eir heads they wore plumed
helmets of the same precious metal; their legs were bare, save for a
kind of buskin made of leather, coloured white, reaching to just below
the knee; they were armed with a short, broad-bladed sword, and a round
target or shield, finely embossed, also made of gold; and they were
mounted on zebras, the trappings of which were thickly studded with
small gold bosses, the saddles consisting of thickly rolled blankets of
some soft material strapped over big saddle cloths of crimson silk,
edged with stout gold cord and adorned at the corners with tassels of
gold bullion. There was a standard-bearer with them whose trappings
were even richer and more ornate than those of the rank and file, and
who bore aloft upon a slender lance a small standard of crimson silk,
deeply edged with gold fringe, and beautifully emblazoned in gold thread
with a device which seemed to be a hieroglyphic of some sort, of which I
could make nothing.

Upon finding ourselves thus suddenly confronted with this extraordinary
array, we promptly reined our horses back upon their haunches, while I
with equal promptitude unslung my rifle and brought it to the "present",
more by instinct than anything else, for of course the idea of
successfully resisting fifty of even such little fellows as these, if
they were evilly disposed toward us and were possessed of only ordinary
courage, was absurd. But their chief, or leader, quickly set our minds
at rest, for without moving from his place in the front of his troop he
threw up his right hand and exclaimed, in a rather high-pitched voice,
and in the Bantu dialect with which I happened to be acquainted:

"Nay, mighty and noble lord, slay us not with thy lightnings, I pray
thee, for we mean naught but good to thee and thine! I, Pousa, captain
of the queen's bodyguard, have been dispatched by Bimbane, the Deathless
One, the Possessor of all Knowledge, the Reader of all Secrets, the High
and Mighty Queen of the Bandokolo, to bid thee welcome to her country
and to conduct thee in all honour to her gracious presence."

"It is well, O Pousa, and I thank you," answered I, as I lowered my
rifle. "But tell me, I pray you, how came Bimbane to know that it is my
purpose to visit her, and how came you to know where you would find me?"

"The queen knows all things; there is no secret hidden from her,"
answered Pousa simply. "She has long known of thy coming and the reason
for it, and at first she