The old man, whose name turned out to be Ghamba, proved himself a talker
after Langley's own heart. They discussed all sorts of things. Ghamba
startled his hearer by his breadth of experience and his shrewdness. He
said he was a "Hlubi" Kaffir from Qumbu, in the territory of Griqualand
East, but that he had for some time past been living in Basutoland,
which is situated just behind the frowning wall of the Drakensberg, to
the southwest of where they were speaking, and not twenty miles distant.
They talked until it was time for Langley to return to camp. He was so
pleased at the entertainment afforded by Ghamba that all the tobacco
he had with him found its way into the claw-like hand of that
strange-looking man of many experiences and quaint ideas. So Langley
asked him to come to the ant-heap again on the following day, and have
another talk at the same hour. This Ghamba, with a wide and prolonged
exposure of his teeth, readily agreed to do.
Langley was extremely voluble to Whitson that night over his new
acquaintance. Whitson listened with his usual impassiveness, and then
asked Langley how it was that "an old loafing nigger," as he expressed
it, had impressed him so remarkably.
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