me would say that they had a cat, and some would say that they
had none, and some would stand still and make no answer, being dumb with
fear. But, whatever they said, the end was the same, for the king would
sigh gently and say: "Fare thee well, my sister; it is unfortunate for
thee that there is a cat in thy hut," or "that there is no cat in thy
hut," or "that thou canst not tell me whether there be a cat in thy hut
or no."

Then the woman would be taken by the slayers, dragged without the kraal,
and their end was swift. So it went on for the most part of that day,
till sixty-and-two women and girls had been slaughtered. But at last a
maiden was brought before the king, and to this one her snake had given
a ready wit; for when Chaka asked her whether or no there was a cat in
her hut, she answered, saying that she did not know, "but that there was
a half a cat upon her," and she pointed to a cat's-skin which was bound
about her loins.

Then the king laughed, and clapped his hands, saying that at length his
dream was answered; and he killed no more that day nor ever again--save
once only.

That evening my heart was heavy within me, and I cried in my heart,
"How long?"--nor might I rest. So I wandered out from the kraal that was
named Duguza to the great cleft in the mountains yonder, and sat down
upon a rock high up in the cleft, so that I could see the wide lands
rolling to the north and the south, to my right and to my left. Now, the
day was drawing towards the night, and the air was very still, for the
heat was great and a tempest was gathering, as I, who am a Heaven-Herd,
knew well. The sun sank redly, flooding the land with blood; it was as
though all the blood that Chaka had shed flowed about the land which
Chaka ruled. Then from the womb of the night great shapes of cloud rose
up and stood before the sun, and he crowned them with his glory, and in
their hearts the lightning quivered like a blood of fire. The shadow
of their wings fell upon the mountain and the plains, and beneath their
wings was silence. Slowly the sun sank, and the shapes of cloud gathered
together like a host at the word of its captain, and the flicker of the
lightning was as the flash of the spears of a host. I looked, and my
heart grew afraid. The lightning died away, the silence deepened and
deepened till I could hear it, no leaf moved, no bird called, the world
seemed dead--I alone lived in the dead world.

Now, of a sudden, my father, a