There were loud cries of agreement. “Hau! Yo!”
Damasi’s father put his arm around Nomusa’s shoulder. “Come and rest. You are weary.”
She followed him obediently. Unrolling a mat in the little hut occupied by Damasi’s mother and his baby brother, she threw herself upon it, exhausted. Only now did Nomusa realize fully the great danger she had been in and how lucky she had been. Oh, how tired and sleepy she was! Yawning, she put her arm under her head as a pillow and was about to fall asleep when there flashed through her mind the memory of her lost monkey, whom she had forgotten in all the excitement.
Her eyes filled with tears and she tried to swallow the lump in her throat. She buried her head in her arms. The joy of the day was entirely gone. Though she had been a brave hunter but a short time before, now she was only a small girl crying bitterly over a lost pet.
At last she dozed off and fell to dreaming of her search through deep and dangerous forests for her little monkey.
Muttering restlessly, Nomusa tossed from side to side in her sleep. She put her hand on her neck to scratch herself. Suddenly she felt something soft and warm moving across her shoulders and the back of her neck. She woke up with a start and clutched at the thing with both hands. There was a squeal of pain as she pulled it forward. Her fright turned to joy as she saw that what she held in her hand was the tail of a monkey. Dube!
“Oh, I have hurt you!” cried Nomusa, taking Dube in her arms and hugging him.
Damasi’s mother smiled and said, “I am glad you like the little monkey. Damasi went to a great deal of trouble to get him when he was tending the cows in the pasture. He kept him as a pet for himself until you won him as a prize.”
Just then Damasi’s baby brother wailed. “Tula! We must be quiet now,” warned Damasi’s mother, and then, lying down on the mat next to the baby, she began nursing him. Soon he fell asleep again. Nomusa lay down on her mat, too, drawing Dube close to her.
“Where did you go to, you bad little Dube?” she whispered to him affectionately.