It seems that they are sacred birds, and if they escape he will think he has nothing to fear from the white men and their magic, and so will make a beginning by butchering us.

I mean the rest of us, for I am to be kept alive, and oh! what shall I do, Allan ?" I looked at her, and she looked at me.

Then I took the double-barrelled pistol out of my pocket and gave it to her.
"It is loaded and on the half-cock," I said.
She nodded, and hid it in her dress beneath her apron.

Then without more words we kissed and parted, for both of us feared to prolong that scene.
The hill Hloma Amabutu was quite close to our encampment and the huts of the Reverend Mr.Owen, scarcely a quarter of a mile off, I should say, rising from the flat veld on the further side of a little depression that hardly amounted to a valley.

As we approached it I noticed its peculiar and blasted appearance, for whereas all around the grass was vivid with the green of spring, on this place none seemed to grow.