occupied look of old ; but there was also something 

 of satisfaction in his air as he walked up to me and 

 stood to deliver the great vindication of his own 

 unerring judgment : 



" Sam has deserted you and taken his voorlooper." 

 He jerked the words out at me, speaking in Zulu. 



I said nothing. It was just about Sam's form ; it 

 annoyed but did not surprise me. Jim favoured me 

 with a hard searching look, a subdued grunt, and a 

 click expressive of things he could not put into words, 

 and without another word he turned and walked back 

 towards his waggon. But half-way to it he broke 

 silence : facing me once more, he thumped his chest 

 and hurled at me in mixed Zulu and English : " I 

 said so ! Sam lead a Bible. Sam no good. Umph ! 

 M'Shangaan ! I said so ! I always said so ! " 



When Jim helped me to inspan Sam's waggon, he did 

 it to an accompaniment of Zulu imprecations which 

 only a Zulu could properly appreciate. They were 

 quite ' above my head,' but every now and then I 

 caught one sentence repeated like the responses in a 

 litany : " I'll kill that Shangaan when I see him again !" 



At Lion Spruit there was more bad luck. Lions 

 had been troublesome there in former years, but for 

 a couple of seasons nothing had been seen of them. 

 Their return was probably due to the fact that, because 

 of the drought and consequent failure of other waters, 

 the game on which they preyed had moved down 

 towards the river. At any rate, they returned un- 

 expectedly and we had one bad night when the cattle 

 were unmanageable, and their nerves all on edge. 



418 



