Laurence bent down and pushed back the wicker slab that formed the door of the hut, and, having crawled through the low, beehive-like entrance, stood upright within, and instinctively kicked the fire into a blaze. And then, indeed, was amazement--wild, incredulous, bewildering amazement--his dominant feeling, for by the light thus obtained he saw that the hut was tenanted by two persons. No feminine voice, however, was raised to bid him welcome in the soft tongue of the Ba-gcatya, but a loud, full-flavoured, masculine English one: "Stanninghame--by the great Lord Harry! Oh, kind Heavens, am I drunk or dreaming?" FOOTNOTES: [3] Payment of cattle made to the father of a girl sought in marriage. [4] "Lindela" means to "wait for"--in the sense of "to watch for," hence the full significance of the parting remark. CHAPTER XXIV. AS FROM THE DEAD. "There, there, Holmes. Do you quite intend to maim a chap for life, or what?" exclaimed Laurence, liberating, with an effort, his hand from the other's wringing grasp. "And Hazon, too? In truth, life is full of surprises. How are you, Hazon?" "So so," was the reply, as Hazon, who had been biding the evaporation of his younger friend's effusiveness, now came forward. But his handshake was characteristic of the man, for it was as though they had parted only last week, and that but temporarily. "And is it really you yourself, old chap?" rattled on Holmes. "It's for all the world as if you had risen from the dead. Why, we never expected to set eyes on you again in life--did we, Hazon?" "Not much," assented that worthy laconically. "Well, I can say the same as regards yourselves," rejoined Laurence. "What in the world made them give you quarter?" "Don't know," answered Hazon. "We managed to get together, back to back, we two, and were fighting like cats. Holmes got a shot on the head with a club that sent him down, and I got stuck full of assegais till I couldn't see. The next thing I knew was that we were being carted along in the middle of a big _impi_--Heaven knew where. One thing, we were both alive--alive and kicking, too. As soon as we were able to walk they assegaied our bearers, and--made us walk." "Don't you swallow all that, Stanninghame," cut in Holmes. "He fought, standing over me--fought like any devil, the Ba-gcatya say, although he makes out now it was all playful fun." "Well, for the matter of that, we had to fight," rejoined Hazon tranquilly. "Where have you been all this time, Stanninghame?" "Here, at Imvungayo. And you two?" "Shot if I know. They kept us at some place away in the mountains. Only brought us here a few days back." "They won't let us out in the daytime," chimed in Holmes. "And it's getting deadly monotonous. But tell us, old chap, how it is they didn't stick you?"