Travelling across it for
perhaps a hundred and fifty yards, they came near the second wall, which
was like the first, only not quite so solid, and saw that on a stretch
of beaten ground, and seated in the shadow, for the day was hot, the
people of Bambatse were gathered to greet them.
When within fifty yards they dismounted from the horses, which were
left with the waggon in the charge of the Makalanga, Tamala. Then Benita
taking her position between her father and Jacob Meyer, they
advanced towards the ring of natives, of whom there may have been two
hundred--all of them adult men.
As they came, except one figure who remained seated with his back
against the wall, the human circle stood up as a token of respect, and
Benita saw that they were of the same stamp as the messengers--tall and
good-looking, with melancholy eyes and a cowed expression, wearing the
appearance of people who from day to day live in dread of slavery and
death. Opposite to them was a break in the circle, through which Tamas
led them, and as they crossed it Benita felt that all those people
were staring at her with their sad eyes. A few paces from where the
man crouched against the wall, his head hidden by a beautifully worked
blanket that was thrown over it, were placed three well-carved stools.
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