Her husband, who was a little
anxious on the point, had made the best arrangements that were possible
on such an expedition.
The wagon in which they trekked was good and comfortable, and although
it was still the rainy season, fortune favoured them in the matter
of weather, so that when they came to the formidable river, they were
actually able to trek across it with the help of some oxen borrowed
from a missionary in that neighbourhood, without having recourse to the
dreaded rope-slung basket, or even to the punt.
Beyond the river they were met by some Christian Kaffirs of the Sisa
tribe, who were sent by the Chief Kosa to guide them through the hundred
miles or so of difficult country which still lay between them and their
goal. These men were pleasant-spoken but rather depressed folk, clad in
much-worn European clothes that somehow became them very ill. They gave
a melancholy account of the spiritual condition of the Sisas, who since
the death of their last pastor, they said, were relapsing rapidly into
heathenism under the pernicious influence of Menzi, the witch-doctor.
Therefore Kosa sent his greetings and prayed the new Teacher to hurry to
their aid and put a stop to this state of things.
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