ion at the insolence of these audacious
strangers; his second, a wholesome fear of the consequences of
disobedience. For if these mysterious visitants had the power of
soaring into the air by a mere wave of the hand, what might it not be
possible for them to do in the event of their being seriously provoked.
Besides, he had already received a practical assurance of his impotency
so far as they were concerned; moreover, he was consumed by curiosity to
see for himself the marvels so graphically described by his lieutenant,
to receive a moiety of those magnificent gifts which the strangers
seemed prepared to lavish broadcast upon all with whom they chanced to
come into contact, and, above all, to satisfy himself with respect to
certain conjectures which had flitted through his brain whilst listening
to the astonishing narrative of Lualamba. M'Bongwele was an ignorant
savage, it is true, but he was possessed of a dauntless courage, a
persistency of purpose, and an unscrupulous craftiness and ambitiousness
of character which would have won him distinction of a certain
unenviable kind in any community. Already his brain was teeming with
vague unformed plots of the wildest and most audaciously extravagant
description, the possibility of which he was determined to ascertain for
himself, and the maturing of which he was quite prepared to leave to
time. He therefore ultimately resolved to obey the summons sent him by
the strangers; but, remembering his kingly dignity, he postponed
obedience as long as he dared, and it was not until four o'clock in the
afternoon that he set out for the ruins, attired in all his native
finery, consisting of a lion-skin mantle and magnificent gold coronet
adorned with flamingo's feathers--the emblems of his regal power--gold
bangles on his arms and ankles, a necklace of lion's teeth and claws
round his neck, and a short petticoat of leopard's skin about his loins.
He was armed with a sheaf of light javelins or assegais, he carried in
his left hand a long narrow shield of rhinoceros hide decorated with
ostrich plumes, and he was mounted on a superb black horse (which he
rode bare-backed and managed with the skill of a finished equestrian).
His followers, numbering about five hundred, were also fully armed and
excellently mounted, they being, indeed, with the exception of a few
court officials, his regiment of household cavalry, the pick of his
native warriors and the very flower of his army. He wa