nd those of the Lady Swallow are kraaled, I found among
them strange oxen to the number of more than a hundred. They are
beautiful oxen, such as I have never seen, for every one of them is pure
white--white from the muzzle to the tail, and I cannot understand how
they came among your cattle, for the mouth of the kraal was closed as
usual last night; moreover, I found it closed this morning."

When Sihamba heard this she turned cold to the heart, for she knew
well that these spotless white cattle must come from the royal herd of
Dingaan, king of the Zulus, since none other were known like them in all
the land. Also she was sure that Swart Piet had stolen them and placed
them among her cattle so as to bring down upon her and her tribe the
terrible wrath of Dingaan, for she remembered that this mingling of
cattle was a trick which he had played before. But to the herd she said
only that doubtless they were cattle which had strayed, and that she
would make enquiry as to their owner. Then she dismissed him, bidding
him to keep a better watch in future.

Scarcely had he gone when another man appeared saying that he had met a
Kaffir from beyond the mountains, who told him that a party of white men
with women and children had crossed the Quathlamba range by what is now
known as Bezuidenhout's Pass, and were camped near the Tugela River.
This was strange news to Sihamba, who had heard nothing of the
whereabouts of the Trek Boers, so strange that she would not speak of
it to Suzanne, fearing lest it should fill her with false hopes. But she
sent for Zinti, and bade him cross the Quathlamba by a little-used pass
that was known to her near the place where the Tugela takes its rise,
and which to-day is called Mont aux Sources, and following the river
down, to find out whether or no it was true that white men were encamped
upon its banks. When he had done this he was to return as swiftly as
possible with whatever information he could gather.

This task Zinti undertook gladly, for he loved following a spoor, which
was a gift that Nature had given him; also he was weary of being cooped
up like a fatting fowl upon the mountain Umpondwana.

When Zinti had gone Sihamba summoned other messengers, and commanded
them to travel swiftly to the kraal Umgungundlhovo, bearing her homage
to Dingaan, king of the Amazulus, and asking whether he had lost any of
the cattle from his royal herds, since certain white oxen had been found
among her beas