cried the King. "Should that one be Dingane?"

"Not Dingane should it be, Elephant of the Amandebeli," she replied.

"Mhlangana, then?"

"Not Mhlangana, Great Great One in whom flows the blood of my mother."

"Ha! Who, then, Queen of the Bakoni _muti_?"

"Umzilikazi, the son of Matyobane."

"Ha!" broke from us both at the surpassing boldness of this declaration;
and for some moments we sat staring in silence at this wonderful woman.
Then the King took snuff, and, as he did so, I well knew what was
passing in his mind. For, had but another regiment or two cleaved to
us, what time the Amandebeli and we of the Umtetwa tribe, and others,
fled from Zululand, no flight need we have made at all. We would have
marched to Dukuza, and eaten up the whole usurping House of
Senzangakona. Ofttimes had the King thus talked to me since; sorrowing
even now, when it was too late, that the opportunity should have been
allowed to pass. And now this woman--this sorceress of a strange tribe,
yet claiming mighty descent--came thus to hold before Umzilikazi's gaze
a vision of such power as, even in the fulness of his might, the great
Tshaka had never wielded. To combine the warrior strength of our nation
with that of the parent stock of Zululand! _Whau_! there was a destiny!
We should rule the world itself with such a power behind us. No wonder
a strange light gleamed in the eyes of the King as they beheld such a
vision.

"And how shall this be brought about, Lalusini?" he said; more to say
something than because uncertain as to what her reply would be.

"What nation can _konza_ to two kings?" she answered. "Sooner or later
its choice must be made. One or both must fall. Then is the time for
him who was born to be great."

"And if but one fall?"

"Then let the other follow, and speedily. Ha! who would be great and
run no risks! There are many in Zululand yet--many who are still young,
as well as others--who remember how the son of Matyobane led them in
battle. Many who, sitting in their huts at night, whisper, with their
hands to their mouths, the name of Umzilikazi. For the foot of those of
the House of Senzangakona treads heavily."

"And how know you all this, my sister?" said the King, looking sharply
at her.

"Wherefore did I disappear into air for a space?" was her reply, with
just a shade of meaning, quoting Umzilikazi's words.

"Ha! And when the House of Senzangakona is overthrown, what wilt thou,
Lalus