they were all
absolutely under his control, he raised his hand, and said, in a low,
impressive voice:

"Listen, O Ingona, Lambati, Moroosi, and Sekukuni! Lobelatatutu, the
king, the Great One, is about to question you further concerning the
conspiracy in which ye have been engaged with Sekosini, and it is my
will that ye shall answer his every question truthfully and without
reservation or concealment of any kind. Ye hear?"

"We hear, O Healer, and we will obey," answered the four, as with one
voice.

"It is well," said Dick. "Now, O Great One! proceed with your
questions, and be assured that ye shall learn the whole truth."

"Listen, O Ingona," said the king. "A while ago ye attempted to explain
to me why ye had joined this conspiracy fomented by Sekosini. Is there
aught more that ye would say in extenuation of your crime?"

"Nothing, O Great One," answered Ingona sadly. "Our crime is too rank
to admit of extenuation. It is true that there are those among us who
think that even peace may be bought at too high a price, if that price
includes the forgetting by our warriors of the art of war, and the
impossibility of training our young men to fight. Never since the death
of M'Bongwele have we been allowed to wash our spears in the blood of
our enemies; and, in the opinion of many, those enemies are consequently
growing overbold and insolent. But who are we that we should presume to
judge the king's actions, or to say to him: `Ye shall do this,' or `Ye
shall not do that'? To do so is a crime; and the king who tamely
suffers it is too weak to govern so powerful a nation as the Makolo.
Yet I committed that crime; and now, when it is too late, when that has
been done which may never be undone, my greatest shame and grief are
that I was ever weak enough to open my ears to the beguilings of that
serpent Sekosini, that I ever permitted him to turn my eyes from the
straight path and hide from them, until too late, the dreadful
consequences that must have ensued had Sekosini's plot succeeded."

"Tis pity that ye saw not all this in time, Ingona," said the king
reproachfully. "Tell me, now--If this conspiracy had ripened to
fruition, would you, O Ingona, have taken the field and led your
warriors against me?"

"Nay," answered Ingona, "that would I not. The time was when, blinded
and misled by Sekosini's plausible arguments and misrepresentations, I
might have done so. But that time is past; even before the arri