was not yet in the mind of Dingaan. So I pressed down the balance of
Umhlangana and raised that of Dingaan, sending the fears of Umhlangana
to sleep till I could cause his hut to be surrounded. Then Umhlangana
followed upon the road of Chaka his brother, the road of the assegai;
and Dingaan ruled alone for awhile. Such are the things that befall
princes of this earth, my father. See, I am but a little man, and my lot
is humble at the last, yet I have brought about the death of three of
them, and of these two died by my hand.

It was fourteen days after the passing away of the Prince Umhlangana
that the great army came back in a sorry plight from the marshes of the
Limpopo, for half of them were left dead of fever and the might of the
foe, and the rest were starving. It was well for them who yet lived that
Chaka was no more, else they had joined their brethren who were dead
on the way; since never before for many years had a Zulu impi returned
unvictorious and without a single head of cattle. Thus it came about
that they were glad enough to welcome a king who spared their lives, and
thenceforth, till his fate found him, Dingaan reigned unquestioned.

Now, Dingaan wa a prince of the blood of Chaka indeed; for, like Chaka,
he was great in presence and cruel at heart, but he had not the might
and the mind of Chaka. Moreover, he was treacherous and a liar, and
these Chaka was not. Also, he loved women much, and spent with them the
time that he should have given to matters of the State. Yet he reigned
awhile in the land. I must tell this also; that Dingaan would have
killed Panda, his half-brother, so that the house of Senzangacona, his
father, might be swept out clean. Now Panda was a man of gentle
heart, who did not love war, and therefore it was thought that he
was half-witted; and, because I loved Panda, when the question of his
slaying came on, I and the chief Mapita spoke against it, and pleaded
for him, saying that there was nothing to be feared at his hands who
was a fool. So in the end Dingaan gave way, saying, "Well, you ask me to
spare this dog, and I will spare him, but one day he will bite me."

So Panda was made governor of the king's cattle. Yet in the end the
words of Dingaan came true, for it was the grip of Panda's teeth that
pulled him from the throne; only, if Panda was the dog that bit, I,
Mopo, was the man who set him on the hunt.

CHAPTER XXII. MOPO GOES TO SEEK THE SLAUGHTERER

Now Dingaan, d