Well, I drove them off to a distance, not knowing what might happen if
the two peoples met, and then went down to the bank. By now the Mazitu
were near, and to my delight at the head of them I perceived no other
than my old friend, their chief general, Babemba, a one-eyed man with
whom Hans and I had shared many adventures. Through the water he plunged
with great bounds and reaching the shore, greeted me literally with
rapture.

"O Macumazana," he said, "little did I hope that ever again I should
look upon your face. Welcome to you, a thousand welcomes, and to you
too, Light-in-Darkness, Lord-of-the-Fire, Cunning-one whose wit saved us
in the battle of the Gate. But where is Dogeetah, where is Wazeela, and
where are the Mother and the Child of the Flower?"

"Far away across the Black Water, Babemba," I answered. "But here are
two others in place of them," and I introduced him to Ragnall and Savage
by their native names of Igeza and Bena.

He contemplated them for a moment, then said:

"This," pointing to Ragnall, "is a great lord, but this," pointing to
Savage, who was much the better dressed of the two, "is a cock of the
ashpit arrayed in an eagle's feathers," a remark I did not translate,
but one which caused Hans to snigger vacuously.

While we breakfasted on food prepared by the "Cock of the Ashpit," who
amongst many other merits had that of being an excellent cook, I heard
all the news. Bausi the king was dead but had been succeeded by one
of his sons, also named Bausi, whom I remembered. Beza-Town had been