and Tola but a few days since," I answered.
"But, tell me now, Lalusini, was not that tale true which was told me by
old Gegesa?"

"It was true so far as she knew. Ha! when Umzilikazi's slaying dogs
came to hale me forth in the black night, I laughed to myself, for I
knew I had that by which the alligators should not harm me. I leaped
into the dreadful pool where so many have died--and--came out quietly on
the other side what time those dogs returned to report to Umzilikazi
that the sorceress he hated would trouble him no more; but perhaps in
that they lied--ah, ah, Untuswa, perhaps they lied! Not for nothing did
that Great One from whom I sprung cause me to be taught the deepest
mysteries of the magic of the wise. And thyself, Untuswa, through many
wanderings earnest thou here?"

"_Whau_! Not to thee need I tell of my wanderings, Lalusini, thou to
whom all things are known." I said.

"And I think among such things are all thy wanderings," she laughed.
"Thou camest here to deliver the Amandebeli into the hand of Dingane."

"That is so, Lalusini; and for thy death the whole House of Matyobane
should have died a thousand deaths. And now?"

"And now? We will see what the future may unfold."

Thus we sat and talked on far into the night, and many a question did I
put to Talumni concerning her own wanderings, and how she had first
appeared at Nkunkundhlovu. I found she had been there before my own
arrival; but when I asked why she had taken another name, and whether
Dingane really believed the account she had given of herself, she said:

"I know not how clear of suspicion is the King's mind, but that it is
not entirely clear let this tell: Never once has the Great Great One
desired that I should become an inmate of the _isigodhlo_. Now
Dingane's love for handsome women is known to the whole nation, and I--
well I am not quite the least comely of my sex, Untuswa." This she said
with a playful smile. "Therefore it may be that he suspects something."

Then I told her about Tambusa, and how his enmity placed me in daily
peril. Her face clouded somewhat.

"We must suffer him for the present, Untuswa," she said. "He may be
necessary to me in my plans, and to compass his death would be to
jeopardise those plans. He and Umhlela are all powerful in the nation,
yet they must remain so for a little longer. Still, be wary and
cautious, for even the shield of my _muti_ may not always be broad
enough to shelter t