why do you not take a stick and knock it on the head? If you are
afraid I will do so for you if you pay me. That for your snake," and
very energetically he spat upon the floor.

"All right," said Harut, still speaking in English, "you go kill snake.
Go when you like, no one say no. Then we give you new name. Then we call
you Lord-of-the-Snake."

As Hans, who now was engaged in lighting his corn-cob pipe, did not
deign to answer these remarks, Harut turned to me and said:

"Lord Macumazana, your leg still bad, eh? Well, I bring you some
ointment what make it quite well; it holy ointment come from the Child.
We want you get well quick."

Then suddenly he broke into Bantu. "My Lord, war draws near. The Black
Kendah are gathering all their strength to attack us and we must have
your aid. I go down to the River Tava to see to certain matters, as to
the reaping of the outlying crops and other things. Within a week I will
be back; then we must talk again, for by that time, if you will use the
ointment that I have given you, you will be as well as ever you were
in your life. Rub it on your leg, and mix a piece as large as a mealie
grain in water and swallow it at night. It is not poison, see," and
taking the cover off a little earthenware pot which he produced he
scooped from it with his finger some of the contents, which looked like
lard, put it on his tongue and swallowed it.

Then he rose and departed with his usual bows.

Here I may state that I used Harut's prescription with the most
excellent results. That night I took a dose in water, very nasty it was,
and rubbed my leg with the stuff, to find that next morning all pain
had left me and that, except for some local weakness, I was practically
quite well. I kept the rest of the salve for years, and it proved a
perfect specific in cases of sciatica and rheumatism. Now, alas! it is
all used and no recipe is available from which it can be made up again.

The next few days passed uneventfully. As soon as I could walk I began
to go about the town, which was nothing but a scattered village much
resembling those to be seen on the eastern coasts of Africa. Nearly
all the men seemed to be away, making preparations for the harvest, I
suppose, and as the women shut themselves up in their houses after the
Oriental fashion, though the few that I saw about were unveiled and
rather good-looking, I did not gather any intelligence worth noting.

To tell the truth I cannot remember