Portuguese fort of Sofala,
consequently the river the party had descended, which Masheesh called
the Golden River, was once the means of extensive trade with the
interior. Leaving the chief, Hughes joined the missionary,
communicating to him the result of his conversation. The ruins of a
large stone fort were crumbling away before them, the masses of fallen
masonry gradually disappearing before the slow but steady action of
time, besides being partially buried in the sand drifted up before the
winter gales. The Arab chief followed them, after having spoken to the
men near him, several of whom started off in different directions, two
sauntering lazily down to the boat. The old man seemed puzzled as to
what interest could attach to the ruins.

"The stones," said he, raising his hand as he spoke, and pointing over
the ocean, whose waves were rolling in thunder on the bar,--"the stones
came from over the big water to build the white man's fort."

"That's nonsense," exclaimed the missionary, speaking in English, and
wandering from mound to mound. "They were taken from some ruins in the
interior, and it is those we seek. The mined cities of Zulu land."

"How firmly you have got that into your head, Wyzinski," replied his
companion.

"Into my head. Do you not see, do you not remember what Masheesh told
us this morning?" returned the missionary in an excited tone. "Away
yonder to the north and west, running through a territory disputed
between Mozelkatse and Machin, are the rivers Thati and Ramaquotan.
There lie the gold fields of Solomon somewhere in that neighbourhood;
the ruined cities of the mighty old Egyptians, the ancient gold diggers,
crumble into dust."

"You are crazy on the subject, Wyzinski. What has an old Portuguese
fort to do with all this?" replied Hughes, seriously.

"You are blind, Hughes, or will not see," returned the other, in a sharp
tone. "Did not Masheesh call yonder river the Golden River--and why?"

"Because gold may have been found in its banks, or on its bar. The
thing is simple enough, Wyzinski."

"It is you that are simple," said the excited man. "The river brought
down the boats with their cargo of gold, dug near the sources of the
Limpopo. The Sofala of the Portuguese is the Ophir of Solomon. Here
the ships of Tarshish came, and from that trade in gold the river took,
and still keeps its name--the Golden River."

There was nothing for it but to accept the dogma. The Arab