“It is about five sleeps away,” Zitu answered, his eyes on the path ahead. “It may be nearer or farther than that. Much depends on whether herds of elephants are moving south or north, and whether we walk along speedily and without any mishap. We are headed for some high country and wide rivers where elephants like to wander.”
Nomusa listened carefully. That was just what she wanted to know. Proudly she walked, letting nothing escape her notice. Oh, there was a crested crane! She had never seen one before, but she knew what it was. “Look, Father!” urged Nomusa excitedly.
“Not good to eat,” Zitu replied, indifferent.
Nomusa was about to say that she had pointed it out for its beauty and not as something to eat, but she checked herself. Perhaps hunters should not think of things along the way except as a possibility for food or for exchange, like elephants’ tusks.
She now walked along silently, thinking of the red bush lily she saw in one place, of the grassland flowers she saw in another. The farther they walked from the kind of country she was used to, the more different trees and wild flowers she saw. She must remember to tell Sisiwe about the gladioli she saw growing wild next to that narrow stream at which they stopped to drink. She would hardly believe it. And the birds! Even Mdingi had never seen so many. A flying hammerkopf attracted her attention as it snapped up frogs in a marshy pool.
After some distance, Nomusa saw her father wiping his perspiring brow with the back of his hand. “The sun is high,” he declared. “In a little while we must stop to eat and rest until the sun’s rays are not so hot.”
When they reached a clear running stream, the chief turned and called to the hunters, “Here! A good place for eating and resting.”
Immediately all came together, and as if they had already agreed on what was to be done, some left to go off into the woods to look for small animals, others began gathering brushwood for a fire. Several took out of a small sack some mealies and yams.