ound three herd-boys, and they gave me the information I was
seeking. The prospectors had ascended the mountains through a valley
still farther to the eastward and had gone on. They had been heard of
very far ahead still going. With somewhat damped enthusiasm I followed.

Well, I kept like a hound on the trail of the prospectors right through
Swaziland. When the trail turned suddenly westward, I threw up the
sponge, for I immediately and correctly inferred what had happened: the
party had given up its quest and returned, taking a course through that
part of the Transvaal known as New Scotland. Their prospecting could
not have amounted to much. I often, long subsequently, wondered as to
what their feelings were when they heard of the discovery of the Sheba
Reef, for they must have walked over almost the very spot.

Sadly, and with chastened feelings, I began to retrace my steps. My two
Bapedi were in constant dread of their lives, for an old and deadly
feud existed between their tribe and the Swazis. They followed me like
my shadow, sometimes in a most embarrassing manner. Having been on my
forward journey hospitably entertained at the kraal of a prominent
induna named 'Ntshindeen, I decided to return there and rest. I felt
half-dead from fatigue and semi-starvation. My clothing was in rags.
The only, supplies I had left were a little meal and some salt.

At 'Ntshindeen's kraal I spent a few halcyon days. For one reason or
another, possibly on account of my extremely youthful appearance, I was
treated with great consideration. A very large hut, the whole inside of
which was lined with the finest basket-work, was given me to occupy. It
was the beginning of the season of green maize; every morning an armful
of luscious cobs was deposited at my door. An immense earthen pot of
honey and a skin milk sack were placed at my disposal. All day long I
would drowse under a tree which stood within a few yards of the hut
door, with Indogozan or his companion waving a bough to keep off the
flies. I only woke up to eat or to smoke. The prospectors were
forgotten; so were MacLean and the Pessimist. I tasted, to the fullest
extent, the sweetness of long-needed rest.

But the evenings were somewhat trying to one of my bashful temperament.
My fame had spread abroad; from distant kraals people flocked to see me
every night. For the one and only, time in my life I knew what it was
to be celebrated.

One very old woman, a "doctor," took m