Also I dared not enter by the gate, because a man was always on guard there.

So I cut my way through the reed fence with my assegai and crept to the hut where Baleka was with some of her half-sisters.

I knew on which side of the hut it was her custom to lie, and where her head would be.

So I lay down on my side and gently, very gently, began to bore a hole in the grass covering of the hut.

It took a long while, for the thatch was thick, but at last I was nearly through it.