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Updated: June 2, 2025
"Lady," went on Zinti presently, "beyond the neck of the hill yonder lies the secret kraal of Bull-Head. Say, now, what is your plan when you reach it?" "I do not know," she answered, "but tell me again of the hidden krantz where the women built the new hut, and of the way to it." He told her and she listened, saying nothing. "Good," she said, when he had done.
Zinti obeyed her, and presently all four of the beasts were eating well, for though they had travelled far their loads were light, nor had the pace been pressed. Sihamba turned, and, holding out her hands towards the horses, muttered something rapidly. "What are you doing, mistress?" asked Zinti.
When he had done this he was to return as swiftly as possible with whatever information he could gather. This task Zinti undertook gladly, for he loved following a spoor, which was a gift that Nature had given him; also he was weary of being cooped up like a fatting fowl upon the mountain Umpondwana.
Hold him thus till we are past you on our way to the wood, then follow us as best you can, but do not fire except to save your life or ours." Now the gifts of Zinti lay rather in tracking and remembering paths and directions than in fighting men, so that when he heard this order he was afraid and hesitated.
"How long is it since they left here?" asked Sihamba, not as one who does not know, but rather as though she desired to be certified in her judgment. "When the sun stood there," answered Zinti, pointing to a certain height in the heavens. "Yes," she answered, "three hours. Bull-Head has travelled quicker than I thought."
Still before two hours were over Zinti came, gaunt and footsore, but healthy and unharmed, and sitting down before Suzanne in her private enclosure, began at the very beginning of his long story, after the native fashion, telling of those things which had befallen him upon the day when he left the mountain nearly two years before. "Your news? Your news?" said Suzanne.
Follow me, Swallow," and, going to the edge of the stream, she hooted like an owl, whereupon Zinti came out of the reeds, looking very cold and frightened. "Be swift," whispered Sihamba, and they started along the krantz at a run.
Suzanne and Zinti mingled with this crowd of fugitives, taking a position almost in the midst of it, for they did not wish to pass out either among the first or the last. There they waited a while, none noting them, for in their great agony of thirst all thought of themselves and not of their neighbours.
When this matter was settled Suzanne prayed the chief that he would allow her to send Zinti as a messenger to her husband and father to tell them that she lived and was well.
"Swart Piet and four of his men," said Sihamba, "and by my Spirit, they have fresh horses; they must have taken them from the kraal of the half-breed which we passed at daybreak, and that is why we lost sight of them for a while." Now even as Zinti helped her to mount the schimmel Suzanne turned so faint with terror that she almost fell to the ground again.
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