"
"Burn him, white lords, and show him that I am right," exclaimed the
exasperated Babemba, after which they fell to wrangling. Evidently
they were rivals, and by this time both of them had lost their
tempers.
The sun was now very hot, quite sufficiently so to enable us to give
Mr. Imbozwi a taste of our magic, which I determined he should have.
Not being certain whether an ordinary mirror would really reflect
enough heat to scorch, I drew from my pocket a very powerful burning-
glass which I sometimes used for the lighting of fires in order to
save matches, and holding the mirror in one hand and the burning-glass
in the other, I worked myself into a suitable position for the
experiment. Babemba and the witch-doctor were arguing so fiercely that
neither of them seemed to notice what I was doing. Getting the focus
right, I directed the concentrated spark straight on to Imbozwi's
greased top-knot, where I knew he would feel nothing, my plan being to
char a hole in it. But as it happened this top-knot was built up round
something of a highly inflammable nature, reed or camphor-wood, I
expect.
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