Sisiwe was too surprised to say anything.
“Will you take care of Dube for me while I am gone?” Nomusa asked.
“Of course, my sister,” Sisiwe answered. “And I will help your mother, too,” she added generously. “Yo, Nomusa, what do you think the other girls will say?”
There were no preparations to make for the trip, and the two days before the hunters were to meet were very long ones for Nomusa. She would have liked to talk about the hunt with her family. But she did not, because she saw Mdingi was hurt because she was going and he was not. Perhaps he really should be the one to go. Still, her father had said plainly that Mdingi would not be allowed to go, since he had lost the cow.
Timidly she spoke to Mdingi about her feelings. “I wish you were going on the hunt, my brother.”
“It is no matter,” Mdingi said indifferently.
But he was unhappy, Nomusa knew. How she wished there were something she could do to help him! If only Zitu knew how clever Mdingi was at composing songs and stories, how much he knew about birds and animals! And even so, he was a better shot with the bow and arrow than most of the boys. He had proved that at Damasi’s party.
It was just that Mdingi did not care as a boy should for shooting and hunting and such things. Still, his pride was hurt when the chief chose his daughter to go with him on the elephant hunt instead of his son.
At dawn on the morning of the departure, Nomusa crept out of her hut very quietly, taking with her the empty water jar. She would leave everything in readiness for her mother when she awoke.
There would be just time enough to fetch the water, grind some mealie corn, and stir up the fire before it would be time to leave.