once indeed, albeit at some distance,
he had seen the King. But on the subject of his parentage he was very
reticent. His father was a valiant and skilled fighter--so too, had
been all his ancestors--but he had fallen in the war. He himself had
been educated by a missionary, and sent over to England to be further
educated and eventually to be trained as a missionary himself, to aid in
evangelising his own people; although with true native reticence he had
refrained from owning that he had no taste for any such career. His
forefathers had all been warriors, and he only desired to follow in
their steps. Later on he imparted this to Haviland, but with all the
others he kept up a certain reserve.

To Haviland, indeed, the African boy had attached himself in doglike
fashion, ever since that potentate had interfered to rescue him from
Jarnley; yet his motive in so doing was not that of self-preservation,
for no word did he utter to his quondam protector that he was still a
particular object of spite to Jarnley and his following. At first
Haviland was bored thereby, then became interested, a change mainly
brought about by a diffident entreaty to be allowed to see his
collection of eggs, and also to be allowed to accompany him during the
process of adding to it. This was granted, and Haviland was amazed at
the extent of the Zulu boy's knowledge of everything to do with the bird
and animal life of the fields and woods, although totally different from
that of his own country. So he was graciously pleased to throw over him
the wing of his patronage, and the beginning of this strange friendship
was destined to lead to some very startling experiences indeed before it
should end.

But the school regarded it with partly amused, partly contemptuous
wonder, and in like spirit Anthony became known as "Haviland's chum."

CHAPTER SIX.

THE HAUNTED WOOD.

"What a rum chap Haviland is!" said Laughton, the captain of the school,
as from the window of the prefects' room, he, with three or four others,
stood watching the subject of the remark, rapidly receding into
distance, for it was a half-holiday afternoon. "He and Cetchy have
become quite thick."

"I expect he finds him useful at egg-hunting," said Medlicott.

"Yes--and how about it being wrong form for us to go about with
juniors?" struck in Langley, a small prefect who had attained to that
dignity by reason of much "sapping," but was physically too weak to
sustain