in the sun, and time has stained
your beard white."

"And the King has grown fat like the ox on summer grass. As for
what I do here, did not the King send for me by Goza, and was I
not brought like a baby in a blanket."

"The last time we met," he went on, taking no heed of my words,
"was yonder at Nodwengu when the witch Mameena was tried for
sorcery, she who made my brother mad and brought about the great
battle, in which you fought for him with the Amawombe regiment.
Do you not remember how she kissed you, Macumazahn, and took
poison between the kisses, and how before she grew silent she
spoke evil words to me, saying that I was doomed to pull down my
own House and to die as she died, words that have haunted me ever
since and now haunt me most of all? I wish to speak to you
concerning them, Macumazahn, for it is said in the land that this
beautiful witch loved you alone and that you only knew her mind."

I made no reply, who was heartily tired of this subject of
Mameena whom no one seemed able to forget.

"Well," he went on, "we will talk of that matter alone, since it
is not natural that you should wish to speak of your dead
darlings before the world," and with a wave of the hand he put
the matter aside. Then suddenly his attitude changed. His face,
that had been thoughtful and almost soft, became fierce, his form
seemed to swell and he grew terrible.

"What was that dog doing?" he asked of Goza, pointing to the
brute whom I had knocked down and who still lay prostrate on his
back, afraid to stir.

"O King," answered Goza, "he was trying to kill Macumazahn
because he is a white man, although I told him that he was your
guest, being brought to you by the royal command. He was trying
to kill him by giving him a start of ten spears' length and
making him run to the isigodhlo (the king's house) and beating
him to death with the sticks of these men if they caught him,
which, as he is old and they are young, they must have done.
Only the Watcher-by-Night would not run; no, although he is so
small he knocked him to the earth with his fist, and there he
lies. That is all, O King."

"Rise, dog," said Cetewayo, and the man rose trembling with fear,
and, being bidden, gave his name, which I forget.

"Listen, dog," went on the king in the same cold voice. "What
Goza says is true, for I saw and heard it all with my eyes and
ears. You would have made yourself as the king. You dared to
try to kill the king's