“Snake’s wife, witch!” he screamed, “I will catch you yet, and then you shall learn how slowly a woman may die, yes, and her also, and she shall learn other things, for if that husband of hers is not dead I will kill him before her eyes.  I tell you I will follow you both through all Africa and across the sea if needful; yes, whenever you lie down to sleep, you may be sure that Piet van Vooren is not far from you.”

“Do you say so?” mocked Sihamba.  “Well, now I think of it you have no luck face to face with me, Half-breed, and were I you, I should look the other way when you saw me coming, for I who have the Sight tell you that when you behold the Walker-by-Moonlight for the last time, you will very soon become a walker in the darkness for ever.  Bah!” she went on, her clear voice rising to a cry.  “Bastard, dog, thief, murderer that you are!  I, Sihamba, who have met and beaten you in every pool of the stream, will beat you for the last time where the stream falls into the sea.  Be not deceived, yonder Swallow never shall be yours; for many and many a year after you are dead, your rival shall fold her close, and when men name your name they shall spit upon the ground.  Nothing, nothing shall be yours, but shame and empty longing and black death, and after it the woe of the wicked.  Get you back to your secret krantz and your Kaffir wives, Half-breed, and tell them the tale of your ride, and of how you did not dare to face the foam of the Red Water.”

Now Van Vooren went mad indeed; so mad that, forgetting he was not on the lonely veldt, he lifted his gun and fired straight at Sihamba.  But her eye was quick, and seeing the muzzle rise, she threw herself upon the ground, so that the ball passed over her.

“Why, Half-breed, have you even forgotten how to shoot?” she called, springing to her feet again and mocking him.  Then the voice of Sigwe broke in, for his anger was deep.

“One thing you have certainly forgotten, Bull-Head,” he said, “that these two are my guests and wrapped in my kaross, and therefore from this hour we are enemies.  Ho! men,” he cried to his guard, “I spare Bull-Head’s life because once we were friends, therefore do not take his life, but beat him and those with him out of my town with the shafts of your assegais, and if ever he sets foot within it again then use their blades upon him.”

At their chief’s bidding the soldiers of the guard sprang forward, and, falling upon Van Vooren and those with him, they flogged them with sticks and the shafts of their spears until from head to foot they were nothing but blood and bruises, and thus they drove them out of the town of Sigwe back to the ford of the Red River.

When they were gone, Suzanne, who through it all had sat upon the horse watching in silence, now urged him forward to where Sigwe stood, and said: 

“Chief, I thank you for that deed, and now, I pray you, give us food and a hut to rest in, for we are wet and hungry and worn out with long travel.”