Rotembo looked at me with great astonishment, for he wondered why I wished to go and live in the forest by myself with only one man.
He remained silent for a minute or two, thinking deeply; then he said: "Oguizi, I will give you three gifts to go with you in the forest."
"I will not tell you now," he replied, "but you will know when they are before you."
Then we separated, I wondering what were to be the three gifts Rotembo was to give me.
Four days passed by, and on the fifth, while I was seated by the side of Rotembo, a strange-looking man came before him, and bending very low took hold of his foot and said: "To do your bidding your faithful slave has come."
I looked at the man with great curiosity, and learned that his name was Rogala and that he was one of the most famous hunters in the country.
Rogala was of medium height and exceedingly well proportioned. His legs and arms were very muscular and as hard as wood. His chest was broad, and his hands and feet were small,--a very common occurrence among the people of the forest. His eyes were full of fire and daring. He had a fighting chin, and he appeared to be about forty years old. Scars upon one of his legs told where a leopard had once wounded him. He wore a huge head-dress of eagle's feathers. His eyelids were painted red, and a red stripe from the nose upward divided his forehead in two parts. The face was painted white, and on each side of the mouth were two round red spots. He was covered with mondahs, or charms. One of these protected him against witchcraft; another made him invulnerable against bullets, spears, or poisoned arrows--in a word, every one of them protected him against some evil or other.
Rotembo said to me: "I can trust Rogala more than any other man in the country. I bought him when he was quite young, and he has forgotten the language of his tribe. He faces without fear the ngina (gorilla), the elephant, the leopard, and the fiercest bear of the country. He has killed during his life more than one hundred elephants and he has kept all their tails as proofs. The number of hippopotami that have fallen under his gun is very great; the necklace I wear round my neck is made of the canines of some of the leopards he has killed."