He was dead also, yet it
seemed that they had left his body in the hole, for now no light came
through. This was the cause, my father: when they struck the man he
had wriggled back a little way and died there, and none had entered
from the farther side to drag him out.
Now the soldiers stared at the mouth of the passage and none seemed to
love the look of it, for this was but a poor way to die. Umslopogaas
and Galazi also looked at it, thinking.
"Now I am named Wolf," said Galazi, "and a wolf should not fear the
dark; also, these are my people, and I must be the first to visit
them," and he went down on his hands and knees without more ado. But
Umslopogaas, having peered once more down the burrow, said: "Hold,
Galazi; I will go first! I have a plan. Do you follow me. And you, my
children, shout loudly, so that none may hear us move; and, if we win
through, follow swiftly, for we cannot hold the mouth of that place
for long. Hearken, also! this is my counsel to you: if I fall choose
another chief--Galazi the Wolf, if he is still living."
"Nay, Slaughterer, do not name me," said the Wolf, "for together we
live or die."
"So let it be, Galazi. Then choose you some other man and try this
road no more, for if we cannot pass it none can, but seek food and sit
down here till those jackals bolt; then be ready.
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