“On the 25th of June I was once more at Tati, and decided to ride to the King’s Town, but a fresh difficulty arose in getting boys to go with me, as my own boys say the white men are the cause of all this trouble, for they bring the sickness, and they are afraid the king will kill them for accompanying white men. At last, however, this difficulty was surmounted, and I set off on the 30th of June with my two horses, and eight boys carrying my baggage. Gordon, a Mungwato trader, arrived at Tati _en route_ for the King’s whilst I was making my preparations, but says there were no letters there for me when he left. He could not go on even to the King’s without special leave, as the king has heard of ‘red-water,’ the Natal cattle disease, and is in a great fright about it. Indeed, if it got amongst his cattle, his nation would suffer terribly. It seems, too, from recent reports, that it is contagious, though we never used to think so. “Dorehill’s waggon and the waggons of another trader had been stopped on their way to the King’s Town at the Inkwesi River, where the first Matabele kraal is, and were there when I came up.[46] I got on very well up to the time of my reaching these waggons, and stayed a couple of days at them with Dorehill, who was awaiting further news from the King’s. On leaving the waggons I met the messenger he had sent to the king returning with a message from the latter to Dorehill that he was to ride on and see him. I went on, but had great difficulty in keeping my boys from turning back. However, I explained to them that if they kept with me there was no likelihood of their being hurt, as no white man’s servants ever were interfered with, whereas, if they turned back, they might be killed. They would of course have liked me to turn back with them; but seeing I was determined to go on, they thought it was their best chance to remain in my company. I of course knew there was not much fear of anything being done to them as long as they were with me, as the king holds everything belonging to white men sacred, and his people dare not commit any violence on Kafirs protected by a white man. The fact is my boys were principally Makalakas, who are slaves to the Matabele, and whose lives are considered worthless. “One night I was very angry with them, for I had been riding on in advance, and kept on riding after sundown, as the country for miles round was on fire, and I wanted to get past the fire before we encamped for the night. I lay down with my head on a log, to await their arrival, and fell asleep. By and by I woke up, and found it was colder than agreeable, and at once guessed that they had stopped behind. I had to ride back a good way before I came to their fire, when I pitched into them. They had been afraid to come on after sundown, as the Matabele don’t allow their subjects to travel by night, though of course a white man can do what he likes.