Odyssey From Africa 10b 11a

After two more hours of watching When the night was at its deepest Han roused Kwona for her vigil Till the first light of the morning But a mood of laughter took them By some magic of the nighttime And they crept toward the shoreline To continue with their love-play By the sunrise all were sleeping All the family round the fireside Han was waked by strange sensation By a tongue that licked his forehead In an instant an electric Bolt of fear and panic roused him Did some animal attack him? He could smell a beast's aroma Leaping to his feet for action Han looked rapidly around him Saw the hunting dog that waked him Which however was not hostile Merely trotting from the fireside To a circle of companions Several dozen human warriors Standing all around their campsite. Chapter 11 Ufalme Kisiwa (The Island Kingdom) By armed men they were surrounded! This was clearly not a moment To be fighting; Han was curious That the hunting dogs and humans Seemed on friendly terms together Had they tamed these wild creatures? All the family now awaking Soon perceived the situation Warriors bearing fearsome weapons Spears and swords with bronze blades gleaming Stood impassive in a circle All around the family's campsite Han had never seen such warriors Seen such gleaming fire-forged metal Such adroitly woven garments Or seen dogs domesticated Now arose an altercation Rosy the baboon confronted By a hunting dog; both creatures Gave display of their aggression But a timely intervention By a handler and by Lisa Stopped it going any further Then the leader of the party With a powerful warrior escort On each side now stepping forward Signaled Han to come and parley To talk over their intentions Kwona stood between the children Held their hands for reassurance Rosy and Ipiki with them As their future was decided Han could see that this war party Came not from their southern homeland But they knew each other’s language So could speak together freely Though the warriors' spoken accent Curiously inflected upwards At the end of every sentence So it sounded like a question? All the warriors were the subjects Of a far-off island kingdom That to reach took many days of Sailing over deep blue ocean On this vast and rugged island Lived a growing vibrant nation All descended from a party Of explorers several centuries Beforehand who on wild and Wind-lashed ocean had been carried Further out to sea than any Man or woman had before them