"There it is. Take it or leave it. If you leave it, then we leave the Zulu country--walk out of it, for we cannot drag our waggons. Then, when the Great Great One--he who sits at Undini--is called upon to make good the loss of two spans of oxen, two waggons and the whole of their contents--to the Englishmen whose oxen were taken--were taken by Nonguza, the induna whom he sent to keep order here on the boundary, what will he say, that Lion--what will he do? Tell me that. What will he do?" "I know nothing of your oxen, Umlungu," said Nonguza, sullenly. "It is not I who have taken them." "Not you? Ha! When an induna of the King is present, is he greater than only the head of a kraal--a large kraal certainly--or is he less? Tell me that, Nonguza?" It was a good game of bluff to play, and I was about at the end of my patience. I held trumps and I knew my hand, for I knew perfectly on what errand this chief was there. Now he turned and gave an order to those who had lately been threatening us, and I knew that the game was won. Yet even then, as I noted the look of sullen vindictiveness that fled swiftly across the chief's face, I was not inclined to exult, for I was well aware that he would go a good way to be even with me yet, and in the then unsettled state of the border it would be strange if some opportunity of making himself disagreeable did not afford itself. "Well, I'm sick of all this jaw with a couple of snuffy niggers, Glanton," growled Falkner. "What's going to be done?" "Oh shut your silly head," I said, irritably, for of course an unconciliatory tone tells its own tale even though no word is understood. "I suspect your readiness to bash all and everybody is at the bottom of the whole bother." "Well, if a brute comes at me brandishing a stick with a knob like a cricket ball I've got to do something, haven't I?" he answered, lighting his pipe and slouching away in the sulks. I was in no better humour, to tell the truth, but laid myself out to do the civil to Nonguza, by way of smoothing his ruffled feathers. Then, as time went by, and I was beginning to feel a little anxious once more, to my intense relief my ears caught a well-known sound, the trampling of hoofs to wit, and lo--coming over the rise were my oxen, driven at a run by those who had taken them. I gave orders at once to inspan, returning a curt negative to Magebe's inquiries as to whether I would not stop and trade. I was going _kwa_ Majendwa, I answered. There no mistake would be made as to who I was. So we marched forth with all the honours of war, but as the whips cracked, and the spans tugged out in response I noticed that the cloud of armed Zulus watching us was increased by others coming over the ridge--part of Nonguza's impi--and thought we should be lucky if we escaped further trouble at the hands of these. It was a bad beginning to our trip--in the temper the people were evidently then in--yes, a bad beginning. CHAPTER FIFTEEN.