While meditating thus he held the child very carefully, with his right hand in her belt, so that she could not fall out of the saddle. They rode on slowly and silently, and Kali whispered in Stasch’s ear these flattering words:
“The Great Man kills Gebhr, kills lion, and buffalo. Yah! Yah! The Great Man will kill many lions. Plenty of meat! Plenty of meat! Yah! Yah!”
“Kali,” asked Stasch softly, “do the Wa-himas hunt lions, too?”
“Wa-hima afraid of lions, but Wa-hima dig deep trenches, and if a lion falls into them during the night, why then Wa-hima laughs.”
“What would you do then?”
“Wa-hima throw many spears until the lion like a porcupine, then drag him out of the trench and eat him. Lion good.” And, as was his custom, he stroked his stomach.
This way of killing lions did not appeal strongly to Stasch, so he began to question Kali as to what other kind of game was to be found in the land of the Wa-hima; and so they talked more about antelopes, ostriches, giraffes, and rhinoceroses until they heard the splashing of a waterfall.
“What’s that?” cried Stasch. “In front of us is a stream and a waterfall, too!”
Kali nodded his head as a sign that it was really so.
For a time they rode on, quickening their pace and listening intently to the rushing of the water, which was heard more distinctly every minute.