"Tell the ladies we are here."
He disappeared, returned in a moment, and said they wished us to walk into the tent.
We did not wait for a second invitation, but proceeded there at once. Mrs. Roberts came to the door of the tent and shook our hands convulsively one after the other, repeating several times, "I'm so glad you've come! I'm so glad you've come!"
"What is the matter?" we all asked in a breath.
"The matter is just this," she replied: "Macatese, the chief who owns this land, came here early this morning and demanded to see us. We were both in bed at the time, and sent word to him that he could not be received. He sent back that his time was precious—-as if the time of these natives ever amounted to anything—and he could not wait. We answered that he could see us as soon as we were dressed, and not before. He threatened to come into our tent, and our manager told him he would certainly be shot if he did so, and that any of his followers who invaded our tent would be killed. That seemed to frighten him, and he concluded to wait.
"We dressed as quickly as we could, and then received him. He said we had come into his lands without permission. We told him we didn't know that any permission was required, but if we had violated any of his rules we were willing to pay whatever damage was proper. Then he said that we need not pay anything, but he wanted us at his kraal—he wanted some white wives. His people had reported that two white women were hunting in his territory, and he had decided they must be his wives and form a part of his household."
The three of us stood open-mouthed with astonishment, but only for a moment; I broke the silence by asking where the chief was at that moment.
"He's in the other tent, with two of his followers, the fore-looper, who is acting as interpreter, and Miss Boland. He has been trying all his powers of persuasion to induce us to become his wives; he promises that we shall have authority over all others, and be the queens of the land!"
In spite of her indignation Mrs. Roberts could not help laughing when she reached this point in the story, and I felt a smile endeavoring to spread itself over my face. The idea of two refined, educated Englishwomen becoming the wives of an African chief was about as ridiculous a thing as I ever heard of.
"Realizing our helplessness, we decided to send word to you, and I wrote the very hasty note that you received."