PLAIN SPEAKING 
231 
from outside; while the fire, kept going all night in any case, 
did not excite unusual attention, and before daybreak the mess 
was passed along, when each of us had his feed. 
It puzzled the Mombokooshus greatly to see our full bellies 
and cheerful faces when they came in the day; and this little 
circumstance served greatly to amuse our boys, who laughed in 
the faces of the natives at the idea of white men or their people 
ever being in want of food when we had our ‘ magic ’ hidden in 
the skerm. It was probably owing to this unexplained circum¬ 
stance and to vague possibilities of a repetition of what Yan Zyl’s 
wife had done with the powder-keg that Indala refrained from 
laying violent hands on our goods. We had told him pretty 
plainly that if he demanded a gun, or insisted on obtaining 
ammunition, we at once would look upon this action as a 
sign that he intended open enmity. So in future, though very 
nasty, he confined himself to begging for other goods; but as soon 
as anything was laid before him for inspection he immediately 
seized it, although the intention had been only to show these 
things to him for approval, in hopes that the sight of them 
would induce him to ferry us across the river in exchange for 
obtaining the goods. 
We cared little for these inroads on our supplies, for the 
miserable fact was only too plain that amongst the natives the 
goods, instead of buying friendship, only aroused their cupidity, 
and gave rise to ill-feeling instead of purchasing assistance. 
Therefore the sooner we were rid of the whole lot the better, 
if only by forfeiting them we could gain the much desired 
object of crossing the ‘ Cubango.’ With our guns and ammuni¬ 
tion left, we could shoot as much game as ever we required, and 
with light loads and lighter hearts make a succession of rapid 
marches, halting now and then in good game districts to make 
a supply of biltong. With a stock of twenty pounds of this 
commodity to the share of each man we could travel ten days, 
if need be, without further food, and surely in that time some¬ 
thing would chance to run against a bullet from one of our 
guns. The few bags of powder still in reserve we would keep 
