was he, as with difficulty he dragged his axe from the lion's severed
skull, "to find you watching by night as it is reported that you always
do."

"No," I retorted, for his tone irritated me, "you are late, Bulalio, the
moon has been up some hours."

"I said, O Macumazahn, that I would meet you on the _night_ of the full
moon, not at the rising of the moon."

"That is true," I replied, mollified, "and at any rate you came at a
good moment."

"Yes," he answered, "though as it happens in this clear light the thing
was easy to anyone who can handle an axe. Had it been darker the end
might have been different. But, Macumazahn, you are not so clever as I
thought, since otherwise you would not have come out against a lion with
a toy like that," and he pointed to the little rifle in my hand.

"I did not know that there was a lion, Umslopogaas."

"That is why you are not so clever as I thought, since of one sort or
another there is always a lion which wise men should be prepared to
meet, Macumazahn."

"You are right again," I replied.

At that moment Hans arrived upon the scene, followed at a discreet
distance by the waggon boys, and took in the situation at a glance.