with a
terrible double-edged blade about six inches wide and eighteen inches
long. Their commanding officer was similarly armed; but in addition to
the leopard-skin mucha he wore a leopard-skin cloak, a necklace of
lions' teeth and claws, and a headdress made of beads and ostrich
feathers. Every man of these twenty-one savage warriors showed upon his
person the scars of many wounds, and carried himself with a pride of
bearing which forbade him to display the slightest sign of consciousness
of our presence.

CHAPTER SIX.

MOSHESH, THE KING OF THE BASUTOS.

A minute later the curtain of reed matting that hung in the doorway of
the itunkulu was thrust aside, and a man came forth. He was slightly
above medium stature, and a trifle lighter in colour than the average
Basuto; he was much more simply attired than the officer of the guard,
his clothing consisting simply of a leopard-skin mucha and a lion-skin
mantle: but the assured dignity of his carriage and the expression of
arrogant pride upon his well-formed features would of themselves have
sufficed to tell me that the man was none other than Moshesh, the king
of the Basuto nation, even had the guard not given him the royal salute
by raising their stabbing assagais aloft in their right hands as they
thundered out the word "Bayete!" As for me, I had not the remotest
notion of the kind of salutation which His Majesty would expect from me;
I therefore contented myself by standing at attention in military
fashion and giving him a military salute. The action, which is
certainly a very expressive one, seemed to meet with the royal approval,
for the king acknowledged it by the slightest possible uplifting of the
right hand as he seated himself in his chair and the guard formed up
behind him. Then, gazing at me steadfastly for a moment, he said:

"S'a bon', umulungu!" Then, without allowing me time to make the
stereotyped reply, he continued: "For what purpose have ye come hither
into my country?"

"I have business in the far north," said I; "and to reach my destination
it is necessary for me to pass through thy country. Therefore have I
come hither to offer presents, and to ask thy permission to pass through
thy country and hunt therein."

"Au!" commented the king in a tone of displeasure; "I like it not. If I
give thee leave to travel and hunt in Basutoland, others of thy
countrymen will claim the same privilege, and it will end in so many
coming that there