or less. The winds whisper the demands
of the white men, the birds sing them, the hyenas howl them at
night. Let us see how the matter stands. When your father died
Sompseu (Sir T. Shepstone), the great white chief, came from the
English Government to name you king. This he could not do
according to our law, since how can a stranger name the King of
the Zulus? Therefore the Council of the Nation and the doctors--I
was not among them, King--moved the spirit of Chaka the Lion into
the body of Sompseu and made him as Chaka was and gave him power
to name you to rule over the Zulus. So it came about that to the
English Queen through the spirit of Chaka you swore certain
things; that slaying for witchcraft should be abolished; that no
man should die without fair and open trial, and other matters."

He paused a while, then went on, "These oaths you have broken, O
King, as being of the blood you are and what you are, you must
do."

Here there was disturbance among the Council and Cetewayo half
rose from his seat, then sat down again. Zikali, gazing at the
sky, waited till it had died away, then went on--

"Do any question my words? If so, then let them ask of the white
men whether they be true or no. Let them ask also of the spirits
of those who have died for witchcraft, and of the spirits of the
women who have been slain and whose bodies were laid at the
cross-roads because they married the men they chose and not the
soldiers to whom the king gave them."

"How can I ask the white men who are far away?" broke out
Cetewayo, ignoring the rest.

"Are the white men so far away, King? It is true that I see none
and hear none, yet I seem to smell one of them close at hand."
Here he took up the skull which he had laid down and whispered to
it. "Ah! I thank you, my child. It seems, King, that there is a
white man here hidden in this kloof, he who is named Macumazahn,
a good man and a truthful, known to many of us from of old, who
can tell you what his people think, though he is not one of their
indunas. If you question my words, ask him."

"We know what the white men think," said Cetewayo, "so there is
no need to ask Macumazahn to sing us an old song. The question
is--what must the Zulus do? Must they swallow their spears and,
ceasing to be a nation, become servants, or must they strike with
them and drive the English into the sea, and after them the
Boers?"

"Tell me first, King, who dwell far away and alone,