as a protest against being hurried I made up
my mind not to hurry. Afterwards I had reason to regret my delay.

We strolled back to join the others, and the prospect of this
companionship more or less throughout the day, to end in an evening
similar to that of last night--with the native revels left out--soon
restored my accustomed good humour. The natives were squatting about
round the store in groups, conversing in their deep-toned voices. Then
suddenly they all sprang to their feet as one man, uttering respectful
salutations; and there, to my surprise, advancing leisurely towards us,
came Tyingoza himself.

"It is the chief," I explained for the benefit of my companion,
"Tyingoza. He has changed his mind."

"Oh, I am so glad," she said, looking at him with interest. "I shall
see him before we start I like the look of him. Why if we had started
when Falkner wanted us to we should have missed him."

Afterwards, I repeat, I had good reason to wish we had.

I have omitted to describe Tyingoza's outward appearance. He was a man
of between fifty and sixty, rather inclining to stoutness, which
detracted somewhat from his stature, but his walk was straight and
dignified, and he carried his shaven head, crowned by the shiny ring,
well held back, as became a Zulu of birth and standing. His strong
face, terminating in a short, crisp, grizzled beard, was a very pleasant
one, and the expression of his eyes good-humoured and genial to a
degree.

"Welcome, Tyingoza," I said, going forward to meet him. "Here are they
who would see thy young men hunt."

The chief ran his eyes over the group.

"I see them, Iqalaqala," he said, in the native idiom. "_Whau_! the
game is rather scarce, but I hope they will be pleased."

His eyes rested for a moment on Miss Sewin, and then on me, and I
remembered his joke about the new hut. Then he sat down in his
accustomed place against the front of the store, while the others sank
back into their former attitudes at a respectful distance.

"What rum things those head-rings are, Glanton," commented Falkner, who
had been staring at Tyingoza as if he were some wild animal. "Looks for
all the world like a thick stick of Spanish liquorice coiled round his
head. What the deuce are they made of?"

"The dark gum of the mimosa, and other things," I said, going on, in the
Major's interest, to translate all sorts of complimentary things which
that fine old soldier had never dreamed of or