Of course she was delighted, and we proceeded to inspect the baby,
which evidently she loved more than anything on earth. Whilst we were
examining the child and chatting about it, Saduko sitting by meanwhile
in the sulks, who on earth should appear but Mameena and her fat and
sullen-looking husband, the chief Masapo.
"Oh, Macumazahn," she said, appearing to notice no one else, "how
pleased I am to see you after a whole long year!"
I stared at her and my jaw dropped. Then I recovered myself, thinking
she must have made a mistake and meant to say "week."
"Twelve moons," she went on, "and, Macumazahn, not one of them has gone
by but I have thought of you several times and wondered if we should
ever meet again. Where have you been all this while?"
"In many places," I answered; "amongst others at the Black Kloof, where
I called upon the dwarf, Zikali, and lost my looking-glass."
"The Nyanga, Zikali! Oh, how often have I wished to see him. But, of
course, I cannot, for I am told he will not receive any women."
"I don't know, I am sure," I replied, "but you might try; perhaps he
would make an exception in your favour."
"I think I will, Macumazahn," she murmured, whereon I collapsed into
silence, feeling that things were getting beyond me.
When I recovered myself a little it was to hear Mameena greeting Saduko
with much effusion, and complimenting him on his rise in life, which
she said she had always foreseen. This remark seemed to bowl out Saduko
also, for he made no answer to it, although I noticed that he could
not take his eyes off Mameena's beautiful face. Presently, however,
he seemed to become aware of Masapo, and instantly his whole demeanour
changed, for it grew proud and even terrible. Masapo tendered him some
greeting; whereon Saduko turned upon him and said: "What, chief of the Amasomi, do you give the good-day to an umfokazana
and a mangy hyena? Why do you do this? Is it because the low umfokazana
has become a noble and the mangy hyena has put on a tiger's coat?" And
he glared at him like a veritable tiger.
Masapo made no answer that I could catch. Muttering some inaudible
words, he turned to depart, and in doing so--quite innocently, I
think--struck Nandie, knocking her over on to her back and causing
the child to fall out of her arms in such fashion that its tender head
struck against a pebble with sufficient force to cause it to bleed.
Saduko leapt at him, smiting him across the shoulders with the little
stick that he carried. For a moment Masapo paused, and I thought that
he was going to show fight. If he had any such intention, however, he
changed his mind, for without a word, or showing any resentment at the
insult which he had received, he broke into a heavy run and vanished
among the evening shadows. Mameena, who had observed all, broke into
something else, namely, a laugh.