24 TALES OF A NOMAD. 



Libombo Range, which was only about five miles from us 

 as the crow flies, so we had good hopes of sport for the 

 morrow. 



Inyati was a curious character. He had a great 

 amount of conceit and also of quiet humour. He de- 

 lighted in boasting of his performances, and, to tell the 

 truth, for a native he was a smart hunter ; but caution 

 was one of his characteristics. He generally went about 

 accompanied by a boy. When he shot anything, with 

 the aid of the boy he skinned it, hoisted the hide up into 

 the fork of a tree, and returned to the main camp to call 

 carriers to convey the hide to camp. 



One night when he was holding forth as usual, and 

 informing the whole camp that they were mere boys 

 compared with himself, the lad who accompanied him 

 on his excursions let out an incident of the day's hunting 

 which ran as follows : Inyati and the boy were seated 

 under a bush resting during the heat of the day, when 

 the boy saw a large black-maned lion walking past at 

 about sixty yards off. He pointed it out to Inyati, 

 saying, "There is your chance ". Now, Inyati, I suppose, 

 not having sufficient confidence in his own marksman- 

 ship, and reflecting that there were no trees handy at 

 that precise spot, deemed discretion to be the better 

 part of valour, and did not fire at the lion, but contented 

 himself with abusing the boy for having dared to direct 

 his attention to a fact which was already patent to him, 

 viz., the presence of the lion. On the boy relating 

 this anecdote there was a shout of laughter, and all the 

 Caffres began twitting Inyati about the lion. 



However, Inyati was quite equal to the occasion, and 

 indignantly repelled the insinuation that he in any way 

 was discomfited by the king of beasts. "Was it for me 



