is English, no Boer, O king; that he was born across the
Black Water, and that he comes from the country out of which all the
Boers have trekked."

At this intelligence Dingaan pricked up his ears.

"Then he can tell me about these Boers," he said, "and what they are
after, or could if he were able to speak my tongue. I do not trust you
to interpret, you Tho-maas, whom I know to be a liar," and he glowered
at Halstead.

"I can speak your tongue, though not very well, O king," I interrupted,
"and I can tell you all about the Boers, for I have lived among them."

"Ow!" said Dingaan, intensely interested. "But perhaps you are also
a liar. Or are you a praying man, like that fool yonder, who is named
Oweena?"--he meant the missionary Mr. Owen--"whom I spare because it
is not lucky to kill one who is mad, although he tries to frighten my
soldiers with tales of a fire into which they will go after they are
dead. As though it matters what happens to them after they are dead!" he
added reflectively, taking a pinch of snuff.

"I am no liar," I answered. "What have I to lie about?"

"You would lie to save your own life, for all white men are cowards; not
like the Zulus, who love to die for their king. But how are you named?"

"Your people call me Macumazahn."

"Well, Macumazahn, if you are no liar, tell me, is it true that these
Boers rebelled against their king who was named George, and fled from
him as the traitor Umsilikazi did from me?"

"Yes," I answered, "that is true."

"Now I am sure that you are a liar," said Dingaan triumphantly. "You say
that you are English and therefore serve your king, or the Inkosikaas"
(that is the Great Lady), "who they tell me now sits in his place. How
does it come about then that you are travelling with a party of these
very Amaboona who must be your enemies, since they are the enemies of
your king, or of her who follows after him?"

Now I knew that I was in a tight place, for on this matter of loyalty,
Zulu, and indeed all native ideas, are very primitive. If I said that I
had sympathy with the Boers, Dingaan would set me down as a traitor. If
I said that I hated the Boers, then still I should be a traitor because
I associated with them, and a traitor in his eyes would be one to be
killed. I do not like to talk religion, and anyone who has read what I
have written in various works will admit that I have done so rarely, if
ever. Yet at that moment I put up a prayer for guidance, f