ey purchased them.

It was on the morning of the fifth day that the party encountered what
might be spoken of as their first exciting incident, and it occurred, or
rather began, as they were nearing the end of their first trek, about
nine o'clock in the morning. Dick and Grosvenor, mounted as usual, with
the half-dozen dogs that constituted their pack quartering the ground
ahead of them, were nearly a mile ahead of the wagon, looking out for a
suitable spot for the first outspan, when a sudden clamour on the part
of the dogs, who had just disappeared over a low rise in the ground,
caused the two riders to put spurs to their horses, in order to see what
was the cause of the outcry. A short gallop sufficed to carry them to
the crest of the ridge, when they beheld the dogs baying and snarling
round a fine, well-set-up native "boy", who, armed with assagais and
knobkerrie, constituted one of a party of some thirty in number who
appeared to be guarding a herd of about three hundred grazing cattle,
while about half a mile farther on was a native village of some fifty
Kafir huts of the usual beehived shape, built in the midst of a number
of mealie fields occupying an area of, roughly, about half a square
mile, situated near the banks of a small stream.

Dick Maitland, who had early developed a rather remarkable aptitude for
picking up the language of the natives, at once cantered forward, and,
calling off the dogs, demanded to know the name of the village, and
where would be the best place at which to outspan. But the native whom
he addressed, and who seemed to be labouring under considerable
excitement, replied with such a rapid flow of words that his speech was
utterly unintelligible, save that his communication had something to do
with lions, the boy pointing first to a big clump of bush about a mile
distant, and then to the village itself. Dick made several attempts to
arrive at a better understanding of the nature of the communication, but
without any very marked success, and at length suggested that Grosvenor
should ride back to the wagon and hurry it forward, in order that
Jantje, the Hottentot driver, might act as interpreter. This was done,
and about twenty minutes later the wagon arrived, and the situation was
explained to Jantje, who forthwith poured out a flood of eloquence upon
the little band of natives, who by this time had gathered round Dick and
were earnestly endeavouring to make him understand something