Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 25, 2025
'Mfuni, the man who had fought me by command of Lomalindela, and had afterwards attached himself to my train, exhibited some slight symptoms of regret at parting from his friends in the returning impi; but he quickly recovered from his fit of the blues, and, evidently being very fond of animals, devoted himself with zest to the task of making friends with the horses and dogs.
And therewith, Lomalindela, autocrat of the Mashona nation, lord of life and death over nearly a million people, stalked across the room with his sword clanking at his heels, drew aside a curtain, and disappeared behind it.
These twenty whom Lomalindela grimly condescended to inform me were the Slayers halted on the king's left, just clear of the left wing of His Majesty's bodyguard, arranging themselves in pairs a spearman and a knife-bearer alternately as they did so.
And at once the idea seized me that if I could but contrive to ingratiate myself sufficiently with Lomalindela, His Majesty might be induced to grant me a concession to work the mine, and so place me in possession of wealth "beyond the dreams of avarice". I thought at first that possibly this might be the identical mine from which the gold in my wagon had come, but a close examination of the working at length convinced me that the rock had remained untouched for ages; and then it occurred to me that perhaps the dead and forgotten inhabitants of the ruined village which I had so recently left might have been the miners.
The king considered for a moment, and then answered in the affirmative, at the same time beckoning to a certain chief, an elderly, grey-headed man, and giving him an order; whereupon the chief whom I assumed to be deep in his monarch's confidence left his place in the semicircular cordon behind the throne, and, advancing to where the bundle lay at my feet, lifted it reverentially and bore it away to a large, rectangular hut which I took to be the itunkulu, or king's house at the far corner of the square, whither Lomalindela and I forthwith followed him.
The "smelling out" function was thus brought to a somewhat premature conclusion to the obvious relief of everybody except perhaps Lomalindela himself and the troops were dismissed. But when I, too hastily assuming that everything was over, rose to take my leave and return to the wagon, I was imperiously ordered to stop.
Then, with Piet following close at my heels, I passed through a gap which had been hastily made in the line of troops, and found myself in the great square and in the presence of King Lomalindela.
However, if he chanced to be striving to daunt me by his scowling looks it was important that he should be made to understand that he had by no means succeeded; therefore, walking slowly and with all the dignity I could assume, I marched straight up to him, and, looking him fearlessly in the eyes, halted about ten feet from him, and, giving him a military salute, remarked, in the Bantu tongue: "Greeting, Lomalindela, King and Lord of the Mashona!
Word Of The Day
Others Looking