Hendricks the Hunter | Page 9

are white, cannot speak your native
tongue?"
"I have been so long with the Zulus that I have forgotten it," answered
the boy. "I once could speak it, and I well remember the white people I
lived amongst. For a long time I remembered my native language; but
as I always, since I could speak, knew some Kaffir, I soon understood
what was said to me. I had a black nurse, but she was assegaid, and I
was torn from her arms by the Zulus who carried me off. More than
that I cannot tell."
The kind-hearted trader was obliged to be content with this information.
He was unwilling indeed, till the poor boy had regained his strength,
further to question him, and he hoped to learn more of his history from
Mangaleesu and Kalinda, who he had no doubt would be able to afford
it.
Having given the boy some of the broth which was now ready, and
placed a blanket under his head to serve as a pillow, he left Umgolo to
watch over him. He then went and sat down by the side of Mangaleesu,

who still lay in the hammock under the waggon, not yet recovered from
the exertions he had made on the previous night, and the loss of blood
from his wounds.
"I have recovered one of your people, and have brought him to the
camp," said the trader.
"Who is he?" asked Mangaleesu eagerly. "I thought that all had been
killed."
"Although he has a white skin, he seems by his dress and language to
be a Zulu," answered the trader.
"Then he must be little Unozingli," said the chief. "I am glad he has
escaped, for he was a favourite with us, and will some day, if he lives,
become a great warrior."
"By what chance did he happen to be living among you? Although he is
dressed like a Zulu, and speaks the Kaffir tongue alone, he is evidently
the child of white parents."
"He was brought to my kraal by a tribe from a distant part of the
country, who afterwards joined my people," answered the chief. "They
had taken him, they said, from a black woman who had been killed; but
the child being white, they had been unwilling to destroy him, and had
carried him off with them. He was at once adopted into the tribe, and
has lived with us ever since, learning our customs and language, and
we gave him the name of Unozingli."
From this answer it was evident that no further satisfactory information
could be obtained from Mangaleesu respecting the boy. This was a
disappointment to the trader. He had hoped, after rescuing the little
fellow, to have had the satisfaction of discovering his parents or friends,
and restoring him to them. He was satisfied that the child was either
English or Dutch, and from his features he was inclined to think he was
the former.
"I don't fancy calling him by his Kaffir name," he said to himself. "I

must get one more suited to him." As he looked at the thick auburn hair
which hung in curls over the boy's head, his freckled, though otherwise
fair countenance, his large blue eyes, and broad, open countenance, he
exclaimed, "I have it! I'll call him Lionel; for a young lion he looks,
and will, I hope, some day bring down many of the brutes of the
forest."
Unwilling to leave the camp himself, lest their enemies might come in
search of the young chief and his bride, towards evening the trader sent
out Umgolo and another man in search of game to supply his followers
with meat, for in that climate what is killed one day is scarcely eatable
the next.
He also despatched two others in different directions to ascertain if any
of the Zulus were in the neighbourhood, apparently searching for
Mangaleesu, as he intended in that case to keep the chief and his bride
more carefully concealed until he had carried them safely across the
border.
The hunters were the first to return, loaded with the flesh of a couple of
antelopes. Soon afterwards, while they were busily employed in cutting
up the animals and preparing them for supper, the scouts came in,
bringing the information that they had seen a large party who seemed to
them coming from the south-west, but who were too far off to enable
them to ascertain who they were. As--the intermediate ground being
uneven--it would have taken them a long time to get nearer, they
deemed it wise to return at once with their report.
"Whether friends or foes, we are ready for them," said the trader. "In
case they should be foes, we must keep our guests concealed; but from
the direction they come, I think