inning, "do not kill them; you have given
them safe conduct. Moreover, let them go back to their dog of a king,
that he may send out his puppies to do battle with our wolves. It will
be a pretty fight."

"Get you gone, O Mouth," said Umslopogaas; "get you gone swiftly, lest
mischief befall you! Without my gates you shall find food to satisfy
your hunger. Eat of it and begone, for if to-morrow at the noon you are
found within a spear's throw of this kraal, you and those with you shall
bide there forever, O Mouth of Dingaan the king!"

Now I made as though I would depart, then, turning suddenly, I spoke
once more, saying:--

"There were words in your message to the Black One who is dead of a
certain man--nay, how was he named?--of a certain Mopo."

Now Umslopogaas started as one starts who is wounded by a spear, and
stared at me.

"Mopo! What of Mopo, O Mouth, whose eyes are veiled? Mopo is dead, whose
son I was!"

"Ah!" I said, "yes, Mopo is dead--that is, the Black One who is gone
killed a certain Mopo. How came it, O Bulalio, that you were his son?"

"Mopo is dead," quoth Umslopogaas again; "he is dead with all his house,
his kraal is stamped flat, and that is why I hated the Black One, and
therefore I hate Dingaan, his brother, and will be as are Mopo and the
house of Mopo before I pay him tribute of a single ox."

All this while I had spoken to Umslopogaas in a feigned voice, my
father, but now I spoke again and in my own voice, saying:--

"So! Now you speak from your heart, young man, and by digging I have
reached the root of the matter. It is because of this dead dog of a Mopo
that you defy the king."

Umslopogaas heard the voice, and trembled no more with anger, but rather
with fear and wonder. He looked at me hard, answering nothing.

"Have you a hut near by, O Chief Bulalio, foe of Dingaan the king, where
I, the mouth of the king, may speak with you a while apart, for I would
learn your message word by word that I may deliver it without fault.
Fear not, Slaughterer, to sit alone with me in an empty hut! I am
unarmed and old, and there is that in your hand which I should fear,"
and I pointed to the axe.

Now Umslopogaas, still shaking in his limbs, answered "Follow me, O
Mouth, and you, Galazi, stay with these men."

So I followed Umslopogaas, and presently we came to a large hut. He
pointed to the doorway, and I crept through it and he followed after
me. Now for a while it seemed dark in the hut,