g with a horrid
leggy thing he'd just caught. What was it, Mr Denham? A praying--
praying--something?"

"Amantis."

"Yes. He'll be catching snails next."

"Shouldn't wonder, Mrs Shelford. I'm keen on capturing the skin of the
_indhlondhlo_."

"He's jolly rare," said Ben Halse, with a twinkle in his eyes. "We
might find one up my way, but it isn't certain."

"What did you call that snake, Mr Denham?" said Verna.

He repeated the word. Then, as something struck him--

"Now that's not fair, Miss Halse. Remember I've only been in the
country a few days."

"Why? What? Oh, I see. No, really, I wasn't making fun of the way you
said it; on the contrary, you pronounced it so well I wanted to hear it
again to make sure. Aren't I right, father?"

"Right--as usual. But joking apart, I noticed the same thing. You'll
have to learn the lingo, Mr Denham, as I said."

"I'll try. By the way, what's the meaning of the name of this place--
Ezulwini?"

"In the heavens," answered Verna. "Pretty name, isn't it? It was named
after the kraal of an old-time chief which stood on its site."

"Why, yes. It's rather good," said Denham. "It's much better to stick
to the old native names instead of inventing British and new ones."

"I agree with you. But the worst of it is there are so few that the
British tongue can get round," said Verna. "That makes rather a
difficulty at a railway booking-office, for instance, when you have a
newly-imported Britisher issuing tickets."

"Such as myself," laughed Denham.

"I didn't know you issued tickets," rejoined the girl mischievously.

"But the newly-imported Britisher!"

"Well, yes. I suppose you are that. But it isn't incurable."

There was a laugh at this. Denham was delighted. There was something
about the girl at his side that was infinitely taking. She, for her
part, talked on and talked well. How had she acquired the art, he
marvelled, spending life in a place which her father had described as
"precious wild." But perhaps she had been home to England for
educational purposes. But to a question to that effect Verna promptly
replied in the negative. She had once been to Johannesburg, and that
not for long; beyond that she had never been outside Zululand and Natal.

"I am utterly uneducated, you know," she added frankly, but with the
most taking smile.

"You don't expect me to take that seriously, Miss Halse?" said Denham.

"Well, it's true."

He sho