The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-09-26
CHAPTER VI.
Continued.

Continued.
"Thc white man is cleverer than q
jackal.
"Yes, so shall it be, and may the
Snake of the Butiana people stand uI
upon its tail and prosper the war, fol
so shall we be rid of Wambe and the
tyrannies Of Wambew
After that the girl Maiwa stood up
and once more producing The dreadful
little dried hand, made her father 'and
several of.IlfSrfiead councillors swear by
1T and upon it that they would carry
out The war of vengeance to the bitter
- end.
1t was a very curious sight to see
and the fight that ensued was, by the
way, thereafter known among the
tribes of that district as the War OF
the Little Hand"
The next two days were busy ones
for us.
Messengers were sent out, and every
available man of the Butiana tribe was
ordered UP to "a great Dance
The country was small, and by the
evening of the second day some twelve
hundred and fifty men were assembled.
At dawn of the following day, the
fourth from the departure of the her
aids, the main Impi started under the
command of Nala himself, who, know
ing that his life and chieftainship hung
upon the issue of the struggle, wisely
determined to be present to direct it.
With him went Maiwa, who was to
guide them up the secret path.
OF course we had to give them two
days start, as they had more than a
hundred miles of rough country to pass,
including the crossing of the great
mountain range which ran north and
south, for it was necessary that the
Impi should make wide detour IN
order to escape detection.
At length, however, at dawn on the
sixth day, took the road, accompanied
by my most unwilling bearers, who did
not at all like the idea of thus putting
their heads into the lions mouth.
Indeed, it was only the fear Of Nala's
spears, together with vague conf
dence in myself, that induced them to
accept the adventure.
With me also were about two hun
=, dred, ButiaDas, all armed-With guns OF
various kinds, for many of these people
had guns,, though they were not very
proficient in'the use of them.
But they carried no shield and wore
no head-dress or armlets; indeed, every
warlike appearance was carefully
avoided.
With our party went also a sister OF
Maiwa, though by different mother,
who strongly resembled her in face
and form, and whose mission it was to
personate the runaway wife.
That evening We camped upon the
top of the cliff up which we had SO
barely escaped, and next morning at
the first breaking of the light we rolled
away the stones with which we had
blocked the passage some days before,
and descended to the hillside beneath.
Here the bodies, or rather the skele-
lOuS, Ol lne luSll Wtfc udu ldiiCA bSiOiS
my rife still lay about.
The Matuku soldiers had left their
comrades to be buried by the yultures.
I descended the gully into which poor
Gobo had fallen, and searched for his
body, but in vain, although I found the
spot where he and the other man had
struck. together with the bones of the
latter, which recognized by the waist
cloth.
Either some beast Of prey had car
ried Gobo off, or the Matuku people
had disposed of his remains, and also
Of my express rife which he carried.
At any rate, 1 never saw or heard
any more of him.
Once in Wambe's country we adopted
n very cimcumspect method of pro-
ceeding.
About fifty men marched ahead, in
loose order, to guard against surprise,
while as many more followed behind.
The other hundred were gathered in
a bunch between, and in the centre of
these men marched, together with the
girl who was personating Maiwa, and
all my bearers.
We were disarmed, and some of my
men were tied together, to show that
we were prisoners, while the girl had
n blanket thrown over her head, and
moved along with an air of great de-
lection.
We headed straight for Wambe's
place, which was at distance of about
twenty-five miles from the mountain
pass.
When we had gone some five miles
we met party of about fifty Of Wam-
be's soldiers, who were evidently Oh
the lookout for u.s.
They stopped US and their captain
asked where we were going.
The headman of our party answered
that he was conveying Maiwa, Wam-
be's runaway wife, together with the
white hunter and his men, to be given
up to Wambe in accordance with his
command.
The captain then wanted to know
why we were so many, to which our
spokesman replied that 1 and my men
were very desperate fellows, and that
it was feared that if we were sent with
Il smaller escort we should escape and
bring disgrace and the wrath of Wam-