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"I take note of them," answered Bausi, "and I swear by my mother on behalf of all the people, that they shall be fulfilled if Dogeetah comes." "Good," exclaimed Mavovo, and stalked on to the stake which had been pointed out to him. As he went he whispered something into Imbozwi's ear that seemed to frighten that limb of Satan, for I saw him start and shiver.
"I don't know," grunted Bausi, "but there is one here who can tell a different story," and he looked at Babemba, who wriggled uncomfortably. Komba also looked at him with his fierce eyes. "It is not conceivable," he said, "that anybody should wish to eat one so old and bony, but let that pass. I thank you, King, for your promise of safety.
"How can Bausi give up Dogeetah who is his blood brother, and you, his friend?" exclaimed the old general, indignantly. "Bausi sends me to his brother Dogeetah that he may receive the orders of the white man's wisdom, spoken through your mouth, lord Macumazana." "Then there's a good spirit in Bausi," I replied, "and these are Dogeetah's orders spoken through my mouth.
Not far from the door of this house a fat, middle-aged and angry-looking man was seated on a stool, naked except for a moocha of catskins about his loins and a string of large blue beads round his neck. "Bausi, the King," whispered Babemba.
To him entered Babemba crawling on his hands and knees, and other native gentlemen likewise crawling, also the burdened soldiers in as obsequious an attitude as their loads would allow. "O King Dogeetah," said Babemba, "your brother king, Bausi, returns the guns and fire-goods of the white men, your children, and sends certain gifts."
But Bausi was not at all moved; indeed, he seemed to view these poetic proposals with the darkest suspicion. "Give up killing our people or capturing them to be sacrificed to your White Devil, and then in a year or two we may listen to your words that are smeared with honey," he said. "As it is, we think that they are but a trap to catch flies.
While I was racking my brains for a reply that might be acceptable to him and would not commit us too deeply, to my astonishment Mavovo stepped forward and confronted the king. "Who are you, fellow?" shouted Bausi. "I am a warrior, O King, as my scars show," and he pointed to the assegai wounds upon his breast and to his cut nostril.
Their captain said that they could not stand against the fire of the guns and had determined to abandon the town and make the best fight they could upon the ridge. A little later the rest of the Mazitu came, driving before them all the non-combatants who remained in the town. With these was King Bausi, in a terrible state of excitement.
I risked an operation and cured him. It was anxious work, for if he had died I should have died too, though that would not have troubled me very much," and he sighed. "Of course, from that moment I was supposed to be a great magician. Also Bausi made a blood brotherhood with me, transfusing some of his blood into my veins and some of mine into his.
More from curiosity than for any other reason I consented and accompanied by Bausi, Babemba and many of the Mazitu, all of us, except Brother John, who remained behind to attend to the wounded, climbed over the debris of the south gate and walked through the black ruins of the huts, across the market-place that was strewn with dead, to what had been our own quarters.
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