“Now where is the hyena who will try a new burrow?” cried Umslopogaas. “A hundred head of cattle to the man who wins through and clears the way!”
Then two young men sprang forward who were flushed with victory and desired nothing more than to make a great name and win cattle, crying:—
“Here are hyenas, Bulalio.”
“To earth, then!” said Umslopogaas, “and let him who wins through hold the path awhile till others follow.”
The two young men sprang at the hole, and he who reached it first went down upon his hands and knees and crawled in, lying on his shield and holding his spear before him. For a little while the light in the burrow vanished, and they heard the sound of his crawling. Then came the noise of blows, and once more light crept through the hole. The man was dead.
“This one had a bad snake,” said the second soldier; “his snake deserted him. Let me see if mine is better.”
So down he went on his hands and knees, and crawled as the first had done, only he put his shield over his head. For awhile they heard him crawling, then once more came the sound of blows echoing on the ox-hide shield, and after the blows groans. He was dead also, yet it seemed that they had left his body in the hole, for now no light came through. This was the cause, my father: when they struck the man he had wriggled back a little way and died there, and none had entered from the farther side to drag him out.
Now the soldiers stared at the mouth of the passage and none seemed to love the look of it, for this was but a poor way to die. Umslopogaas and Galazi also looked at it, thinking.
“Now I am named Wolf,” said Galazi, “and a wolf should not fear the dark; also, these are my people, and I must be the first to visit them,” and he went down on his hands and knees without more ado. But Umslopogaas, having peered once more down the burrow, said: “Hold, Galazi; I will go first! I have a plan. Do you follow me. And you, my children, shout loudly, so that none may hear us move; and, if we win through, follow swiftly, for we cannot hold the mouth of that place for long. Hearken, also! this is my counsel to you: if I fall choose another chief—Galazi the Wolf, if he is still living.”
“Nay, Slaughterer, do not name me,” said the Wolf, “for together we live or die.”