every one that, but, then, we seem to be standing in
together, you and I, or rather the three of us. So I don't mind letting
on that the presence of Mandevu in these parts just now does set me
thinking a bit."

Denham didn't care to push his inquiries, not then, at any rate. But
the appearance of the mysterious Zulu had set _him_ thinking too. Of
which, however, he said nothing to his host.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

RETRIBUTIVE.

The rumble of unrest was rolling like the wave of an earthquake. It was
hard to say where it began, but the tribes throughout the northern half
of Natal were saturated with its spirit, and it was widespread in Zulu
land. The authorities watched it with more anxiety than they cared to
disclose, but even they had not fathomed the extent of its
ramifications. They knew, for instance, that Sapazani was disaffected,
but they did not know that Malemba the assegai-maker was kept busy day
and night, and that a bevy of young men was ever present at his kraal,
to bear off, under cover of darkness, the bundles of weapons barely cool
from the forge. They did not know, either, of the weighty and
mysterious loads delivered stealthily at another kraal of Sapazani's, a
small one, in the most inaccessible recesses of the Lumisana forest.
These had been delivered independently of the agency of Ben Halse, who
on this occasion had held out firmly against the tempting offer. In
fact, Ben Halse did not know himself, he only suspected.

The said authorities were fully alive to the desirability of arresting
Sapazani, but between desirability and advisability there is something
of a gulf fixed. For such a course would be tantamount to firing the
train. That chief and his powerful following up in arms--for it was
certain that he would not submit to arrest tamely--would simply mean
that other plotting tribes would throw off all disguise and join him
without reserve. The position was growing acute.

In the small kraal just mentioned sat Sapazani at night, and others with
him. Before him, on the ground, were several of the loads referred to,
and as their wrappings were undone the chief's eye glistened as they
fell on the contents. The young men who had brought them in were
squatting in the background, drinking large draughts of _tywala_. A
fire burning in the centre of the open space illuminated the domed huts,
and the broad face of the full moon threw an additional light upon the
dark group. Not a sou