You refused my wisdom and you went, and I have
learned all that befell you and how you two escaped the impi. Well, that
night after sunset, when you did not return, came the Black One--yes,
yes, I mean Meyer, whom we name so because of his beard, and," he added
deliberately, "his heart. He came running down the hill asking for you,
and I gave him the letter.
"He read it, and oh! then he went mad. He cursed in his own tongue; he
threw himself about; he took a rifle and wished to shoot me, but I sat
silent and looked at him till he grew quiet. Then he asked why I had
played him this trick, but I answered that it was no trick of mine who
had no right to keep you and your father prisoners against your will,
and that I thought you had gone away because you were afraid of him,
which was not wonderful if that was how he talked to you. I told him,
too, I who am a doctor, that unless he was careful he would go mad; that
already I saw madness in his eye; after which he became quiet, for my
words frightened him. Then he asked what could be done, and I said--that
night, nothing, since you must be far away, so that it would be useless
to follow you, but better to go to meet you when you came back. He asked
what I meant by your coming back, and I answered that I meant what I
said, that you would come back in great haste and peril--although you
would not believe me when I told you so--for I had it from the Munwali
whose child you are.
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