houghts, for his tribe had suffered from that villain
at a former period, and he longed to rid the land of him.

As he thought thus he looked at his followers with an expression of
doubt for he knew too well that the Manganja were not a warlike tribe,
and feared that the few who remained with him might forsake him in the
hour of need. Indeed, much of his own well-known courage was to be
attributed to the fact, that his mother had belonged to a family more or
less nearly connected with the Ajawa, who are very warlike--too much so,
in truth, for it is they who, to a large extent are made use of by the
slave-dealers to carry on war with the neighbouring tribes. Kambira's
men, however, looked resolute, though very grave.

While he was thus meditating vengeance, he observed that one of the
approaching band advanced alone without arms, and making signs of peace.
This surprised him a little, but dreading treachery, he kept under the
shelter of a hut until the stranger was close to the village; then,
observing that the party on the hill had laid down their arms and seated
themselves on the grass, he advanced, still, however, retaining his
weapons.

The stranger was a little man, and appeared timid, but seeing that the
chief evidently meant no mischief, and knowing that the guns of his
friends had him within range, he drew near.

"Where come you from?" demanded Kambira.

To this Antonio--for it was he--replied that his party came from the
coast; that they wanted to pass through the land to see it, and to find
out what it produced and what its people had to sell; that it was led by
two Englishmen, who belonged to a nation that detested slavery--the same
nation that sent out Dr Livingstone, who, as everybody knew, had passed
through that land some years before. They were also, he said,
countrymen of the men of God who had come out to teach the Manganja the
Truth, who had helped them in their troubles, delivered them from the
slave-traders, and some of whom had died in their land. He added that
there were Manganja men and women in their company.

The "men of God" to whom Antonio referred, and to whom he had been
expressly told by Harold Seadrift to refer, were those devoted
missionaries mentioned in a previous chapter, who, under the leadership
of the amiable and true-hearted Bishop Mackenzie, established a mission
among these very Manganja hills in the year 1861. By a rare combination
of Christian love and manly courage