They were accompanied by Makurupiji, who brought us a
message from Secocoeni to the effect that he, the Chief, sent to greet
us, the great Chiefs; that he sent us also a morsel to eat, lest we
should be hungry in his house. It was but a morsel--it should have been
an ox, for great Chiefs should eat much meat--but he himself was pinched
with hunger, his belt was drawn very tight by the Boers. He was poor,
and so his gift was poor; still, he would see if to-morrow he could find
a beast that had something besides the skin on its bones, that he might
offer it to us. After this magniloquent address the poor animals were
trundled out by the other gate to have their throats cut.
After getting some supper and taking our quinine, we turned in and
slept that night in the best way that the heat would let us, rising next
morning with the vain hope of getting a bathe. Of all the discomforts
we experienced at Secocoeni's, the scarcity and badness of the water was
the worst. Bad water, when you are in a hotbed of fever, is a terrible
privation.
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