irst
have cut off your right hand, _for it is better to lose a hand than
one's mind_. This is my `word,' Umlilwane--bear it in memory, _for you
have struck a chief_--a man of the House of Gcaleka."

[Umlilwane: "Little Fire"--Kafirs are fond of bestowing nicknames. This
one referred to its bearer's habitually short temper.]

"Damn the House of Gcaleka, anyway," said Carhayes, with a sneer as the
savage, having vented his denunciation, stalked scowlingly away with his
compatriots. "Look here, _isidenge_," [fool], he continued. "This is
my word. Keep clear of me, for the next time you fall foul of me I'll
shoot you dead. And now, Eustace," turning to his companion, "we had
better load up this buck-meat and carry it home. What on earth is the
good of my trying to preserve the game, with a whole location of these
black scum not ten miles from my door?" he went on, as he placed the
carcase of the unfortunate steinbok on the crupper of his horse.

"No good. No good, whatever, as I am always telling you," rejoined the
other decisively, "Kafir locations and game can't exist side by side.
Doesn't it ever strike you, Tom, that this game-preserving mania is
costing you--costing us, excessively dear."

"Hang it. I suppose it is," growled Carhayes. "I'll clear out, _trek_
to some other part of the country where a fellow isn't overrun by a lot
of worthless, lazy, red Kafirs. I wish to Heaven they'd only start this
precious war. I'd take it out of some of their hides. Have some better
sport than buck-hunting then, eh?"

"Perhaps. But there may be no war after all. Meanwhile you have won
the enmity of every Kafir in Nteya's and Ncanduku's locations. I
wouldn't give ten pounds for our two hundred pound pair of breeding
ostriches, if it meant leaving them here three days from now, that's
all."

"Oh, shut up croaking, Eustace," snarled Carhayes, "And by the way, who
the deuce is this sweep Hlangani, and what is he doing on this side of
the river anyway?"

"He's a Gcaleka, as he said, and a petty chief under Kreli; and the
Gaikas on this side are sure to take up his quarrel. I know them."

"H'm. It strikes me you know these black scoundrels rather well,
Eustace. What a queer chap you are. Now, I wonder what on earth has
made you take such an interest in them of late."

"So do I. I suppose, though, I find them interesting, especially since
I have learned to talk with them pretty easily. And they are
interest