“I come from the great chief, Gungunhama, the strong one,” said the leader, “and demand a present from the stranger.”
“Demand?” said Hume.
“Oh, ay, the country is his, the game in it, and the people. Inkose must pay, or take the path he has travelled.”
“You have flown fast if you come from Gungunhama, for his kraal is six suns away.”
“My chief is not one who sends a word to each white man who enters his country. He moves himself only when he wishes to strike, and his word is spoken to little people through his Indunas.”
“So,” said Hume, swallowing his wrath, “I have a present for the chief; but I must know that the man I give it to is the one authorised to receive.”
“You are few, and one of you is a woman,” said the Zulu, coolly taking a pinch of snuff. “So I brought only these men. If your present is large I can bring a regiment, that of Incornati, to-night, and my young men are quick to anger.”
This was a veiled threat that checked Hume, who had been disposed to carry matters with a high hand.
“Sit!” he said, “and eat. Klaas, give these men meat.”
Klaas did as he was ordered, and the Zulus eyed him disdainfully at first, then subjected him to a running fire of stinging criticism. Presently he answered back, and one of the younger men struck at his shins with a kerrie.