"  Give  it  to  you  as  Footsack's  master,"  I  said,  suiting
the  action  to  the  word.  "  I  don't  wsh  to  be  mixed  up  in
these  doubtful  transactions."

Then  followed  a  long  argument  as  to  who  was  the  real
owner  of  the  stone,  which  ended  in  its  being  hidden  awaj^
to  be  produced  if  called  for,  and  in  Footsack,  who  ought
to  have  had  a  round  dozen,  receiving  a  scolding  from  his
master,  coupled  with  the  threat  that  if  he  stole  more  gin
he  would  be  handed  over  to  a  magistrate — when  we  met
one.
On  the  follo\ving  day  we  reached  the  hot,  low-lying  veld
which  the  herd  of  buffalo  was  said  to  inhabit.  Next  morn-
ing, however,  when  we  were  making  ready  to  begin  himt-
ing,  a  Basuto  Kaffir  appeared  who,  on  being  questioned,
said  that  he  was  one  of  Sekukuni's  people  sent  to  this
district  to  look  for  two  lost  oxen.  I  did  not  believe  this
story,  thinking  it  more  probable  that  he  was  a  spy,  but
asked  him  whether  in  his  hunt  for  oxen  he  had  come  across
the  buffalo.
He  replied  that  he  had,  a  herd  of  thirty-two  of  them,
counting  the  calves,  but  that  they  were  over  the  Oliphant's
River    about    five-and-twenty   miles    away,    in    a    valley


42  FINISHED

between  some  outlying  hills  and  the  rugged  range  of  moun-
tains, beyond  which  was  situated  Sekukuni's  town.  More-
over, in  proof  of  his  story  he  showed  me  spoor  of  the  beasts
heading  in  that  direction  which  was  quite  a  week
old.
