and believe--that is all, and perhaps, my father, before
many days are sped I shall be wiser than all of you. For I am very aged,
the fire of my life sinks low--it burns in my brain alone; there it is
still bright, but soon that will go out also, and then perhaps I shall
understand.

CHAPTER XXV. THE WAR WITH THE HALAKAZI PEOPLE

Now, my father, I must tell of how Umslopogaas the Slaughterer and
Galazi the Wolf fared in their war against the People of the Halakazi.
When I had gone from the shadow of the Ghost Mountain, Umslopogaas
summoned a gathering of all his headmen, and told them it was his desire
that the People of the Axe should no longer be a little people; that
they should grow great and number their cattle by tens of thousands.

The headmen asked how this might be brought about--would he then make
war on Dingaan the King? Umslopogaas answered no, he would win the
favour of the king thus: and he told them of the Lily maid and of the
Halakazi tribe in Swaziland, and of how he would go up against that
tribe. Now some of the headmen said yea to this and some said nay, and
the talk ran high and lasted till the evening. But when the evening was
come Umslopogaas rose and said that he was chief under the Axe, and none
other, and it was his will that they should go up against the Halakazi.
If there was any man there who would gainsay his will, let him stand
forward and do battle with him, and he who conquered should order all
things. To this there was no answer, for there were few who cared to
face the beak of Groan-Maker, and so it came about that it was agreed
that the People of the Axe should make war upon the Halakazi, and
Umslopogaas sent out messengers to summon every fighting-man to his
side.

But when Zinita, his head wife, came to hear of the matter she was
angry, and upbraided Umslopogaas, and heaped curses on me, Mopo, whom
she knew only as the mouth of Dingaan, because, as she said truly, I had
put this scheme into the mind of the Slaughterer. "What!" she went on,
"do you not live here in peace and plenty, and must you go to make war
on those who have not harmed you; there, perhaps, to perish or to come
to other ill? You say you do this to win a girl for Dingaan and to find
favour in his sight. Has not Dingaan girls more than he can count? It
is more likely that, wearying of us, your wives, you go to get girls for
yourself, Bulalio; and as for finding favour, rest quiet, so shall you
find most favou