ssagais, he respectfully laid
at my feet as he halted before me.

"Why do you do that, 'Mfuni?" I asked, regarding the man with some
surprise.

"Because henceforth I am thy man, O Chia'gnosi," he answered. Then, in
reply, I suppose, to my look of continued astonishment, he added: "The
'Nkosi spared my life, and the king gave me to him; therefore henceforth
I am his man."

"Do you mean that you intend to attach yourself to me, to become one of
my servants?" I demanded.

"Even so, 'Nkos'," he answered simply.

"But," I said, "the king will never permit that, 'Mfuni; he would be
very angry indeed with me should he discover that I had carried off one
of his warriors. Probably he would send an impi after us to eat us up."

"Nay, O Chia'gnosi, he would not; for it was the Great One himself who
ordered me to come to thee," replied 'Mfuni. "He gave me to thee; and
the king does not go back from his word."

"Very well. In that case thou mayst remain, and glad shall I be to have
thee," said I. "And now, let me look at thy hand; I must see what can
be done to heal the hurt that the sword inflicted upon thee."

The gash seemed to be a rather severe one, practically incapacitating
the member for the time being, and it took me the best part of half an
hour to extract the splinters of bone and bind up the wound, during
which time I must have inflicted a good deal of pain upon the poor
fellow, for the perspiration streamed down his face like rain. Yet all
the time he sat motionless and impassive as a statue, never moving a
muscle or shrinking in the least.

Before I had finished with my surgery, Mapela and the rest of the chiefs
turned up, in response to my invitation to call at the wagon to receive
the gifts which I proposed to distribute among them; and I soon
gathered, from their conversation, that 'Mfuni's story was perfectly
true, and that the king had indeed given the man to me as a present.

To distribute gifts to nearly one hundred chiefs proved to be a somewhat
lengthy business, also it made a pretty severe inroad into my stock of
"truck"; still, it had to be done, and I could only hope that, in the
long run, my generosity would not be without its reward. I treated them
all alike, or practically so, giving each man a yard of thin copper
wire, a gill measure of mixed beads, and either a bandana handkerchief
or a yard of printed calico.

And while the distribution was proceeding my visitors chatted volubly