v SWASURI AND THE LEOPARD 59 



men that I was an Englishman and not a 

 Portuguese, he bade them lay down their fire-arms, 

 advance and salute me. One of the number, 

 however, probably deeming it wise to retain his 

 weapon, stood apart, as if unwilling to comply with 

 his leader's command, whereupon Simba, my 

 tracker, ran up to him, seized his rifle, and deftly 

 tripping him, flung him to the ground. 



1 Now, ' said I to the others, ' we'll have a 

 shauri (a palaver),' and turning to the girl, who had 

 by this time risen to her feet, I asked her to tell me 

 exactly what had happened. 



' Yesterday morning, at cock-crow,' she related, 

 ' these men raided our small village, consisting of 

 only four huts. My father chanced to be away at the 

 Golambepo Hills on a visit to some of his friends, 

 and the other men and women of the village had 

 gone to drink beer at a neighbouring kraal, several 

 miles away. My mother, these two boys and I were, 

 therefore, alone when these shenzis arrived, and, 

 taking ad vantage of our defenceless state, they seized 

 us and hurried us away at once. Since yesterday 

 morning, we have been afoot without resting, and I 

 fear my mother will die, for she has been very ill, 

 and to make her hasten along they have beaten her 

 cruelly. Though we are all free-born Mahometans, 

 they intend to make slaves of us, and the man you 

 have just knocked down says he desires me for his 



