She whistled Mdingi’s call over and over again. Moving between the well-spaced trees, she pushed aside with her stick the vines and creepers that came in her way. Once the whir of flying wings over her head gave her a great fright.
Only a bat! she thought, ashamed of her fear.
But the farther she went into the woods the less courageous she felt. She wished now that she had let Mdingi come with her. Oh, where could Nyawuza have gone? Was she perhaps already eaten by a lion or a hyena?
By this time Nomusa was deep in the woods. Her eyes had become so accustomed to the darkness that she was able to see where she was going quite well. She called and whistled, she slapped at trees with her stick to frighten off lurking animals. She had often heard that the rhinoceros hated loud noises and ran away at sudden sounds. She hoped it would frighten away other animals, too.
Once she saw some small glowing eyes peering at her from a bush. It made Nomusa’s flesh creep with dread. The fast beating of her heart made her whistle tremble and quaver. Her throat suddenly went dry, and she found herself scarcely able to utter any sound whatever.
All at once, Nomusa heard a low and doleful moo from somewhere to the right of her. She plunged excitedly through the thicket in the direction of the sound. Another low, mournful moo.
Nomusa came to a small swamp; and there was Nyawuza. One foot was caught in a liana, and she was still struggling to free herself from the vine.
With a cry of joy and relief, Nomusa rushed up to the cow. She put her arms around her neck. “Nyawuza, our dear one, are you hurt?”
She bent down to examine Nyawuza’s leg and to see how she could free her. Nyawuza had got herself more and more entangled with the vine by trying to free herself. First Nomusa pulled at it with all her strength, but soon she saw that it required cutting. She had no knife, so she tried using her pointed stick to get between the vines and the cow’s leg. This hurt Nyawuza, and she frantically pulled herself away.
“What shall I do?” wondered Nomusa. She groped about on the ground looking for a rock with a sharp edge, feeling rather than seeing the stones. All at once she felt a sharp pain in her hand.