ome way off my eye fell upon a
burly, white-bearded man whose figure seemed to be familiar to me, and
towards him I went, taking no heed of the others, of whom there may
have been six or seven. Soon I was sure, and advancing with outstretched
hand, said:

"Good-day, Mynheer Piet Retief. Who would have thought that we who
parted so far away and so long ago would live to meet among the Zulus?"

He stared at me.

"Who is it? Who is it? Allemachte! I know now. The little Englishman,
Allan Quatermain, who shot the geese down in the Old Colony. Well, I
should not be surprised, for the man you beat in that match told me that
you were travelling in these parts. Only I understood him to say that
the Zulus had killed you."

"If you mean Hernan Pereira," I answered, "where did you meet him?"

"Why, down by the Tugela there, in a bad way. However, he can tell you
all about that himself, for I have brought him with me to show us the
path to Dingaan's kraal. Where is Pereira? Send Pereira here. I want to
speak with him."

"Here I am," answered a sleepy voice, the hated voice of Pereira
himself, from the other side of a thick bush, where he had been
slumbering. "What is it, commandant? I come," and he emerged, stretching
himself and yawning, just as the remainder of my party came up. He
caught sight of Henri Marais first of all, and began to greet him,
saying: "Thank God, my uncle, you are safe!"

Then his eyes fell on me, and I do not think I ever saw a man's face
change more completely. His jaw dropped, the colour left his cheeks,
leaving them of the yellow which is common to persons of Portuguese
descent; his outstretched hand fell to his side.

"Allan Quatermain!" he ejaculated. "Why, I thought that you were dead."

"As I should have been, Mynheer Pereira, twice over if you could have
had your way," I replied.

"What do you mean, Allan?" broke in Retief.

"I will tell you what he means," exclaimed the Vrouw Prinsloo, shaking
her fat fist at Pereira. "That yellow dog means that twice he has tried
to murder Allan--Allan, who saved his life and ours. Once he shot at him
in a kloof and grazed his cheek; look, there is the scar of it. And once
he plotted with the Zulus to slaughter him, telling Dingaan that he was
an evildoer and a wizard, who would bring a curse upon his land."

Now Retief looked at Pereira.

"What do you say to this?" he asked.

"What do I say?" repeated Pereira, recovering himself. "Why, that it is