he objected to my taking them away, it
was open to him, according to custom, to sustain his claim to ownership
by fighting me for the "property."

Now, these blacks are neither demonstrative nor intelligent, but I think
I never saw any human being so astonished in the whole of my life. It
dawned upon him presently, however, that I was not joking, and then his
amazement gave place to the most furious anger. He promptly accepted my
challenge, greatly to the delight of all the warriors in his own tribe,
with whom he was by no means popular. But, of course, the anticipation
of coming sport had something to do with their glee at the acceptance of
the challenge. The big man was as powerful in build as he was ugly, and
the moment he opened his mouth I realised that for once Yamba had gone
too far in proclaiming my prodigious valour. He said he had heard about
my wonderful "flying-spears," and declined to fight me if I used such
preternatural weapons. It was therefore arranged _that we should
wrestle_--the one who overthrew the other twice out of three times to be
declared the victor. I may say that this was entirely my suggestion, as
I had always loved trick wrestling when at school, and even had a special
tutor for that purpose--M. Viginet, an agile little Parisian, living in
Geneva. He was a Crimean veteran. The rank-and-file of the warriors,
however, did not look upon this suggestion with much favour, as they
thought it was not paying proper respect to my wonderful powers. I
assured them I was perfectly satisfied, and begged them to let the
contest proceed.

Then followed one of the most extraordinary combats on record. Picture
to yourself, if you can, the agony of mind of poor little Blanche and
Gladys Rogers during the progress of the fight; and also imagine the
painful anxiety with which I went in to win.

A piece of ground about twenty feet square was lightly marked out by the
blacks with their waddies, and the idea was that, to accomplish a throw,
the wrestler had to hurl his opponent clean outside the boundary. We
prepared for the combat by covering our bodies with grease; and I ha