V 
SWASURI AND THE LEOPARD 
59 
men that I was an Englishman and not a 
Portuguese, he bade them lay down their fire-arms, 
advance and salute me. One of the number, 
however, probably deeming it wise to retain his 
weapon, stood apart, as if unwilling to comply with 
his leader’s command, whereupon Simba, my 
tracker, ran up to him, seized his rifle, and deftly 
tripping him, flung him to the ground. 
‘ Now, ’ said I to the others, ‘ we’ll have a 
shauri (a palaver),’ and turning to the girl, who had 
by this time risen to her feet, I asked her to tell me 
exactly what had happened. 
‘ Yesterday morning, at cock-crow,’ she related, 
‘these men raided our small village, consisting of 
only four huts. My father chanced to be away at the 
Golambepo Hills on a visit to some of his friends, 
and the other men and women of the village had 
gone to drink beer at a neighbouring kraal, several 
miles away. My mother, these two boys and I were, 
therefore, alone when these shenzis arrived, and, 
taking advantage of our defenceless state, they seized 
us and hurried us away at once. Since yesterday 
morning, we have been afoot without resting, and I 
fear my mother will die, for she has been very ill, 
and to make her hasten along they have beaten her 
cruelly. Though we are all free-born Mahometans, 
they intend to make slaves of us, and the man you 
have just knocked down says he desires me for his 
