had seen the spoor of the lion -- his left-over kill, his
prints here-and-there in the soft earth, his dung. Jabu
had respect for the king of the beasts. And since
Bhubesi's pattern was to hunt at night when the cattle
was safely within the kraal (/krawl/ "corral"), Jabu
had seen no reason to alert the village of Bhubesi's
presence. But the killing of a cow! "I wonder,"
thought Jabu to himself, "if the cow was not left out
of the kraal?" Thabo was known to be a sloppy
herdboy, a fellow who ran with his head in the
clouds. He had been known to forget a cow or two
before.
"Woza, Ngane!" (woh'-zah ngah'-nay "Come,
friend!") Sipho urged, "come and put your cows
away for the day and watch with me as the men set
the traps!" Jabu slowly shook his head as he looked
at Sipho and smiled. "You know me, friend," he
returned Sipho's address. "I cannot put the cattle
back into the kraal so early in the day! They need to
be driven to the river before they go home."
Sipho smiled. "Yes, I thought you would say this.
But I wanted to tell you anyway. I will see you later,
friend, perhaps by the fire tonight!" And Sipho ran
toward the village with a final wave to Jabu.
Jabu began to gather the cows together. He waved
his intonga (ee-ntah'-gah "staff") and gave a loud
whistle. Each cow looked up, then after a moment's
pause, slowly started to trudge toward Jabu. With a
grin Jabu began to take them to water.
Jabu bathed his feet in the cool refreshing riv