was minded to destroy thee and thy following
and seize all thy belongings. Then she changed her mind and determined
to forbid thine entrance into her country. And now, quite recently, she
has again changed her mind, and has decided to receive thee in peace,
with all honour. She it was who directed me how and when to come and
where to lie in wait for thee. Ay, she even knows that Siluce, the
outlawed rebel, went out upon the Dark Path from thine arms."

"The dickens she does!" exclaimed I in English, in the height of my
astonishment. "Nay, but how can that be, seeing that no one has passed
from me to her to tell her so?" I continued in Bantu.

"It matters not, she knows," answered Pousa; adding, with just a touch
of impatience: "Do I not tell thee that she knows all things?"

"Yes," I answered, "you certainly tell me so, but--"

I checked myself abruptly, realising that I was on the point of saying
something that might easily be construed as offensive. "It will give me
great pleasure to make the acquaintance of your queen," I continued;
"for a woman who possesses such an extraordinary gift of knowledge must
be very well worth knowing. There are one or two matters upon which I
am badly in need of reliable information. Perhaps she may be induced to
give me that information?"

"She will, without doubt--if it so pleases her," answered Pousa. "But,"
he continued, "where is thy house that travels, being drawn of oxen, and
where are the rest of thy followers? The queen told me that there were
with thee four black ones, and that--"

"My wagon--which you call a house that travels--and the remaining three
of my followers are behind," I answered. "They will doubtless be with
us in the course of a few minutes. I shall outspan here, so that my
oxen may rest in the shade of the gorge. Will you not direct your men
to dismount and rest their zebras? We shall not resume our march for
about three hours."

Pousa regarded me for a moment, a little doubtfully I thought; then as I
calmly dismounted and turned Prince over to Piet to be off-saddled, the
little soldier gave a few crisp orders, in a tongue of which I was
ignorant, and his troopers at once dismounted, stripped their zebras of
their trappings, hobbled them, and turned them loose to graze; then the
men, arranging themselves in small parties, proceeded to open their
ration sacks and refresh themselves with a meal consisting, as I
noticed, of sun-dried meat and