ne a club; while about their shoulders were bound
wolf-skins. They ran low, neck and neck, with outstretched shields and
heads held forward, as a buck runs when he is hard pressed by dogs, and
no such running had been seen in the kraal Umgugundhlovu as the running
of the Wolf-Brethren. Half across the space they ran, and halted
suddenly, and, as they halted, the dead ashes of the fire flew up before
their feet in a little cloud.

"By my head! look, these come armed before me!" said Dingaan, frowning,
"and to do this is death. Now say who is that man, great and fierce,
who bears an axe aloft? Did I not know him dead I should say it was the
Black One, my brother, as he was in the days of the smiting of Zwide: so
was his head set on his shoulders and so he was wont to look round, like
a lion."

"I think that is Bulalio the Slaughterer, chief of the People of the
Axe, O King," I answered.

"And who is the other with him? He is a great man also. Never have I
seen such a pair!"

"I think that is Galazi the Wolf, he who is blood-brother to the
Slaughterer, and his general," I said again.

Now after these two came the soldiers of the People of the Axe, armed
with short sticks alone. Four by four they came, all holding their heads
low, and with black shields outstretched, and formed themselves into
companies behind the Wolf-Brethren, till all were there. Then, after
them, the crowd of the Halakazi slaves were driven in,--women, boys, and
maids, a great number--and they stood behind the ranks huddled together
like frightened calves.

"A gallant sight, truly!" said Dingaan, as he looked upon the companies
of black-plumed and shielded warriors. "I have no better soldiers in my
impis, and yet my eyes behold these for the first time," and again he
frowned.

Now suddenly Umslopogaas lifted his axe and started forward at full
speed, and after him thundered the companies. On they rushed, and their
plumes lay back upon the wind, till it seemed as though they must stamp
us flat. But when he was within ten paces of the king Umslopogaas lifted
Groan-Maker again, and Galazi held the Watcher on high, and every man
halted where he was, while once more the dust flew up in clouds. They
halted in long, unbroken lines, with outstretched shields and heads held
low; no man's head rose more than the length of a dance kerrie from the
earth. So they stood one minute, then, for the third time, Umslopogaas
lifted Groan-Maker, and in an instant e