balls being the only distinct feature about them. Then somebody threw
an armful of dry twigs upon the fire which burned in the centre, and as
the light crackled up he saw before him the king and the two fighting
indunas, Ngumunye and Silawayo.

"_Bayete!_" he exclaimed, lifting his hat courteously.

"I behold you, Nyonyoba," replied the king. "Welcome--be seated."

With a murmur of acknowledgment, Laurence subsided upon the grass mat
which had been placed for him by the _inceku_, who had followed him in.
Then there was silence for a few moments, while a couple of women
entered, bearing large clay bowls of _tywala_, or native beer; and the
liquor having been apportioned out according to etiquette, the
attendants withdrew, leaving Laurence alone with the king and the two
indunas.

"And the hunt, has it been propitious?" began Tyisandhlu presently.

"It has. Ten tusks of ivory are even now being brought in," replied
Laurence. "Also an unusually fine leopard skin which fell to my bullet,
and which I would beg the king to accept."

"You are a great hunter, Nyonyoba--a very great one. _Whau!_ The
Ba-gcatya will become too rich if you tarry long among us," said
Tyisandhlu quizzically, but evidently pleased at the news. "We shall
soon be able to arm the whole nation with the fire-weapons, now that we
have so much ivory to trade with the northern peoples."

Something in the words struck Laurence. "If you tarry long among us,"
the king had said. Even these were ominous, and made in favour of the
sinister design he had so accidentally discovered. Yet could this
courtly hospitality, of which he was the object, indeed cover such a
horrible purpose? Well, he dare not bolster himself up with any hope to
the contrary, for now many and many an incident returned to his mind,
little understood at the time, but, in the light of the conversation he
had overheard, as clear as noonday. The fear, the anxiety, too, which
had flashed over the face of Lindela at his significant words, proved
that the ordeal through which it was designed to pass him was a real and
a terrible one. Through her, and her only, lay his chance of escaping
it.

"I am glad the king is pleased," he went on, "for I would fain tarry
among the Ba-gcatya forever. And, becoming one of that people, shall not
all my efforts turn towards rendering it a great people?"

A hum of astonishment escaped the two indunas, and Laurence thought to
detect the same significant look