"Ask him if there are any snakes there， sir，" he said， and foolishly enough I put the question to give me time to think of other things.
"Yes， O Bena. Yes， O Cock of the Ashpit，" replied Babemba. "My uncle's Kendar wife told me that one of the guardians of the shrine of the White Kendah is such a snake as was never seen elsewhere in the world.""Then say to him， sir，" said Savage， when I had translated almost automatically， "that shrine ain't a church where /I/ shall go to say my prayers."Alas！ poor Savage little knew the future and its gifts.
Then we came to the question of bearers. The end of it was that after some hesitation Bausi II， because of his great affection for us， promised to provide us with these upon our solemnly undertaking to dismiss them at the borders of the desert， "so that they might escape our doom，" as he remarked cheerfully.
Four days later we started， accompanied by about one hundred and twenty picked men under the command of old Babemba himself， who， he explained， wished to be the last to see us alive in the world. This was depressing， but other circumstances connected with our start were calculated to weigh even more upon my spirit. Thus the night before we left Hans arrived and asked me to "write a paper" for him. I inquired what he wanted me to put in the paper. He replied that as he was going to his death and had property， namely the ā650 that had been left in a bank to his credit， he desired to make a "white man's will" to be left in the charge of Babemba. The only provision of the said will was that I was to inherit his property， if I lived. If I died， which， he added， "of course you must， Baas， like the rest of us，" it was to be devoted to furnishing poor black people in hospital with something comforting to drink instead of the "cow's water" that was given to them there.
Needless to say I turned him out at once， and that testamentary deposition remained unrecorded. Indeed it was unnecessary， since， as Ireminded him， on my advice he had already made a will before we left Durban， a circumstance that he had quite forgotten.
The second event， which occurred about an hour before our departure， was， that hearing a mighty wailing in the market-place where once Hans and I had been tied to stakes to be shot to death with arrows， I went out to see what was the matter. At the gateway I was greeted by the sight of about a hundred old women plastered all over with ashes， engaged in howling their loudest in a melancholy unison. Behind these stood the entire population of Beza-Town， who chanted a kind of chorus.
"What the devil are they doing？" I asked of Hans.
"Singing our death-song， Baas，" he replied stolidly， "as they say that where we are going no one will take the trouble to do so， and it is not right that great lords should die and the heavens above remain uninformed that they are coming.""That's cheerful，" I remarked， and wheeling round， asked Ragnall straight out if he wished to persevere in this business， for to tell the truth my nerve was shaken.
"I must，" he answered simply， "but there is no reason why you and Hans should， or Savage either for the matter of that.""Oh！ I'm going where you go，" I said， "and where I go Hans will go.
Savage must speak for himself."
This he did and to the same effect， being a very honest and faithful man. It was the more to his credit since， as he informed me in private， he did not enjoy African adventure and often dreamed at nights of his comfortable room at Ragnall whence he superintended the social activities of that great establishment.
So we departed and marched for the matter of a month or more through every kind of country. After we had passed the head of the great lake wherein lay the island， if it really was an island， where the Pongo used to dwell (one clear morning through my glasses I discerned the mountain top that marked the former residence of the Mother of the Flower， and by contrast it made me feel quite homesick)， we struck up north， following a route known to Babemba and our guides. After this we steered by the stars through a land with very few inhabitants， timid and nondescript folk who dwelt in scattered villages and scarcely understood the art of cultivating the soil， even in its most primitive form.
A hundred miles or so farther on these villages ceased and thenceforward we only encountered some nomads， little bushmen who lived on game which they shot with poisoned arrows. Once they attacked us and killed two of the Mazitu with those horrid arrows， against the venom of which no remedy that we had in our medicine chest proved of any avail. On this occasion Savage exhibited his courage if not his discretion， for rushing out of our thorn fence， after missing a bushmen with both barrels at a distance of five yards--he was， Ithink， the worst shot I ever saw--he seized the little viper with his hands and dragged him back to camp. How Savage escaped with his life Ido not know， for one poisoned arrow went through his hat and stuck in his hair and another just grazed his leg without drawing blood.
This valorous deed was of great service to us， since we were able through Hans， who knew something of the bushmen's language， to explain to our prisoner that if we were shot at again he would be hung. This information he contrived to shout， or rather to squeak and grunt， to his amiable tribe， of which it appeared he was a kind of chief， with the result that we were no more molested. Later， when we were clear of the bushmen country， we let him depart， which he did with great rapidity.
By degrees the land grew more and more barren and utterly devoid of inhabitants， till at last it merged into desert. At the edge of this desert which rolled away without apparent limit we came， however， to a kind of oasis where there was a strong and beautiful spring of water that formed a stream which soon lost itself in the surrounding sand.
As we could go no farther， for even if we had wished to do so， and were able to find water there， the Mazitu refused to accompany us into the desert， not knowing what else to do， we camped in the oasis and waited.
