"'You must trap a baboon,' explained the old Kafir,--'a leading baboon, for choice, who has a lot to say in the government of the troop; and then you must skin him, and let him go again. The others will travel miles and miles as soon as they see him, and never come back again.' "'It makes me sick to think of it,' said Shadrach. 'Surely you know some other way of scaring them?' "The old Kafir shook his head slowly, but the yellow man ceased to smile and play with the straw, and spoke: "'I do not believe in that way, baas. A Shangaan baboon'--he grinned at his companion--'is more easily frightened than those of the Drakensberg. I am of the bushmen, and I know. If you flay one of those up yonder, the others will make war, and where one came before, ten will come every night. A baboon is not a fat, lazy Kafir; one must be careful with him!' "'How would _you_ drive them away, then?' asked Shadrach. "The yellow man shuffled his hands in the dust, squatting on his heels. There, there! See--the baboon in the yard is doing the very same thing! "'If I were the baas,' said the yellow man, 'I would turn out the young men to walk round the fields at night, with buckets to hit with sticks, and make a noise. And I--well, I am of the bushmen.' He scratched himself and smiled emptily. "'Yes, yes?' demanded Shadrach. He knew the wonderful ways of the bushmen with some animals. "'I do not know if anything can be done,' said the yellow man, 'but, if the baas is willing, I can go up to the rocks and try.' "'How?' "But he could tell nothing. None of these wizards that have charms to subdue the beasts can tell you anything about it. A Hottentot will smell the air and say what cattle are near, but if you bid him tell you how he does it, he giggles like a fool and is ashamed. "'I do not know if anything can be done,' the yellow man repeated. 'I cannot promise the baas, but I can try.' "'Well, try, then,' ordered Shadrach, and went away to make the necessary arrangements to have the young Kafirs in the fields that night. "They did as he bade, and the noise was loathsome--enough to frighten anything with an ear in its head. The Kafirs did not relish the watch in the dark at first, but when they found that their work was only to thump buckets and howl, they came to do it with zest, and roared and banged till you would have thought a judgment must descend on them. The baboons heard it, sure enough, and came down, after a while, to see what was going on. They sat on their rumps outside the circle of Kafirs, as quiet as people in a church, and watched the niggers drumming and capering as though it were a show for their amusement. Then they went back, leaving the crops untouched, but pulling all the huts in one kraal to pieces as they passed. It was the kraal of the old white-tufted Shangaan, as Shadrach learned afterwards.