266 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
a tug at my liair, thinking it was a wig. I revenged 
myself by seizing his hand, and suddenly bending it 
back almost dislocated it, causing him to howl with 
pain. His comrades swayed their lances, but I smilingly 
looked at them, for all idea of self-preservation had now 
almost fled. 
The issue had surely arrived. There had been just 
one brief moment of agony when I reflected how un- 
lovely death appears in such guise as that in which it 
then threatened me. What would my people think as 
they anxiously waited for the never returning master ! 
What would Pocock and Barker say when they heard of 
the tragedy of Bumbireh ! And my friends in America 
and Europe ! “ Tut, it is only a brief moment of pain, 
and then what can the ferocious dogs do more ? It is a 
EARTHENWARE COOKING POTS. 
consolation that, if anything, it will be short, sharp, 
sudden — a gasp, and then a silence — for ever and 
ever ! ” And after that I was ready for the fight and 
for death. 
“ Now, my black friends, do your worst ; anything 
you choose ; I am ready.” 
A messenger from the king and the council arrives, 
and beckons Safeni. I said to him, “ Safeni, use your 
wit.” “ Please God, master,” he replied. 
Safeni drew nearly all the crowd after him, for 
curiosity is strong in the African. I saw him pose him- 
self. A born diplomatist was Safeni. His hands moved 
up and down, outward and inward ; a cordial frankness 
sat naturally on his face ; his gestures were graceful ; 
the man was an orator, pleading for mercy and justice. 
Safeni returned, his face radiant. “ It is all right, 
