CHAPTER XXXIII

RALPH FINDS THE DREAM MOUNTAIN

Now I must go back to that evening when we learned the great tidings from the lips of the lad Gaasha, whose life Ralph had saved after the attack by the Kaffirs upon the laager. There sat Gaasha on the ground staring, and there, not far away, Ralph was lying in his swoon, while Jan and I looked at each other like people who have suddenly beheld a sign from heaven.

"What evil magic is there in my words," said Gaasha presently, "that they should strike the Baas yonder dead like a spear?"

"He is not dead," I answered, "but for long he has sought that mountain Umpondwana of which you speak. Tell us now, did you hear of any white woman dwelling with the chieftainess Sihamba?"

"No, lady, I heard of none."

This answer of Gaasha's saddened me, for I made sure that if so strange a thing had happened as that a white woman had come to live among his tribe, the man who told him of the return of Sihamba would have told him of this also. Therefore, so I argued, either Suzanne was dead or she was in the power of Piet Van Vooren, or Sihamba had deserted her, though this last I did not believe. As it turned out afterwards, had not Gaasha been the stupidest of Kaffirs, we should have been saved those long days of doubt and trouble, for though he had not heard that Sihamba was accompanied by a white woman, he had heard that she brought with her a white _bird_ to the mountain Umpondwana. Of course if he had told us this we should have guessed that the white bird could be none other than Suzanne, whose native name was Swallow.

Now, provide a numbered list of answers to these questions:

1. Who was on the ground?
2. Who was the most stupid of Kaffirs?
3. What was Suzanne's native name?
4. Whose life did Ralph save?
5. Who was lying in a swoon?
6. What mountain was being sought?
7. Did someone inquire about the presence of a white woman?
8. Was it possible that Suzanne was deceased?
9. Who possibly deserted her?
10. What color was the bird mentioned?
1. Gaasha
2. she was
3. Swallow
4. Gaasha
5. Ralph
6. Umpondwana
7. yes
8. yes
9. Sihamba
10. white