"Ohe! they are fresh, for the fight was short."
"Then send some of them up the cliff on the other side, so that they may overlook the place where the river goes under."
Muata looked down into the valley again, and asked the question which he had been burning to ask all the time, but could not for fear of showing anxiety.
"So Hassan has tried to drown out the valley?"
"The river rose and the river fell! While he sent some men to attack the gorge, he found the river-gate unguarded, and seized it, blocked the course of the river with a great rock loosened from above, and then, as the water rose, lowered canoes on the inside, and sent his men forward to eat up your village."
"Where was Ngonyama when the gates were unguarded?"
"In the caverns under the cliff."
"Wow!"
"The wise woman led us there. She left us there, fearing I, Ngonyama, would supplant you, her son; and on the second morning, when she found that Hassan was too cunning, she came with an offer of liberty if we would destroy his plan. We told her the way. It was to let the water in."
"It was a good plan. Haw!"