one other, didst
fight against the whole Bakoni nation, art a child before the Bakoni
_muti_. Be patient. Great things will happen soon."

"Patient--_Hau_! It seems to me that we draw no nearer one to another,
Lalusini. And I like it not."

"Yet I have managed to keep outside the _isigodhlo_, Untuswa," and again
she laughed. "Did I speak truly in that matter?"

"Truly, indeed," I answered.

"That is well said, valiant fighter, whose greatness is gained by means
of women."

"By means of women?" I repeated, thinking she was again mocking me.
"Now, how can that be, Lalusini, seeing that I lead the King's army, and
am ever in the front of the battle?"

"And how earnest thou to win the King's Assegai, and with it the place
of a commander in the King's armies? Was it not through a woman? Tell
me that, Untuswa."

"It was, indeed," I answered, remembering Nangeza, and how my
foolishness in stealing her from the _isigodhlo_ had won me life and
great honour, instead of the death which I had expected and deserved.

"And how earnest thou to win the white shield--the _muti_ shield? See
thou part not from it, Untuswa. Was it not through two women: she who
would have dealt the death which it turned away, and she whose wisdom
entered thy brain at the right moment? Tell me that, son of Ntelani."

"That, too, is the truth, daughter of Kings," I answered. "But I would
ask this: If Umzilikazi sits in the seat of Dingane, in whose seat am I
to sit?"

She laughed softly, musically.

"Ah! ah! Untuswa. Remember my offer to you in the cave of the eagle's
nest. Was it not to rule over a great nation?"

"_Hau_!" I cried in amazement, seeing the whole truth. Yet could it be
real? I, Untuswa, who, though now an _induna_ of weight, was but
yesterday a boy. I, Untuswa, had been chosen by this daughter of a
royal house--a powerful sorceress, and withal beautiful beyond any woman
I had ever seen--to aid her in recovering the throne of Tshaka the
Mighty, and to rule over the great Zulu nation as King. And this
greatness I had thrust away from me!

"Thou art young yet, Untuswa, though thy deeds have been many and thy
name is feared," she answered, smiling up at me in a kind of pity, and
yet I thought with much love in her eyes. "Yet what thou hast done is
only a beginning, and what the white shield has done is only a
beginning. See thou part not from it."

"Never will I part from it," I declared. "And so, Lalusini