Zabala had found the path by which the elephants entered and left the grove. It was smooth and hard; they must have used it many times.
“These tracks are not fresh. I think it is many days since the elephants visited this grove,” said one of the hunters. “The droppings look old.”
“Let us go in that direction,” Zitu decided, pointing the way. “And quietly. Hold your weapons ready but do not use them until I give the signal.”
As they moved along the path, Nomusa wondered how many elephants they would find at one time, how they would manage to get an elephant back to their kraal, how she would succeed in hitting an elephant with Mdingi’s arrow in just the right spot to kill it. Her mind was so full of these thoughts that she did not look carefully in front of her. All at once she stepped on a bunch of dry twigs, making such a loud snapping noise that the hunters were startled. They turned angrily, frowning at Nomusa.
Zitu said quietly: “We do not want anyone to say that this is what happens when we take a girl along. Such a noise might drive the elephants at us or away from us entirely. Let them but smell or hear us and things might go badly! One person’s carelessness can endanger us all. Do not let it happen again.”
As if her father had to tell her that! Nomusa was overwhelmed by her feeling of disgrace. Zitu would know better than to take a girl with him another time.
On went the hunters, paying no further attention to Nomusa. She walked along in their midst, her eyes fast to the ground, still filled with shame. After a while she felt a gentle nudge at her elbow. At first she paid no attention to it, thinking one of the hunters had accidentally bumped her. But when the nudge became more insistent, she looked up and saw Damasi. He grinned sympathetically and offered her some wild figs.
Nomusa felt too unhappy to take any, and she solemnly shook her head in refusal. Damasi did not press her, but began eating them himself. They continued walking side by side for some time. Then Nomusa turned her head to see if Damasi had left any figs for her. He caught her glance and rubbed his middle enthusiastically to show how good the figs had been. He held out an empty hand and pointed down his throat to show where the plump figs had gone.
Nomusa’s disappointed look amused Damasi, and he could not help laughing. She decided that he was a greedy boy, no different from all the others.
