For the rest, I held in my left hand a very stout, long bow of black
wood which seemed to have seen much service, with a string of what
looked like catgut, on which was set a broad-feathered, barbed arrow.
This I kept in place with the fingers of my right hand, on one of
which I observed a handsome gold ring with strange characters carved
upon the bezel.

Now for the charioteer.

He was black as night, black as a Sunday hat, with yellow rolling eyes
set in a countenance of extraordinary ugliness and I may add,
extraordinary humour. His big, wide mouth with thick lips ran up the
left side of his face towards an ear that was also big and projecting.
His hair, that had a feather stuck in it, was real nigger wool
covering a skull like a cannon ball and I should imagine as hard. This
head, by the way, was set plumb upon the shoulders, as though it had
been driven down between them by a pile hammer. They were very broad
shoulders suggesting enormous strength, but the gaily-clad body
beneath, which was supported by two bowed legs and large, flat feet,
was that of a dwarf who by the proportions of his limbs Nature first
intended for a giant; yes, an Ethiopian dwarf.

Looking through this remarkable exterior, as it were, I recognized
that inside of it was the soul, or animating principle, of--whom do
you think? None other than my beloved old servant and companion, the
Hottentot Hans whose loss I had mourned for years! Hans himself who
died for me, slaying the great elephant, Jana, in Kendah Land, the
elephant I could not hit, and thereby saving my life. Oh! although I
had been obliged to go back to the days of I knew not what ancient