“Ao!” cried the old negro once more; “but if one of you lie to the other, betray him, rob him, poison him, or kill him, he shall be accursed!”
“He shall be accursed!” repeated all the warriors.
“And if he be a liar and contemplate treason, he shall not swallow the blood of his brother, but spit it out before our eyes?”
“An elephant shall tread him down; yes, and a rhinoceros and buffalo!”
“Oh, and a buffalo!” repeated the chorus.
“And his eyes shall drop out of his head!”
“And he shall walk with his heels in the air!”
Stasch and Kali had to bite their lips to keep from laughing while still more terrible oaths were being repeated, and the “top” turned around so fast that their eyes could not follow its movements. The old negro kept this up until his strength was exhausted and his breath gave out. Then he sat down on the ground a while and swayed his head from side to side. Soon he arose, and grasping a knife, cut Kali’s arm and moistening a piece of the goat’s liver with his blood, pushed it into M’Rua’s mouth, and a second piece moistened with the blood of the king he pushed into Kali’s mouth. Both men swallowed the pieces so quickly that a rattling noise could be heard in their throats and their eyes nearly started out of their heads; then they held each other by the hand, as a sign of true and eternal friendship.
“Both men have swallowed it! Neither of them spit it out! Therefore they are sincere and there is no treachery between them.”
And in his heart Stasch thanked Kali for having represented him at this ceremony, for he felt that had he attempted to swallow a piece of M’Rua he might have proved himself insincere and a traitor.
Henceforth the little travelers were in no danger of having snares laid for them or of being unexpectedly attacked by the savages; on the contrary, the greatest friendship was shown them, and they were almost worshiped as gods. This worship increased when Stasch, having noticed a great fall in Linde’s barometer, foretold that rain was coming, and on that very day it rained quite heavily, as heavily as if the “massika,” which was already over, was trying to squeeze out its last drops on the earth. The negroes were convinced that the good Msimu had given them this shower of rain, and their gratitude to Nell was boundless. Stasch teased her, saying that now she was the idol of the negroes, he could continue the journey alone, and would leave her behind in the negro village, where the negroes would erect a small chapel of elephants’ tusks for her and would bring her beans and bananas as peace offerings.