.'

"`Ha, the Bapedi! So that is the name of those we swept out of our path
yesterday.'

"`It is, lord. Yet there are more of them left; but they dwell in the
mountains.'

"`Then fortunate are they, for so far as I care they can stay there,'
said the King. `It is only those lying in my path whom I sweep aside.
But, old man, thy serpents [A favourite form of tutelary deity among
Zulus is the serpent] must have been powerful yesterday, in that thou
art the only one who has escaped with life from the fangs of my hunting
dogs. Yet am I not sorry, for I have heard much of the powers of the
Basutu _izanusi_, and would fain see some proof of them.'

"`The hour is not propitious, King,' replied the old man in a wearied
sort of tone, with a glance at the heavens.

"A great growl of astonishment went up from all who heard this answer.
The _indunas_ sat open-mouthed with amazement. This wretched,
shrivelled little old monkey, whose life had been spared by the merest
chance, instead of being all eagerness to meet the King's wishes, had
returned a curt, almost contemptuous refusal.

"`_Atyi_! Was ever such a thing heard of?' they cried. `He is mad! He
is tired of life!'

"But Umzilikazi made no reply. He whispered a word to one of the
_indunas_, who rose and went away. In a few moments the sound of
singing was heard, and a band of about twenty men and as many women was
seen approaching. Battling with bones and bladders, bristling with
porcupine quills and feathers, some of them crowned with dry and
fleshless skulls, others twining snakes about their necks and arms, in
them we recognised our own mystic circle--the witch-doctors who had
accompanied us on our migration.

"`_Bayete_!' they shouted, halting suddenly before the King, whom they
had approached in a wild and whirling dance. `We smell a hyena--we
smell a jackal--we smell a wizard--an impostor! Give him to us, O King,
Lord of the nations! Let him die the death, lest he bewitch us, and our
path be no longer smooth! Give him to us, that we may eat him up!
_Hou! hou! hou_!'

"The whole circle was now whirling around the old Mosutu, springing at
him in the attitude of wild beasts, snapping and growling. So frenzied
were they, that the foam fell from their hideous mouths, and, indeed, I
began to think they would end by really biting and tearing their rival
to pieces. I found myself bending eagerly, anxiously forward in my
suspense. But the old man sat