my youth which resulted in the death of one who was
most dear to me. I will not dwell on it, but this, too, was the
work of a passionate creature, woman I can scarcely call her, who
thought she was being robbed of one whom she adored.

The end of it was that I did not enjoy my pipe that night, though
luckily Anscombe returned after a successful evening's netting,
about which he was so full of talk that there was no need for me
to say much. So I put off any discussion of the problem until
the morrow.

CHAPTER XXI

THE KING VISITS ZIKALI

Next morning, as a result of my cogitations, I went to see
Zikali. I was admitted after a good deal of trouble and delay,
for although his retinue was limited and, with the exception of
Nombe, entirely male, this old prophet kept a kind of semi-state
and was about as difficult to approach as a European monarch. I
found him crouching over a fire in his hut, since at this season
of the year even in that hot place the air was chilly until
midday.

"What is it, Macumazahn?" he asked. "As to your going away, have
patience. I learn that he who was King of the Zulus is in full
flight, with the white men tracking him like a wounded buck.
When the buck is caught and killed, then you can go."

"It is about Nombe," I answered, and told him all the story,
which did not seem to surprise him at all.

"Now see, Macumazahn," he said, taking some snuff, "how hard it
is to dam up the stream of nature. This child, Nombe, is of my
blood, one whom I saved from death in a strange way, not because
she was of my blood but that I might make an experiment with her.
Women, as you who are wise and have seen much will know, are in
truth superior to men, though, because they are weaker in body,
men have the upper hand of them and think themselves their
masters, a state they are forced to accept because they must live
and cannot defend themselves. Yet their brains are keener, as an
assegai is keener than a hoe; they are more in touch with the
hidden things that shape out fate for people and for nations;
they are more faithful and more patient, and by instinct if not
by reason, more far-seeing, or at least the best of them are so,
and by their best, like men, they should be judged. Yet this is
the hole in their shield. When they love they become the slaves
of love, and for love's sake all else is brought to naught, and
for this reason they cannot be trusted. With men, as you know