The Pondos were very angry at their loss, and, gathering their strength,
followed them for some days, but before they could come up with them
Sigwe and his army had reached country so difficult and so far away that
the Pondo chief thought it wisest to leave them alone. So they marched
on, taking the captured cattle with them, and after this bloodless
victory Suzanne and Sihamba were greatly honoured by the soldiers, and
even the lad Zinti was treated like a chief.

Now once more they reached wild lands, inhabited only by scattered
tribes, and passed through them at their leisure, for they had plenty of
food to eat, although from time to time they were obliged to encamp upon
the banks of flooded rivers, or to hunt for a road over a mountain. It
was on the thirty-first day of their journey that at length they entered
the territories of the Endwandwe, against whom they had come to make
war, where at once they were met by messengers sent by Sikonyana, the
chief of the Endwandwe, desiring to know why they came upon him with so
great a force. To these men the case was set out by Sigwe, speaking in
his own name and in that of the Swallow. As he had promised Suzanne, for
this was a savage who kept his word, he offered to refrain from attack
if the young Batwa was exchanged for her one-eyed sister and sent to
him, together with the thousand head of cattle which he had paid, and
two thousand more by way of fine. At first these terms were refused, but
afterwards an embassy came of whom the captain was the brother of the
king, who said that he was charged to discuss the matter with the white
chieftainess named Swallow, herself, and with none other.

So Suzanne, accompanied only by Sihamba, and mounted upon the great
_schimmel_ that had come safe and well through all the journey, though
the black horse had died of sickness, rode out a hundred paces in front
of the army and met the man. There she spoke to him well and wisely,
pointing out to him that without doubt a trick had been played upon
Sigwe which he was mad to avenge. The captain answered that they were
well able to fight. She replied that this might be so, that they might
even conquer Sigwe and drive him back, but it could not be done without
great loss to themselves, and that if his tribe were at all weakened
the Zulus, who hated them, would hear of it, and take the opportunity to
stamp them out.

Well, the end of it was that the Endwandwe yielded, and upon the promise
of