"Well, friend, what is the matter?" I asked. "You see there was no
need for you to run. If you had stepped behind me you would have been
as safe as you are now--after running."
"It is so, lord Macumazana, but the thing is strange to me. Forgive me
if I do not understand."
"Oh! I forgive you, my lord Kalubi--that is--to be. It is clear that
you have a good deal to learn in Pongo-land."
"Yes, my lord Macumazana, and so perhaps have you," he replied dryly,
having by this time recovered his nerve and sarcastic powers.
Then after telling Mavovo, who appeared mysteriously at the sound of
the shot--I think he was stalking us in case of accidents--to fetch
men to cut up the rhinoceros, Komba and I proceeded on our walk.
A little further on, just by the edge of the reeds, I caught sight of
a narrow, oblong trench dug in a patch of stony soil, and of a rusted
mustard tin half-hidden by some scanty vegetation.
"What is that?" I asked, in seeming astonishment, though I knew well
what it must be.
"Oh!" replied Komba, who evidently was not yet quite himself, "that is
where the white lord Dogeetah, Bausi's blood-brother, set his little
canvas house when he was here over twelve moons ago.
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