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Time passed on; the sun set; the evanescent twilight faded out of the sky; the stars twinkled forth in all the mellow radiance characteristic of the tropics; and still the adventurous M'Bongwele and his wondrous prize came not.
It was a dazzling dream that he brought before our eyes, and for a time it blinded me to the evils that lay behind it, and it is only now, when it is too late, that I perceive that evil, and understand that Sekosini befooled and bewitched me to the end that he might be raised to such power as M'Pusa enjoyed during the reign of M'Bongwele, when he and not M'Bongwele actually ruled the Makolo people.
The party, thoroughly crestfallen, now lost no time in making their way to the ground, when M'Bongwele at once requisitioned Seketulo's horse, and galloped off homeward at top speed, the chief and the rest of the party being left to plod back to the village at their leisure and as best they could.
M'Bongwele in the meantime snatched a bow from one of his followers, and, selecting a long straight arrow from the sheaf, retired to the other end of the deck, a distance of about one hundred and fifty feet from his living target.
And M'Bongwele laughed scornfully, and answered that the four Spirits were not likely to return for how should they find their way back, having once left the country but that, even if they did, he, M'Bongwele, would again find means to get them into his power, as he had once before done, and that this time he would see that they did not escape him.
The question which harassed and perplexed M'Bongwele for the remainder of that day was: could the visit of these extraordinary beings be by any means shortened or terminated? And, if so, how? Or if the visit could not be cut short, was there any possibility of subjugating the visitors? This particular African monarch possessed at least one virtue, that of perseverance under difficulties.
The indignation excited in the breasts of his listeners by the cool impudence of the king soon subsided under the influence of the interesting news that four white women were captives in the village; and when M'Bongwele closed his explanation and proffered his request, the professor, instead of loading his captor with reproaches, followed the latter's example of ignoring all cause for unpleasantness, and simply stated that no promise of any kind could be made until the four friends had been afforded an interview with the afflicted women.
We know what happened to M'Bongwele, the former king of the Makolo; and we know why Lobelalatutu was chosen king in his place." "Wau!" murmured the assembled chiefs behind their hands, in awestricken tones; "it is wonderful!" while Lobelalatutu shifted uneasily in his seat as he gazed apprehensively in the faces of his two visitors.
This was altogether too much for the suite, who grovelled on the deck in mortal fear; and even king M'Bongwele felt his courage rapidly oozing away as he sat uneasily in his deck-chair convulsively gripping its arms and glancing anxiously about him.
True, he had shot an arrow at one of these visitants yesterday, striking him fair upon the breast, and the arrow, instead of piercing him through and through, had fallen splintered to pieces at his feet. Yet this very extraordinary incident was not, to M'Bongwele, wholly conclusive evidence as to their invulnerability.
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