When at length he appeared I asked him where he had been.

He answered, to cut himself a stick in the forest, as he understood we should have to walk a long way.

Also he showed me the stick, a long, thick staff of a hard and beautiful kind of bamboo which grows in Mazitu-land.
"What do you want that clumsy thing for," I said, "when there are plenty of sticks about ?" "New journey, new stick! Baas.

Also this kind of wood is full of air and might help me to float if we are upset into the water." "What an idea!" I exclaimed, and dismissed the matter from my mind.
At dawn, on the following day, we started, Stephen and I riding on the two donkeys, which were now fat and lusty, and Brother John upon his white ox, a most docile beast that was quite attached to him.

All the hunters, fully armed, came with us to the borders of the Mazitu country, where they were to await our return in company with the Mazitu regiment.
The king himself went with us to the west gate of the town, where he bade us all, and especially Brother John, an affectionate farewell.
Moreover, he sent for Komba and his attendants, and again swore to him that if any harm happened to us, he would not rest till he had found a way to destroy the Pongo, root and branch.
"Have no fear," answered the cold Komba, "in our holy town of Rica we do not tie innocent guests to stakes to be shot to death with arrows." The repartee, which was undoubtedly neat, irritated Bausi, who was not fond of allusions to this subject.
"If the white men are so safe, why do you not let them take their guns with them ?" he asked, somewhat illogically.
"If we meant evil, King, would their guns help them, they being but few among so many.