of the guile of the serpent during his sojourn among the
Zulus, and varied her vigorous phrases. The gist of her discourse was
that he, Dingaan, was a black-hearted and bloody-minded villain, with
whom the Almighty would come even sooner or later (as, indeed, He did),
and that if he dared to touch one hair of her or of her companions'
heads, the Boers, her countrymen, would prove themselves to be the
ministers of the Almighty in that matter (as, indeed, they did). As
translated by Halstead into Zulu, what she said was that Dingaan was the
greatest king in the whole world; in fact, that there was not, and never
had been, any such a king either in power, wisdom, or personal beauty,
and that if she and her companions had to die, the sight of his glory
consoled them for their deaths.

"Indeed," said Dingaan suspiciously, "if that is what this man-woman
says, her eyes tell one story and her lips another. Oh! Tho-maas, lie no
more. Speak the true words of the white chieftainess, lest I should find
them out otherwise, and give you to the slayers."

Thus adjured, Halstead explained that he had not yet told all the words.
The "man-woman," who was, as he, Dingaan, supposed, a great chieftainess
among the Dutch, added that if he, the mighty and glorious king, the
earth-shaker, the world-eater, killed her or any of her subjects, her
people would avenge her by killing him and his people.

"Does she say that?" said Dingaan. "Then, as I thought, these Boers are
dangerous, and not the peaceful folk they make themselves out to be,"
and he brooded for a while, staring at the ground. Presently he lifted
his head and went on: "Well, a bet is a bet, and therefore I will not
wipe out this handful, as otherwise I would have done at once. Tell the
old cow of a chieftainess that, notwithstanding her threats, I stick
to my promise. If the little Son of George, Macumazahn, can shoot three
vultures out of five by help of his magic, then she and her servants
shall go free. If not, the vultures which he has missed shall feed
on them, and afterwards I will talk with her people when they come to
avenge her. Now, enough of this indaba. Bring those evildoers here that
they may thank and praise me, who give them so merciful an end."

So the grandfather, the father, and the son were hustled before Dingaan
by the soldiers, and greeted him with the royal salute of "bayete."

"O king," said the old man, "I and my children are innocent. Yet if it
pleases