182 EXECUTION OF MPEPE. Chap. IX. 



teered to accompany me ; and when we got about sixty miles 

 away, on the road to Sesheke, we encountered Mpepe. The 

 Makololo, though possessing abundance of cattle, had never 

 attempted to ride oxen, until I advised it in 1851. The Bechu- 

 anas generally were in the same condition, until Europeans came 

 among them and imparted the idea of riding. All their journeys 

 previously were performed on foot. Sekeletu and Ins companions 

 were mounted on oxen, though, having neither saddle nor bridle, 

 they were perpetually falling off. Mpepe, armed with Ins little 

 axe, came along a path parallel to, but a quarter of a mile distant 

 from, that of our party ; and when he saw Sekeletu he ran with 

 all Ins might towards us ; but Sekeletu, being on his guard, gal- 

 loped off to an adjacent village. He then withdrew somewhere 

 till all our party came up. Mpepe had given Iris own party to 

 understand that he would cut down Sekeletu, either on then first 

 meeting, or at the breaking up of their first conference. The 

 former intention having been thus frustrated, he then determined 

 to effect his purpose after then first interview. I happened to sit 

 down between the two in the hut where they met : being tired 

 with riding all day in the sun, I soon asked Sekeletu where I 

 should sleep, and he replied, " Come, I will show you." As we 

 rose together, I unconsciously covered Sekeletu's body with 

 mine, and saved him from the blow of the assassin. I knew 

 nothing of the plot, but remarked that all Mpepe's men kept 

 hold of their arms, even after we had sat down — a thing quite 

 unusual in the presence of a chief; and when Sekeletu showed 

 me the hut in which I was to spend the night, he said to me, 

 " That man wishes to kill me." I afterwards learnt that some 

 of Mpepe's attendants had divulged the secret ; and, bearing in 

 mind his father's instructions, Sekeletu put Mpepe to death that 

 night. It was managed so quietly, that, although I was sleeping 

 within a few yards of the scene, I knew nothing of it till the next 

 day. Nokuane went to the fire at which Mpepe sat, with a 

 handful of snuff, as if he were about to sit down and regale him- 

 self therewith. Mpepe said to lmn, " Nsepisa " (cause me to take 

 a pinch) ; and, as he held out his hand, Nokuane caught hold of 

 it, while another man seized the other hand, and, leading him out 

 a mile, speared him. This is the common mode of executing 

 criminals. They are not allowed to speak ; though on one occa- 



