ight, and moved to a little kraal
surrounded by a fence that was some fifty paces distant from the hut.
For it was my duty, day by day, to choose that place where the king
should sit to hear the counsel of his indunas, and give judgment on
those whom he would kill, and to-day I had chosen this place. Chaka went
alone from his hut to the kraal, and, for my own reasons, I accompanied
him, walking after him. As we went the king glanced back at me over his
shoulder, and said in a low voice:--

"Is all prepared, Mopo?"

"All is prepared, Black One," I answered. "The regiment of the Slayers
will be here by noon."

"Where are the princes, Mopo?" asked the king again.

"The princes sit with their wives in the houses of their women, O King,"
I answered; "they drink beer and sleep in the laps of their wives."

Chaka smiled grimly, "For the last time, Mopo!"

"For the last time, O King."

We came to the kraal, and Chaka sat down in the shade of the reed fence,
upon an ox-hide that was brayed soft. Near to him stood a girl holding a
gourd of beer; there were also present the old chief Inguazonca, brother
of Unandi, Mother of the Heavens, and the chief Umxamama, whom Chaka
loved. When we had sat a little while in the kraal, certain men came
in bearing cranes' feathers, which the king had sent them to gather a
month's journey from the kraal Duguza, and they were admitted before
the king. These men had been away long upon their errand, and Chaka
was angry with them. Now the leader of the men was an old captain of
Chaka's, who had fought under him in many battles, but whose service was
done, because his right hand had been shorn away by the blow of an axe.
He was a great man and very brave.

Chaka asked the man why he had been so long in finding the feathers,
and he answered that the birds had flown from that part of the country
whither he was sent, and he must wait there till they returned, that he
might snare them.

"Thou shouldst have followed the cranes, yes, if they flew through the
sunset, thou disobedient dog!" said the king. "Let him be taken away,
and all those who were with him."

Now some of the men prayed a little for mercy, but the captain did but
salute the king, calling him "Father," and craving a boon before he
died.

"What wouldst thou?" asked Chaka.

"My father," said the man, "I would ask thee two things. I have fought
many times at thy side in battle while we both were young; nor did I
ever turn my b