“No, my father Macumazana.  One shilling for simple magic such as foretelling the fate of common black people.  Half-a-crown for very difficult magic that has to do with white people, magic of which only great doctors, like me, Mavovo, are the masters.”

I gave him the half-crown and said: 

“Look here, friend Mavovo, I believe in you as a fighter and a hunter, but as a magician I think you are a humbug.  Indeed, I am so sure of it that if ever Dogeetah turns up at a time of trouble in that land whither we are journeying, I will make you a present of that double-barrelled rifle of mine which you admired so much.”

One of his rare smiles appeared upon Mavovo’s ugly face.

“Then give it to me now, Baba,” he said, “for it is already earned.  My Snake cannot lie—­especially when the fee is half-a-crown.”

I shook my head and declined, politely but with firmness.

“Ah!” said Mavovo, “you white men are very clever and think that you know everything.  But it is not so, for in learning so much that is new, you have forgotten more that is old.  When the Snake that is in you, Macumazana, dwelt in a black savage like me a thousand thousand years ago, you could have done and did what I do.  But now you can only mock and say, ’Mavovo the brave in battle, the great hunter, the loyal man, becomes a liar when he blows the burnt feather, or reads what the wind writes upon the charmed ashes.’”

“I do not say that you are a liar, Mavovo, I say that you are deceived by your own imaginings.  It is not possible that man can know what is hidden from man.”

“Is it indeed so, O Macumazana, Watcher by Night?  Am I, Mavovo, the pupil of Zikali, the Opener of Roads, the greatest of wizards, indeed deceived by my own imaginings?  And has man no other eyes but those in his head, that he cannot see what is hidden from man?  Well, you say so and all we black people know that you are very clever, and why should I, a poor Zulu, be able to see what you cannot see?  Yet when to-morrow one sends you a message from the ship in which we are to sail, begging you to come fast because there is trouble on the ship, then bethink you of your words and my words, and whether or no man can see what is hidden from man in the blackness of the future.  Oh! that rifle of yours is mine already, though you will not give it to me now, you who think that I am a cheat.  Well, my father Macumazana, because you think I am a cheat, never again will I blow the feather or read what the wind writes upon the ashes for you or any who eat your food.”

Then he rose, saluted me with uplifted right hand, collected his little pile of money and bag of medicines and marched off to the sleeping hut.

On our way round the house we met my old lame caretaker, Jack.

“Inkoosi,” he said, “the white chief Wazela bade me say that he and the cook, Sam, have gone to sleep on board the ship to look after the goods.  Sam came up just now and fetched him away; he says he will show you why to-morrow.”