oor, and domed thatch
rising high overhead--"is as different as possible to the poky smoky
affairs our niggers run up. And as for this tipple--oh good Lord!"

There was a squashing sound and a mighty splash. He had been raising
the bowl to his lips, and that by the process of hooking one finger over
the rim thereof. The vessel being, as I have said, of soft clay was
unable to stand that sort of leverage, and had incontinently split in
half, and the contents, liberal in quantity, went souse all over his
trousers as he sat there, splashing in milky squirts the legs of
Majendwa and three or four other men of rank who had come in to join the
_indaba_. These moved not a muscle, but I could catch a lurking twinkle
in the eyes of the chief's son.

"Here, I say. Tell them I'm devilish sorry," cried Falkner shaking off
the stuff as best he could. "I'm not accustomed to these things, you
know."

I put it to them. They looked at Falkner, then at the shattered bowl,
and as a Zulu is nothing if not humorous, one and all went off into a
roar of laughter.

"Hallo! That's better," grinned Falkner looking up, as he tried to wipe
off the liquid with his handkerchief. "Why these are jolly sort of
fellows after all. I was afraid they were going to look beastly glum
over it. Tell them I'll get into their ways soon, Glanton. Meanwhile
here's their jolly good health," taking a big drink out of a fresh bowl
that was placed before him, only this time taking care to hold it with
both hands.

Soon the cracking of whips and an increased buzz of voices without
announced the arrival of the waggons, and we all went out to the place
of outspan. The sun was sinking behind the high ridge which bordered
the great basin, and the plain in front of the kraal was dappled with
homing herds, and on these I looked with the eye of a connoisseur and
especially on the little fat, black Zulu oxen, which always fetch a good
price for trek purposes. The shrill shout and whistle of the boy herds,
blended with the trample and mooing of the cows brought in for the
evening milking--but the chief interest on the part of the denizens of
the great kraal was centred around the waggons. However it was too late
to unload for trade purposes that evening, so beyond getting out a few
things for gifts to Majendwa and some of the principal men of the place,
I left everything undisturbed.

"Here's our hut, Falkner," I said, presently, as we returned within the