Telegraphing to the Company after the massacre of his warriors by Captain Lendy's troops, he says: "I thought you came to dig for gold; but it seems that you have come not only to dig for gold, but to rob me of my people and country as well." He refused to accept the monthly payments falling due under the Rudd and Lippert Concessions, as it "is the price of my blood." He repeatedly appealed to the High Commissioner:
Your people have been telling you lies. … They speak like this to make an excuse for having killed ray people. How many white men were killed! … My cattle which were taken by your people have not been returned to me, neither have those taken by the Mashona, whom I sent to punish. Perhaps this is why they have killed my people.
He wrote to the Queen:
I have the honour respectfully to write and state that I am still keeping your advice laid before me some time ago, i.e., that if any trouble happens in my country between me and the white men I must let you know.
Proceeding to give his version of the events attending and preceding the Lendy episode which, as we have seen, was afterwards corroborated by the official inquiry, he asked:
Your Majesty, what I want to know from you is, why do your people kill me? Do you kill me for following my stolen cattle, which are seen in the possession of the Mashonas living in Mashonaland? I have called all white men at Buluwayo to hear my words, showing clearly that I am not hiding anything from them when writing to your Majesty.
Lobengula's anxiety to keep .the peace and so prevent the slaughter and ruin of his people which he knew must be otherwise inevitable, is vouched for in a number of public statements made at the time, or since, by European residents in Buluwayo: most of them are to be found in the Blue Books. The High Commissioner's dispatches to Dr. Jameson show that he himself was persuaded of the sincerity of the Matabele ruler.
The Company continued imperturbably its preparations for the invasion. On October 18, an incident occurred which must have finally convinced Lobengula of the fruitlessness of his efforts to avert the impending doom of his country. He had despatched three of his Indunas as envoys to the High Commissioner. They arrived at the British camp on a "safe-conduct" pledge. In that camp, on the day of their arrival, two out of the three were "accidentally killed."
