Luckily I had thought of bringing this food
with us; also a flask of spirits.
Then it was that the first thing happened. Far away in the forest
resounded a most awful roar, followed by a drumming noise, such a roar
as none of us had ever heard before, for it was quite unlike that of a
lion or any other beast.
"What is that?" I asked.
"The god," groaned the Kalubi, "the god praying to the moon with which
he always rises."
I said nothing, for I was reflecting that four shots, which was all we
had, was not many, and that nothing should tempt me to waste one of
them. Oh! why had Hans put on that rotten old waistcoat instead of the
new one I gave him in Durban?
Since we heard no more roars Brother John began to question the Kalubi
as to where the Mother of the Flower lived.
"Lord," answered the man in a distracted way, "there, towards the
East. You walk for a quarter of the sun's journey up the hill,
following a path that is marked by notches cut upon the trees, till
beyond the garden of the god at the top of the mountain more water is
found surrounding an island.
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