hlovu, and it was dead against Zulu custom for strangers to come
before the King armed on such an occasion. In fact the King would be
highly offended, and would almost certainly refuse to receive them at
all.

Less and less did the Amabuna like this proposal. They muttered
hurriedly among themselves; then it was just as we knew it would be.
They dismounted, stacked their guns outside, and giving their horses to
their attendants to hold, entered the kraal.

"_Whau_! The head of the snake is now under the shadow of the stone
that shall crush it," quoth fierce Tambusa, as we watched the approach
of the unarmed Amabuna.

They saluted the King gravely, and sat down; but many of them looked
displeased and troubled, and well they might, for what is more helpless
than an unarmed man! This time the King, with the _izinduna_, was
seated near the centre of the open space, not at the upper end, as
usual.

They spoke about the land. They were glad the King was to give them his
word that morning, for the hearts of their countrymen would be glad too,
when they should carry back that word.

Now great bowls of _tywala_ were brought, and as the white men drank,
the King talked to them. He rejoiced that that great stretch of country
should be used by his friends and brothers, the Amabuna. There were a
few useless cowardly tribes still in that country, people whom he had
spared, but who were thieves; and these he hoped his new friends would
prevent from annoying him.

While Dingane was thus talking, people had been coming into the open
space by twos and threes, and now there was quite a number of men within
the circle. These bearing no arms, but a stick only, roused no
suspicion in the minds of the Amabuna, not even when they formed into
two lines, or half circles, and began to dance; singing the while the
song they had sung to welcome these people on their first arrival.

"The mouth of the white man is open;
It shall be filled--it shall be filled.
Lo! they come, the friends of the Amazulu;
Full, very full, shall their mouths be filled."

Swaying backward and forward, the two half circles danced, now joining
at the lower end, so as to form a wall of bodies between those in the
centre and the outer gate, now parting again, and leaving the ends open.
And, the while, more and more by degrees swelled the number, and the
song rose and fell, not loud, but in long-drawn measured note. The
while the King was speaking: