the value that I attached to my two sacks of diamonds.

Our farewells were spoken at the precise spot where we had met on my
outward journey, but I did not pause there, pushing some twenty miles
into the defile where we had seen the man-monkeys before we outspanned
for the night. Two days later we passed the grave of the unhappy
Siluce, and I had the melancholy satisfaction of seeing that, thus far,
it had not been disturbed by wild animals. And on the following day we
arrived at the spot where, according to the vision in which Bimbane had
revealed to me the route I must follow in order to find Nell Lestrange,
it became necessary for us to forsake our former trail and enter upon
the new one. I took up this new trail without hesitation, the
conviction being strong upon me that I should be right in so doing; and
the event justified me, for on the evening of the sixty-second day after
my departure from Masakisale I arrived upon the north bank of the
Pongola River, and was informed by an astonished Kafir whom I
encountered that Zululand, the country of the redoubtable Dingaan, lay
upon the opposite shore of the stream. Of course I did not accomplish
this journey of two months' duration through a savage country without
meeting with a few adventures, yet they were surprisingly few, all
things considered, for I hunted now only for food for myself and my
followers; moreover, they were of a very similar character to those of
my outward journey, with a few unimportant variations in details. They
may, therefore, be passed over with merely this brief reference to them,
since to record them in detail would only render my story of altogether
too unwieldy dimensions, without adding very greatly to its interest.

Arrived upon the Zululand border, I lost no time in dispatching a
message to the formidable and somewhat unscrupulous king of the country,
requesting his permission to pass through his territory on my way to
Cape Colony from the north; and four days later 'Mfuni, who was my
messenger for the occasion, returned with a reply to the effect that
Dingaan granted my request, with the proviso that I did not linger
unduly upon my journey, and that I should call upon him at his Place,
Umgungundhlovu, on my way, to pay my respects--and also, as I fully
understood, tribute, in the shape of a handsome present, for the
privilege. This, of course, suited me admirably, as I intended to call
upon the king in any case; and on the mornin