It was nearly night before the task was completed. Colin and Desmond had learnt a practical lesson of what a plague of locusts meant. All ordinary work was at a standstill, while the destruction done by the insects had cost Colonel Narfield at least a couple of hundred pounds.
Nor did the trouble end there. Sibenga's kraal had been raided by the locusts with dire results. A witch-doctor, summoned by the chief, gave his decision as to the cause of the visitation. It was, he declared, caused by evil spirits, brought into the country by white men, and until the white men were driven out Sibenga would not prosper.
Drunk with native beer, Sibenga's followers applauded the witch doctor, and called on their chief to lead them against their nearest white neighbours. And these lived at Kilembonga.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE AMBUSH
"What's doin', old son?" inquired Tiny, a few days after the visitation of the plague of locusts.
It was a slack time. Colonel Narfield was down with one of his periodical attacks of malaria, and work, both in the laboratory and in the open air, was at a standstill. It was at the Colonel's suggestion that the two lads took a holiday.
"Let's ride over to Kana Kloof," suggested Colin. "There's bound to be some springbok about."
"Right-o," agreed his chum. "You see to the grub, and I'll saddle the horses. Tell Colonel Narfield where we're going."