t at the kraal Umgugundhlovu to give us warning of the mind of the
king, lest he should send an impi suddenly to eat you up. Perhaps his
hands may be too full for that ere long, for those white Amaboona will
answer his assegais with bullets. And one more word: let nothing be said
of this matter of your birth, least of all to Zinita your wife, or to
any other woman."

"Fear not, uncle," he answered; "I know how to be silent."

Now after awhile Umslopogaas left me and went to the hut of Zinita, his
Inkosikasi, where she lay wrapped in her blankets, and, as it seemed,
asleep.

"Greeting, my husband," she said slowly, like one who wakens. "I have
dreamed a strange dream of you. I dreamed that you were called a king,
and that all the regiments of the Zulus filed past giving you the royal
salute, Bayete."

Umslopogaas looked at her wondering, for he did not know if she had
learned something or if this was an omen. "Such dreams are dangerous,"
he said, "and he who dreams them does well to lock them fast till they
be forgotten."

"Or fulfilled," said Zinita, and again Umslopogaas looked at her
wondering.

Now after this night I began my work, for I established spies at the
kraal of Dingaan, and from them I learned all that passed with the king.

At first he gave orders that an impi should be summoned to eat up the
People of the Axe, but afterwards came tidings that the Boers, to
the number of five hundred mounted men, were marching on the kraal
Umgugundhlovu. So Dingaan had no impi to spare to send to the Ghost
Mountain, and we who were beneath its shadow dwelt there in peace.

This time for Boers were beaten, for Bogoza, the spy, led them into
an ambush; still few were killed, and they did but draw back that they
might jump the further, and Dingaan knew this. At this time also the
English white men of Natal, the people of George, who attacked Dingaan
by the Lower Tugela, were slain by our soldiers, and those with them.

Also, by the help of certain witch-doctors, I filled the land with
rumours, prophecies, and dark sayings, and I worked cunningly on the
minds of many chiefs that were known to me, sending them messages hardly
to be understood, such as should prepare their thoughts for the coming
of one who should be declared to them. They listened, but the task was
long, for the men dwelt far apart, and some of them were away with the
regiments.

So the time went by, till many days had passed since we reached the
G