230 A NARROW ESCAPE. 



such an accusation. After having spent upwards of 

 three hours in arguing the point with him, the stub- 

 born Caffer still clung with the greatest pertinacity 

 to his belief, and, to get rid of the difficulty, replied 

 that the person who accused him was not a true 

 Igiakasi musikasa, but an impostor, and therefore 

 unable to discover the guilty person. The three 

 Chiefs then assured Mr. C, on their solemn word, 

 that no harm should befall the woman, provided he 

 would deliver her up ; but, knowing how to appre- 

 ciate such a promise, he continued firm in his deter- 

 mination. The woman meanwhile, being made ac- 

 quainted with what was going forward, secreted 

 herself in the forest. Not succeeding in their en- 

 treaties, the Caffers went to the poor creature's 

 hut, resolved to take her by force. Not finding her 

 there, they stripped the hut of every article it con- 

 tained, and proceeded to the forest, whither they 

 concluded she must have fled, but, after an inef- 

 fectual search, abandoned the pursuit. When they 

 had departed, Mrs. Chalmers, knowing where the 

 woman was concealed, sent for her to the Mission- 

 House, where she soon arrived in a state of the 

 greatest alarm, having seen her pursuers, like so 

 many bloodhounds, endeavouring to track her to the 

 place of her retreat. Mrs. Chalmers attired her in 

 European apparel, and had her conveyed under cover 

 of night to the nearest military outpost, from whence 

 she was removed to Graham's Town, where a situa- 



