desire to hear all the story."

So I told it to him, he and I being alone, for he commanded his
councillors and servants to retire out of hearing.

"Wow!" he said, when I had finished, "you are clever as a baboon,
Macumazahn. That was a fine trick to set a trap for Bangu and his
Amakoba dogs and bait it with his own cattle. But they tell me that you
refused your share of those cattle. Now, why was that, Macumazahn?"

By way of answer I repeated to Panda my reasons, which I have set out
already.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, when I had finished. "Every one seeks greatness in
his own way, and perhaps yours is better than ours. Well, the White man
walks one road--or some of them do--and the Black man another. They both
end at the same place, and none will know which is the right road till
the journey is done. Meanwhile, what you lose Saduko and his people
gain. He is a wise man, Saduko, who knows how to choose his friends, and
his wisdom has brought him victory and gifts. But to you, Macumazahn, it
has brought nothing but honour, on which, if a man feeds only, he will
grow thin."

"I like to be thin, O Panda," I answered slowly.

"Yes, yes, I understand," replied the King, who, in common with most
natives, was quick enough to seize a point, "and I, too, like people who
keep thin on such food as yours, people, also, whose hands are always
clean. We Zulus trust you, Macumazahn, as we trust few white men, for we
have known for years that your lips say what your heart thinks, and
that your heart always thinks the thing which is good. You may be named
Watcher-by-Night, but you love light, not darkness."

Now, at these somewhat unusual compliments I bowed, and felt myself
colouring a little as I did so, even through my sunburn, but I made no
answer to them, since to do so would have involved a discussion of the
past and its tragical events, into which I had no wish to enter. Panda,
too, remained silent for a while. Then he called to a messenger to
summon the princes, Cetewayo and Umbelazi, and to bid Saduko, the son of
Matiwane, to wait without, in case he should wish to speak with him.

A few minutes later the two princes arrived. I watched their coming with
interest, for they were the most important men in Zululand, and already
the nation debated fiercely which of them would succeed to the throne. I
will try to describe them a little.

They were both of much the same age--it is always difficult to arrive
at a Zulu's exact yea