m. And do you be careful, Baas, or she will eat up your spirit and
make you fall in love with her, who, I expect, is very ugly indeed,
since otherwise she would not wear a veil. Whoever saw a pretty woman
tie up her head in a sack, Baas?"

"Perhaps she does this because she is so beautiful, Hans, that she fears
the hearts of men who look upon her would melt."

"Oh, no, Baas, all women want to melt men's hearts; the more the better.
They seem to have other things in their minds, but really they think of
nothing else until they are too old and ugly, and it takes them a long
while to be sure of that."

So Hans went on talking his shrewd nonsense till, following so far as
I could see, the same road as that by which we had come, we reached our
quarters, where we found food prepared for us, broiled goat's flesh
with corncakes and milk, I think it was; also beds for us two white men
covered with skin rugs and blankets woven of wool.

These quarters, I should explain, consisted of rooms in a house built
of stone of which the walls had once been painted. The roof of the house
was gone now, for we could see the stars shining above us, but as the
air was very soft in this sheltered plain, this was an advantage rather
than otherwise. The largest room was reserved for Robertson and myself,
while another at the back was given to Umslopogaas and his Zulus, and a
third to the two wounded men.

Billali showed us these arrangements by the light of lamps and
apologised that they were not better because, as he explained, the place
was a ruin and there had been no time to build us a house. He added that
we might sleep without fear as we were guarded and none would dare to
harm the guests of She-who-commands, on whom he was sure we, or at any
rate I and the black Warrior, had produced an excellent impression. Then
he bowed himself out, saying that he would return in the morning, and
left us to our own devices.

Robertson and I sat down on stools that had been set for us, and ate,
but he seemed so overcome by his experiences, or by his sombre thoughts,
that I could not draw him into conversation. All he remarked was that
we had fallen into queer company and that those who supped with Satan
needed a long spoon. Having delivered himself of this sentiment he
threw himself upon the bed, prayed aloud for a while as had become his
fashion, to be "protected from warlocks and witches," amongst other
things, and went to sleep.

Before I turned