THE AUTHOR SAVES KAMAPYU'S LIFE. 345 



instrument. His blood was up, however, and, seeing my rifle 

 standing against the wall of the old church, he made a rush 

 for it, and was about to discharge the contents into one of 

 his tormentors, when, throwing myself hurriedly between the 

 contending parties, I fortunately prevented the catastrophe. 

 Being now convinced that a storm was brewing, I quickly 

 pushed the boy through the door of the building, and placed 

 myself resolutely at the entrance. 



Notwithstanding the Naraaquas would not hesitate to shoot 

 any of their slaves for the smallest offense, they consider such 

 an act on the part of one of the subjected race against his 

 master to be of so atrocious a character that they would un- 

 doubtedly have torn the lad to pieces had I not been present. 

 As it was, they rose to a man, and swore they would have 

 his life. The boy, on his part, instead of betraying any symp- 

 toms of fear, was foaming with rage, and, had I permitted 

 it, would unhesitatingly have attacked the whole party. 



Finding that I was determined to foil them of their vic- 

 tim, they turned their ire on me. I quietly told- them that 

 the lad was in my employ, and that, if they left him alone, I 

 would duly investigate the matter, and, should I find him 

 guilty, would punish him severely ; but, if they chose to 

 take the law into their own hands, they must look to the 

 consequences, for they should only pass to the youth over my 

 body. This somewhat cooled their rage, and, after much 

 parleying, the matter was finally and peaceably settled. 



Many a time since has the same boy, by the violence of his 

 temper, placed me and himself in the most critical positions, 

 and I often marveled that he was not killed. At last he re- 

 ceived a severe lesson. Having one day coquetted with some 

 Kalahari women, the indignant husband or parent sent him 

 off with two poisoned arrows, one of which pierced his nose, 

 and the other transfixed his arm. For a short time he suf- 

 fered agonies, but escaped with his life. 



Excepting his passionate temper, he was an excellent fel- 



P2 



