hort distance between the wagon and
Gwanda.

The arrival of a white man in the Mashona country was evidently a quite
unique event, exciting the utmost curiosity in the minds of the
inhabitants--indeed, I subsequently learned that such a thing had never
happened since the memorable visit of my friend Major Henderson and his
partner, Van Raalte, consequently it was only a very few of the older
men who had ever beheld a white man before; for as I rode along at a
foot-pace, with Piet respectfully walking in my rear, the whole way was
lined on either side by thousands of men, women, and children, who had
turned out for the express purpose of beholding such an astonishing
spectacle, this, it appeared, being rendered all the more extraordinary
by the fact that horses were unknown to the Mashonas, and not one of
them, save the half-dozen or so elders above-mentioned, had ever so much
as heard of a mounted man! Therefore my slow progress was marked by a
continuous volley of "Au's!" uttered with the hand held over the mouth,
indicative of the utmost astonishment and awe. The same sort of thing,
only in a very much more marked degree, prevailed inside the town, every
one of the inhabitants of which appeared to have made a point of turning
out to witness my arrival. I rode right up through the main street of
the town as far as the great square of which I have spoken as occupying
its centre, and there, finding that the entire square was lined with
troops in full panoply of war--from which I surmised that my visit was
intended to be regarded as a state function--I dismounted, and, still
carrying my trusty rifle, turned my horse over to the care of a savage
who seemed to be more than half-afraid of the animal. Then, with Piet
following close at my heels, I passed through a gap which had been
hastily made in the line of troops, and found myself in the great
square--and in the presence of King Lomalindela.

CHAPTER TEN.

I FIND MYSELF IN AN EXCEEDINGLY AWKWARD DILEMMA.

The king--as to whose identity there could be no possible mistake--was
seated in the very centre of the great square upon some sort of throne,
the precise shape and material of which I could not make out, for it was
entirely hidden by an immense and magnificent kaross of lions' skins;
and formed up in a semicircle behind and around him were about a hundred
warriors, the arms and accoutrements of whom were of so elaborate and
splendid a character that I at onc