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Updated: June 26, 2025
Surely there are not so many big kraals scattered about in Kafirland that the one which you have just shown me should be difficult to find?" "What did it look like, 'mlungu?" demanded Mafuta. "What did it look like?" I repeated. "Is not that a quite unnecessary question to ask, Mafuta? You must have seen everything that I saw, otherwise "
He heard the crash of bushes when the monster charged, and looking hastily round, saw Mafuta make a quick motion as if he meant to run to a neighbouring tree, but the rhinoceros was so close on him that there was no time. "Quick, man!" shouted Tom, in an agony of alarm as he ran to the rescue, for the Caffre had no gun.
This speech also Mafuta translated, with an air of mingled hauteur and humility which was amusing enough to Dick and Grosvenor. For answer the king stood up and, laying his hand upon Mafuta's shoulder, looked piercingly into the man's eyes for the space of a full minute or more.
Another result to which I did not attach nearly sufficient importance at the moment was that I made an implacable and deadly enemy of Mafuta, the chief witch-doctor. I have said that there was no further pretence of treating me as a prisoner, and this was true, but only within certain limits, as I discovered the moment that I set about taking measures to effect my escape.
But Mafuta, instead of taking this advice, suddenly stood stock still, as if he had been petrified! Tom threw forward his rifle, intending, in desperation, to try the effect of a long shot, although certain that it was impossible to kill the rhinoceros even if he should hit, while the risk of killing his faithful servant was very great.
We must certainly polish up our recollection of what we read, for it is not at all difficult to imagine circumstances in which the knowledge may be of vital import to us. By the way, Mafuta, tell those fellows that they are dismissed, and that all we shall require of them to-morrow, in addition to the oxen, will be a guide."
Grosvenor's sleep appeared to have been extraordinarily beneficial, for when he awoke to the rattle of crockery as Mafuta busied himself in the arrangement of the breakfast table, not only was he absolutely free from headache, and all the other unpleasant symptoms of which he had complained two hours earlier, but his general condition was also greatly improved, the swelling of the injured limb had subsided, the flesh had recovered its natural colour, the numb feeling had almost disappeared, and now all that remained to remind him of his disagreeable and perilous adventure of the previous night was the smarting and burning sensation of the cauterised wound itself, which he endured with stoical composure, and indeed laughed at as a trifle not worth wasting words about.
Acting on this belief, he left the native village on foot, carrying nothing but his rifle, which seemed to him, in his weak condition, to be as heavy as a small cannon. Mafuta went on in advance, heavily laden with the blankets, a small tent, provisions, ammunition, etcetera, necessary for the journey.
"But you need have no fear," he added, seeing a look of anxiety spring into his patient's eyes; "the danger is quite over; now all that we have to think about is how to cure that headache of yours. And here, just in the nick of time, Mafuta has brought us our coffee. Take your cup and drink it at once; and if in the course of the next half-hour you feel no better, I will mix you a draught.
But, whatever the order may have been, Mafuta evidently objected to it, for no sooner had it been spoken than he sprang to his feet, and with quite marvellous agility, hurried to me and seized me by the left arm, saying in an angry voice something to the guards that I interpreted as an order to release their hold upon me.
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