"O son of a fool!" he said, "you pretend that you can see what is hid
from other men, but I tell you that there is a lying spirit in your
lips. You called me a coward because I am not big and strong as you
were, and cannot hold an ox by the horns, but at least there is more
brain in my stomach than in all your head. Where would all of you be
now had it not been for poor Spotted Snake the 'coward,' who twice
this day has saved every one of you, except those whom the Baas's
father, the reverend Predikant, has marked upon the forehead to come
and join him in a place that is even hotter and brighter than that
burning town?"
Now we looked at Hans, wondering what he meant about saving us twice,
and Mavovo said:
"Speak on quickly, O Spotted Snake, for I would hear the end of your
story. How did you help us in your hole?"
Hans began to grub about in his pockets, from which finally he
produced a match-box wherein there remained but one match.
"With this," he said. "Oh! could none of you see that the men of
Hassan had all walked into a trap? Did none of you know that fire
burns thatched houses, and that a strong wind drives it fast and far?
While you sat there upon the hill with your heads together, like sheep
waiting to be killed, I crept away among the bushes and went about my
business.
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