manner should
we depart from it again?

The plain for some distance outside the town was dotted about with
people: women in groups, men with weapons in their hands, children
herding the sleek, blue-coloured cattle, but all gazing with unbounded
curiosity upon two men walking alone into their midst as though kings
over them, and such indeed we felt.

In those days, _Nkose_, I was at the very height of my strength and
manhood. Now I am old and wrinkled, but I am not short. Then I was of
a largeness of limb in proportion to my lofty stature. My body was a
framework of hard muscles, and indeed there was not a man in our nation
who could overcome me in strength or surpass me in agility, in which my
brother, Mgwali, was somewhat my inferior; yet even he was a giant in
comparison with the people among whom we now were, though in other
matters than strength and stature they seemed far from being a race of
fools. Indeed, I have thought since that the King may have had such a
contrast in his eye when he sent me to represent him among these people.

If this place had struck me as large before, it now seemed doubly so.
In among the huts, too, were strange circular stone walls, here and
there, looking like old and strong buildings, for their strength was
immense. The huts were without end; they were built of grass, rising to
a point, and were neat and clean. We were conducted to one, and bidden
to rest, for that the chief would confer with us on the morrow.

"That may not be," I said decidedly. "This night must the `word' of the
Great King be spoken. To-morrow may be too late for ye, O people of the
Blue Cattle."

"_E--he_!" assented my brother.

Our escort looked at one another, and their looks were blank. However,
they invited us to enter the hut, saying that food and drink should be
brought us, and that meanwhile my words should be carried to the ears of
Tauane.

We had finished the piece of beef which had been sent us, and had
drained the large bowl of _tywala_, when messengers arrived to announce
that the council of the nation would be convened at sundown, and that
the "word" to be returned to our King would then be made known to us.

At the appointed time we set forth, Mgwali and I, fully armed, and
bearing our shields. As we walked behind our guides, I noted the
intense curiosity which our appearance was inspiring, and laughed to
myself. For I heard the bystanders, especially the women, comparing our
sta