There was a native kraal not very far from where my friends killed their elands, and of course the people came out to share in the spoils. Whenever a hunt of any kind is in progress, if there are any Kafirs or Zulus about they are sure to come, partly out of curiosity to see the sport, but more particularly to eat up any trifle of game that may be left over. It was so in this case. My friends selected the cuts that they wanted from the animals, and hired some of the people to bring them to camp. The rest was turned over to the crowd and disposed of in short order. As a general thing these natives do not take the trouble to carry the game to their kraals, especially if they are a long way off, but they build a fire on the spot, sit down, and begin their feast.
The jackals and hyenas come around and hang about at a respectful distance, waiting for what is left over. By the time the natives are through the jackals and hyenas have pretty poor picking, unless the quantity of game is very large and the number of people small. A dozen or twenty natives will get away with the best part of a fair-sized buffalo; after they have eaten their fill they lie down and rest until there is space for a little more, when they rise and resume eating.
With the natives of South Africa it is generally a feast or a famine, and I may also remark that it is very much the same with a hunter: there are days in camp when his supply of food is more than he knows what to do with, and these are preceded or followed by days when his stomach is well-nigh empty, if not entirely so.
After my friends had told their experience of the day I narrated mine. Something put it into my head to say nothing about my encounter with amazon No. 2, and so I avoided all allusion to the subject. I thought I would keep the whole matter to myself until I had visited the camp of the ladies and made their acquaintance; but Harry spoiled my game by driving me into a corner where it was necessary to lie outright or "acknowledge the corn."
"By the way, Frank," said he, as we had finished our stories, "did you see anything of our neighbors, the women, about whom you told us?"
"Oh yes," I replied, "I was coming to that." (Fact is, I was not coming to it at all.)
"Well, what about it?" queried Harry. "Did you see either or both of them, or did you happen on their camp?"
Then I told what the reader knows, though really I told the story much more briefly than I have elsewhere given it. I merely remarked that I met the one who called herself Mrs. Roberts, and killed a buffalo which she had wounded.
"Oho!" said Harry, and Jack said "Oho!" at the same time.
"Well, what's the meaning of 'Oho!' I'd like to know?"