Anyway I could see that he was in a state of
great terror, for his tottering legs would scarcely support his
stout, bulky form, and I think it was rather owing to the resources
of barbarism behind him, in the shape of a huge Amahagger with a
proportionately huge spear, than to the seductions of the lady who led
him by the hand, that he consented to come at all.
"Well," I said to the others, "I don't at all like the look of things,
but I suppose we must face it out. Have you fellows got your revolvers
on? because, if so, you had better see that they are loaded."
"I have, sir," said Job, tapping his Colt, "but Mr. Leo has only got his
hunting knife, though that is big enough, surely."
Feeling that it would not do to wait while the missing weapon was
fetched, we advanced boldly, and seated ourselves in a line, with our
backs against the side of the cave.
As soon as we were seated, an earthenware jar was passed round
containing a fermented fluid, of by no means unpleasant taste, though
apt to turn upon the stomach, made from crushed grain--not Indian corn,
but a small brown grain that grows upon its stem in clusters, not unlike
that which in the southern part of Africa is known by the name of Kafir
corn.
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