IN AFRICAN FOREST AND JUNGLE 



" He must be from a far-off" country," I said to 

 Rogala, " for he seems not to understand any of the 

 languages we have spoken to him." 



Our captive was tall, and emaciated from hunger. 

 His teeth were filed sharp to a point, and gave him a 

 very savage appearance. Every part of his body ex- 

 cept his legs was tattooed all over. On his stomach 

 was the representation of a crocodile, showing that he 

 must have lived on the shore of a lake or of a river. 

 Upon his cheeks were spots of the size of large peas. 

 His forehead was also tattooed. 



" We must be very watchful," said Rogala; "per- 

 haps the man understands some of the languages we 

 spoke to him, after all." 



Then he broke the man's bow, and buried his bag 

 of poisoned arrows in the ground, for fear that man or 

 beast would be hurt by them. 



Our prisoner was very much frightened when he 

 saw this, and looked at me with imploring eyes. He 

 had divined instinctively that I was the master ; his 

 looks seemed to say : " Do not kill me ! " 



After a pause I said : " Rogala, if our prisoner tries 

 to run away, let us spare his life and not shoot him ; 

 every man tries to run away from the people he fears 

 in search of liberty.- You would do likewise if Ro- 

 tembo were not a good master." 



168 



