t; wherefore I
grudged him not such gifts from time to time.

When the King had caused Isilwana, the head _isanusi_, to be killed, for
failing to cure a man who was wounded by the poisoned arrows of the
mountain tribes, he had desired to put Masuka in his place; but the old
man begged permission to refuse, saying that his _muti_ [Medicine, or
charm] would be of no avail if worked with others. So Umzilikazi, not
sorry to set up a rivalry between the witch-doctors, had allowed him to
go his own way; and since the rain-making, the old Mosutu had stood
higher in the King's favour than ever.

"That is well, my son," he replied, "but delay not to send the cow with
morning light, for by nightfall it may be that she will never be sent."

"_Hau_!" I cried. "What mean you, my father?"

"You are brave, Untuswa, and I have made you great. It is a pity that
such should die young."

"What mean you, my father?" I cried again, seeing a deadly meaning in
his words.

He gazed at me for a moment, then bending forward spoke low in the
Sesutu tongue, which by this time he had taught me; and as I listened my
horror became greater and greater, for it seemed as though a wide and
black pit of darkness yawned at my feet, and I must either spring over
it or into it. Verily, the enemies at work within a man's kraal are
more to be feared than any outside. I must warn the King this very
night. Yet, was it too late?

"Even now I hear steps which seek thee, son of Ntelani," he ended. "Yet
go to meet them. I know not if thou wilt return."

Obedient to the old man's injunction, I rose, and now I, too, heard
steps in the silence of the night. With a heavy foreboding of trouble,
I crept through the door of the hut, and stood upright.

"The King desires speech of thee, son of Ntelani," said a voice, as a
man came in sight. I recognised him as one of the _izinceku_ or
household attendants, and I thought there was something of malice and
mischief in his tone. But I lost no time in gaining the _isigodhlo_.

Now, the royal house was of great size, nearly twice that of the largest
of any other. I approached, singing in a low voice the King's praises,
to give notice that I was coming; then, disarming, I entered. The Great
Great One was alone. A fire burning in the centre lighted up the
interior brightly, and in its blaze I could see upon the royal
countenance a look I did not like. But still less did I like what
immediately followed.