ent to
my request, I was somewhat perturbed to see Moshesh himself, splendidly
mounted, and attired in his new rig-out, accompanied by some ten or a
dozen indunas and about a thousand of his troops, all mounted, filing
out of the gate and heading straight for the wagon--for, to be quite
candid, the South African savage is a little uncertain in his moods, and
the man who is to-day in high favour may, as likely as not, find himself
staked out on an ant-heap to-morrow, to die the awful "death of the
ants" in revenge for some unknown and unintended offence. But upon the
arrival of the cavalcade I was quickly reassured by the cordial tone of
the king's greeting and the respect with which the indunas saluted me;
and presently Moshesh, informing me that he was about to hold a review
of his own especial regiment of lifeguards, invited me to accompany him
and witness the evolutions. This, of course, was a very exceptional
display of royal favour, and although I was anxious to press forward
upon my journey there was obviously nothing for it but to accept the
king's invitation with a good grace and every outward sign of
gratification. At the same time I could not avoid a suspicion that
there must be something behind such a signal mark of favour, and
presently I got an inkling of what it was when, as Piet led up my horse,
saddled and ready for me to mount, the king said:

"I am told, white man, that you possess a wonderful fire weapon with
which you can slay at a distance far beyond that to which the strongest
of my warriors can hurl an assagai. Is that the truth?"

"It is the truth, O King," said I. "Would you like to see it?"

The king intimated that he would, whereupon I directed Piet to bring me
my rifle, together with the powder horn--the belt, with pouch containing
bullets, wads, and percussion caps, was already buckled round my waist;
and upon receiving the weapon I held it up for His Majesty to look at,
keeping it, however, in my own hands. But this did not suit Moshesh at
all; he must needs handle it himself. Therefore, rather unwillingly, I
must confess, I offered the gun to him, first taking care to remove the
cap and lower the hammer down on to the nipple, for the piece was
loaded, and I was particularly anxious that no accident should happen.

Unobtrusively, however, as the deed was done, my action did not escape
the sharp eyes of the king, and he turned upon me quickly with the
demand:

"Why did you do tha