d_. When he found this out, Thomas flatly
declined any such unchristian title, with the result that, anxious to
oblige, they christened him "Tombool," and as "Tombool" thenceforward
he was known. (Dorcas objected to this name, but Tabitha remarked sagely
that at any rate it was better than "Tomfool.")

This was to his face, but behind his back they called him _Inkunzi_,
which means bull, and in order to keep up the idea, designated poor
Dorcas _Isidanda_, that being interpreted signified a gentle-natured
cow. To Tabitha they gave a prettier name, calling her _Imba_ or Little
Flower.

At first Dorcas was quite pleased with her title, which sounded nice,
but when she came to learn what it meant it was otherwise.

"How can you expect me, Thomas, to live among a people who call me 'a
mild cow'?" she asked indignantly.

"Never mind, my dear," he answered. "In their symbolical way they
are only signifying that you will feed them with the milk of human
kindness," a reply which did not soothe her at all. In fact, of the
three the child alone was pleased, because she said that "Opening
Flower" was a prettier name than Tabbie, which reminded her of cats.

Thenceforward, following a track, for it could not be called a road,
they advanced slowly, first over a mountain pass on the farther side of
which the wagon nearly upset, and then across a great bush-clad plain
where there was much game and the lions roared round them at night,
necessitating great fires to frighten them away. These lions terrified
Dorcas, a town-bred woman who had never seen one of them except in the
Zoo, so much that she could scarcely sleep, but oddly enough Tabitha was
not disturbed by them.

"God will not let us be eaten by a lion, will He, Father?" she asked in
her simple faith.

"Certainly not," he answered, "and if the brute tries to do so I shall
shoot it."

"I'd rather trust to God, Father, because you know you can never hit
anything," replied Tabitha.

Fortunately, however, it never became necessary for Thomas to show his
skill as a marksman, for when they got through the bushveld there were
no more lions.

On the fourth day after they left the river they found themselves upon
gentle sloping veld that by degrees led them upwards to high land where
it was cold and healthy and there were no mosquitoes. For two days they
trekked over these high lands, which seemed to be quite uninhabited save
by herds of feeding buck, till at length they atta