“You do not answer, Umbezi, and perhaps you do well to be silent.  Now listen again.  Were it not for Macumazahn here, whom I do not desire to mix up with my quarrels, I would bid my men take you and beat you to death with the handles of their spears, and then go on and serve the Boar in the same fashion in his mountain sty.  As it is, these things must wait a little while, especially as I have other matters to attend to first.  Yet the day is not far off when I will attend to them also.  Therefore my counsel to you, Cheat, is to make haste to die or to find courage to fall upon a spear, unless you would learn how it feels to be brayed with sticks like a green hide until none can know that you were once a man.  Send now and tell my words to Masapo the Boar.  And to Mameena say that soon I will come to take her with spears and not with cattle.  Do you understand?  Oh!  I see that you do, since already you weep with fear like a woman.  Then farewell to you till that day when I return with the sticks, O Umbezi the cheat and the liar, Umbezi, ‘Eater-up-of-Elephants,’” and turning, Saduko stalked away.

I was about to follow in a great hurry, having had enough of this very unpleasant scene, when poor old Umbezi sprang at me and clasped me by the arm.

“O Macumazana,” he exclaimed, weeping in his terror, “O Macumazana, if ever I have been a friend to you, help me out of this deep pit into which I have fallen through the tricks of that monkey of a daughter of mine, who I think is a witch born to bring trouble upon men.  Macumazahn, if she had been your daughter and a powerful chief had appeared with a hundred and twenty head of such beautiful cattle, you would have given her to him, would you not, although he is of mixed blood and not very young, especially as she did not mind who only cares for place and wealth?”

“I think not,” I answered; “but then it is not our custom to sell women in that fashion.”

“No, no, I forgot; in this as in other matters you white men are mad and, Macumazahn, to tell you the truth, I believe it is you she really cares for; she said as much to me once or twice.  Well, why did you not take her away when I was not looking?  We could have settled matters afterwards, and I should have been free of her witcheries and not up to my neck in this hole as I am now.”

“Because some people don’t do that kind of thing, Umbezi.”

“No, no, I forgot.  Oh! why can I not remember that you are quite mad and therefore that it must not be expected of you to act as though you were sane.  Well, at least you are that tiger Saduko’s friend, which again shows that you must be very mad, for most people would sooner try to milk a cow buffalo than walk hand in hand with him.  Don’t you see, Macumazahn, that he means to kill me, Macumazahn, to bray me like a green hide?  Ugh! to beat me to death with sticks.  Ugh!  And what is more, that unless you prevent him, he will certainly do it, perhaps to-morrow or the next day.  Ugh!  Ugh!  Ugh!”