So the next day Makoma and the giants set out to get poles to build the
kraal, leaving only Chi-eswa-mapiri to look after the place and cook
some venison which they had killed. In the evening, when they
returned, they found the giant helpless and tied to a tree by one
enormous hair!

'How is it,' said Makoma, astonished, 'that we find you thus bound and
helpless?'

'O Chief,' answered Chi-eswa-mapiri, 'at mid- day a man came out of the
river; he was of immense statue, and his grey moustaches were of such
length that I could not see where they ended! He demanded of me "Who
is thy master?" And I answered: "Makoma, the greatest of heroes." Then
the man seized me, and pulling a hair from his moustache, tied me to
this tree--even as you see me.'

Makoma was very wroth, but he said nothing, and drawing his finger-nail
across the hair (which was as thick and strong as palm rope) cut it,
and set free the mountain-maker.

The three following days exactly the same thing happened, only each
time with a different one of the party; and on the fourth day Makoma
stayed in camp when the others went to cut poles, saying that he would
see for himself what sort of man this was that lived in the river and
whose moustaches were so long that they extended beyond men's sight.

So when the giants had gone he swept and tidied the camp and put some
venison on the fire to roast. At midday, when the sun was right
overhead, he heard a rumbling noise from the river, and looking up he