g of the
hyenas, as they tore the bones of what had been left behind of the two
gnus, as not worth bringing away, were the only sounds which disturbed
the quiet of the little camp on the banks of the Limpopo.

Early morning saw the whole party afoot.

"Had we not better send Luji back to the tent?" said Hughes, as the
morning light becoming clearer, they looked back from the crest of a
rise, and saw it shining in the early sunbeams.

"We shall need him as an interpreter, perhaps. I can just manage, and
that is all, to be understood," replied Wyzinski; "everything is safe.
Noti will keep a look-out."

"See, there are a lot of Matabeles," exclaimed Hughes. "They are quite
naked, and have bows and arrows."

"And there are more. Look in what numbers they are turning out! Yonder
fellows have flint musquets: where did they get them, Luji?" asked the
missionary.

"The Portuguese on the Zambesi--him sell, Master," was the answer.

And now detachment after detachment came on, spreading out across the
country, like infantry skirmishers, some carrying only spears, others
bows and arrows, and a few, a very few, musquets, but always in line:
shouting, yelling, and driving everything before them. Soon the
antelope came bounding past, endeavouring to escape, but were driven
back again, as the long line of savages, throwing forward the two
flanks, enclosed them in a crescent miles in length, and drove them back
on the river. Herds of koodoos, eland, and hartebeest came scouring
along, attempting to break through in vain, while the painted zebra, the
graceful leche, with its long tapering horns, were remorselessly driven
back by the yells and shouts of the Matabele.

"I suppose we must find Mozelkatse. Tell Masheesh of our wish, Luji,"
said the missionary. He alone of the whole party was mounted, being
weak from the effects of fever, and as he spoke, they topped the crest
of one of the green ridges so common to the undulating plains bordering
the Limpopo, and on passing it the whole party were stopped by the
presence, right in their path, of a huge rhinoceros.

He was quietly standing under a tree, apparently studying the landscape,
and not seeming to think of the distant noise. At the foot of the tree
rose one of those curious structures, the nest of the African ant, while
a strange little animal, covered with thickly-plated scales of a
yellowish tint, the under part of the belly only being undefended, was
busy feed