leader jump the gap, and count the other
sheep, one by one, as they followed. The undertaking: was that before the
last sheep had cleared the gap, sleep should woo him. Nothing new, you
see!

'But, having paid his sovereign the Bishop fancied that he might try the
notion, and he did so. He confessed, with amusement, that the remedy had
not done him any good, and enjoined that I might experiment without pre-
payment. To carry on the fun I did this, and upon my word I think the
remedy helped me once or twice. It was rather unfair to the Bishop that I
should reap the harvest of his sovereign.'

There were to be sleepless nights for Sir George, arising from an event
which he believed to be unique in history. Some of the Kaffir chiefs,
especially the older ones, saw a danger signal in the lamp of native
progress. To them, it denoted the rising power of the white, before whom
all black men would be driven out. These fears were magnetised into a
great upheaval, at the word of a young Kaffir girl turned prophetess. She
uprose, a dark but comely Maid of Orleans, a Messiah to her people and
her message swept Kaffraria like a wind.

As any maiden might have done, Nongkause went to fetch a pitcher of
water. Most maidens, when they filled the pitcher, would have seen the
shadow of a sweetheart in the eddies. Nongkause saw more. Strange beings,
such as were not then in Kaffraria, were about her, and strange sounds
fell upon her ears. The remote ancestors of the Kaffirs were revealing
themselves; their spirits were consulting on the affairs of men.

Nongkause hurried to tell her uncle Umhlakaza, and, he helped to proclaim
the visions. To him and to others they were, no doubt, expected, and
certainly they were welcome. For what was their message? Nongkause had it
from the council of spirits, sitting under the water, a corner of which
lifted to allow of communication.

Disease was making itself felt among the cattle that formed the main
wealth of the Kaffirs. However, the heroic chiefs who had long gone
hence, were only waiting to return with endless herds. These were of
vastly improved breed, nor could any earthly sickness harm them. From the
unknown, there would also arrive all manner of desirable things; no
Kaffir could even imagine them. Finally, those who were to bring the
lustrous Kaffraria would march before a giant army. By it, the white
would be driven into the sea, and Kaffir rule would direct a Kaffir land.

It was a q