y, ran down his
forehead and the nose beneath, across the lips and chin, ending in a red
mark the size of a penny where the throat joins the chest. His woolly
hair also, in which was twisted a small ring of black gum, was soaked
with grease and powdered blue. It was arranged in a kind of horn,
coming to a sharp point about five inches above the top of the skull.
Altogether he looked extremely like the devil. What was more, he was a
devil in a bad temper, for the first words he said embodied a reproach
to us for not having asked him to partake of our "holy drink" with
Babemba.

We offered to make him some more, but he refused, saying that we should
poison him.

Then Babemba set the matter out, rather nervously I thought, for
evidently he was afraid of this old wizard, who listened in complete
silence. When Babemba explained that without the king's direct order it
would be foolish and unjustifiable to put to death such magicians as
we were, Imbozwi spoke for the first time, asking why he called us
magicians.

Babemba instanced the wonders of the shining shield that showed
pictures.

"Pooh!" said Imbozwi, "does not calm water or polished iron show
pictures?"

"But this shield will make fire," said Babemba. "The white lords say it
can burn a man up."

"Then let it burn me up," replied Imbozwi with ineffable contempt, "and
I will believe that these white men are magicians worthy to be kept
alive, and not common slave-traders such as we have often heard of."

"Burn him, white lords, and show him that I am right," exclaimed the
exasperated Babemba, after which they fell to wrangling. Evidently they
were rivals, and by this time both of them had lost their tempers.

The sun was now very hot, quite sufficiently so to enable us to give
Mr. Imbozwi a taste of our magic, which I determined he should have.
Not being certain whether an ordinary mirror would really reflect enough
heat to scorch, I drew from my pocket a very powerful burning-glass
which I sometimes used for the lighting of fires in order to save
matches, and holding the mirror in one hand and the burning-glass in
the other, I worked myself into a suitable position for the experiment.
Babemba and the witch-doctor were arguing so fiercely that neither
of them seemed to notice what I was doing. Getting the focus right,
I directed the concentrated spark straight on to Imbozwi's greased
top-knot, where I knew he would feel nothing, my plan being to char
a hole i