on the King against his will, as I had been asked to do.
It was evident to me that he was up to his eyes in some serious plot
against Cetywayo, in which he was the old dwarf Zikali's partner, or
rather, tool; also that his plot had been betrayed, with the result that
he was "wanted" and would have little chance of passing safely through
Zululand. So taking one thing with another I imagined that I had seen
his grim face and his peculiar, ancient-looking axe for the last time.

To tell the truth I was glad. Although at first the idea had appealed to
me a little, I did not want to make this wild-goose, or wild-witch chase
through unknown lands to seek for a totally fabulous person who dwelt
far across the Zambesi. I had, as it were, been forced into the thing,
but if Umslopogaas did not appear, my obligations would be at an end
and I should return to Natal at my leisure. First, however, I would do
a little shooting since I found that a large herd of elephants haunted
this forest. Indeed I was tempted to attack them at once, but did not
do so since, as Hans pointed out, if we were going north it would be
difficult to carry the ivory, especially if we had to leave the waggon,
and I was too old a hunter to desire to kill the great beasts for the
fun of the thing.

So I just sat down and rested, letting the oxen feed throughout the
hours of light on the rich grasses which grew upon the bottom-most
slopes of the big mountain where we were camped by a stream, not more
than a hundred yards above the timber line.

At some time or other there had been a native village at this spot;
probably the Zulus had cleaned it out in long past years, for I
found human bones black with age lying in the long grass. Indeed, the
cattle-kraal still remained and in such good condition that by piling
up a few stones here and there on the walls and closing the narrow
entrances with thorn bushes, we could still use it to enclose our oxen
at night. This I did for fear lest there should be lions about, though I
had neither seen nor heard them.

So the days went by pleasantly enough with lots to eat, since whenever
we wanted meat I had only to go a few yards to shoot a fat buck at a
spot whither they trekked to drink in the evening, till at last came the
time of full moon. Of this I was also glad, since, to tell the truth, I
had begun to be bored. Rest is good, but for a man who has always led an
active life too much of it is very bad, for then he begi