the Wise One, and I glanced enquiringly at each other, and
methought that even in the semi-obscurity of that darkened interior I
could detect the ghost of a twinkle of amusement in the old induna's
eyes; for my own part, I remember that I was grinning from ear to ear as
my imagination conjured up a picture of the scene which was enacting
behind that curtain. The shouts, exclamations, laughter, and
remonstrances increased rather than diminished as the moments sped, and
presently Mapela came to me, took me by the arm, and gently led me from
the itunkulu, saying as he did so:

"Come, 'mlungu; let us go. A king is but a man, after all, among his
women folk, and it is not seemly that you and I should linger and hear
more of what is passing yonder."

Once safely away from the itunkulu, and beyond reach of the unseemly
sounds which issued therefrom, Mapela conducted me to the group of
chiefs still gathered round the royal chair and introduced me to them
severally and individually; then, discreetly and with a certain air of
mystery, he hinted to his fellow indunas that the investiture of the
Great, Great One had been successfully accomplished, with such amazing
and magnificently splendid results that it would be well for them all to
spend the night in preparing to be astonished, for on the morrow they
should find themselves overwhelmed with wonder and admiration. And
finally, he threw out a cautious feeler with the object of ascertaining
whether perchance it had occurred to me that it might be politic on my
part to confirm the excellent impression which I had already made by
bestowing upon him and his fellow indunas a small--a very small--modicum
of the inestimable treasures which they all knew my wagon must still
contain. To this I replied that the idea was at that moment the one
uppermost in my mind, and that I gladly availed myself of the
opportunity afforded by the king's temporary absence to invite them to
call upon me in a body as soon as possible, to receive my largesse.

Then I, in turn, took up my parable, and, in humble emulation of
Mapela's engaging frankness, hinted that if by any chance the king--or
anybody else--should feel moved to display a feeling of friendliness to
the extent of bestowing upon me a return present, I wanted nothing of
actual value--such as spears, shields, and the like--but would gladly
accept as much of that useless stuff, gold, as people might desire to
force upon me, the accumulation o