, I doubted whether his voice even then
would tell me what to do, for I remembered he liked not such sacrifices.
Besides, he had always taught that it was not lawful to kill any man,
save in defence of our lives or nation; and if there was one thing as
firmly rooted in my mind then, _Nkose_, as the Intaba Zungweni yonder is
rooted to the plain, it was that the son of Matyobane should himself
travel the road of death. I cared not what fate should be mine
therefor; nor, indeed, that my whole kraal--wives, children, relatives,
followers--should die the death of the spear or the stake; I myself
would slay the King with my own hand. And then it seemed that waves of
blood were rolling red around my brain. I saw myself King--I saw all
those of Umzilikazi's House led forth to die--I saw the surface of the
Pool of Death scarlet with the blood of all who, in the farthest degree,
boasted a single drop of the blood of Matyobane, till even the
alligators, surfeited, refused to devour any more. _Haul_ I would slay.
_Haul_ I would invent new tortures for every man, woman, and child of
the now reigning House; I would execute such a vengeance that the tale
of it should be handed down as long as the tongue of the Zulu was spoken
in the world.

I know not, _Nkose_, what change this cloud of blood and flame rolling
around my brain must have produced in my countenance, but I awoke from
my thoughts to find Nxope and Fumana staring at me as though at a thing
of horror. Their eyes were starting from their heads, their mouths were
open, they seemed turned to stone, as though they were staring into the
very jaws of the most terrible form of death. Then I remembered. If I
would render my vengeance complete, I must be wary; silent and crafty as
the leopard when marking down his prey. The strength of the warrior,
the craft of the councillor, the coolness and self-control of both--such
must be the role of every moment, waking or sleeping, of life.

"I think I have travelled too fast and too far, and am tired," I said in
an ordinary and even tone; yet, even as it was, so frightened were those
two women that they half leapt at the sound of it. "You two," pointing
at them with my spear, "attend now. It is not good to talk too much.
The tongue that wags too much must be cut out with this"--fingering the
edge of the blade--"or the throat is less trouble to cut. Bear that in
mind, for I know not how ye escaped with your lives but a short while