instead of forward, or we might run right upon the spears
of those who pursued us. Yet we were not without some hope that the
latter, doubting not but that we had been devoured by the lions, might
return to the King and report accordingly.

"We were about to descend from our trees, thinking that the mist had
lightened, when a sound fell upon our ears; and it was a sound there was
no mistaking, for it is like nothing else that I know of--I mean the
soft rattle of assegai hafts which a man carries bunched in his hand.
_Hau_! We dared hardly so much as breathe. The sound drew nearer and
nearer, and we could hear the rustling as of men forcing their way
through bushes. Then we gave ourselves up for lost, as they came
immediately beneath, conversing in a low hum.

"`If the lions have eaten them, they will not have eaten their _mutyas_,
nor Untuswa's shield and spears,' a voice was saying. `These, at any
rate, we must find.'

"I recognised the voice as that of Njalo-njalo, and expected instant
discovery. However, they seemed so intent on examining the spoors of
the lions that their eyes were all upon the ground, and it never seemed
to occur to them to look up; though, indeed, had they searched for us on
such a plan in that forest country, their eyes would have been gazing
upward all the time; and at length they passed on, yet little comfort
did we take to ourselves, for in the mist we knew not which way to
travel, whereas, did it lighten, we should be discovered to the
messengers of death.

"We waited a little while longer, and then came down from our trees.
Yet we decided not to follow on the line we had first intended to take,
and which took us into that defile through which the _impi_ had passed
to attack the Baputi, because those who sought us would be certain to
make for that place first, reckoning that I would surely go there, where
the land was already known to me. So we struck off nearly in the
opposite direction to that taken by the pursuers, although this brought
us back too near to Ekupumuleni. However, we saw them no more, and
after three days--for travelling was slow and cautious, and at night we
had to climb trees because of the lions--we got among the mountains.

"And now it seemed as though we had left the abodes of men, and were
setting forth into an unknown land stretching away beyond the confines
of the world; for here were great gloomy valleys and towering
cliff-walls, resounding with the deep