"
Now I, the listener, thought for a moment or two. The words of this
fighting savage, Mavovo, even those of them of which I had heard only
the translation, garbled and beslavered by the mean comments of the
unutterable Sammy, stirred my imagination. Who was I that I should
dare to judge of him and his wild, unknown gifts? Who was I that I
should mock at him and by my mockery intimate that I believed him to
be a fraud?
Stepping through the gateway of the fence, I confronted him.
"Mavovo," I said, "I have overheard your talk. I am sorry if I laughed
at you in Durban. I do not understand what you call your magic. It is
beyond me and may be true or may be false. Still, I shall be grateful
to you if you will use your power to discover, if you can, whether
Dogeetah is coming here, and if so, when. Now, do as it may please
you; I have spoken."
"And I have heard, Macumazana, my father. To-night I will call upon my
Snake. Whether it will answer or what it will answer, I cannot say."
Well, he did call upon his Snake with due and portentous ceremony and,
according to Stephen, who was present, which I declined to be, that
mystic reptile declared that Dogeetah, alias Brother John, would
arrive in Beza Town precisely at sunset on the third day from that
night.
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