contrast. For attire, besides the _mutya_, or kilt of
catskins and hide, an ample kaross of dressed leopard skin was flung
round him in graceful folds. It might have been noticeable that, unlike
nearly all of his countrymen up to date, he wore no trace of European
clothing or ornament.

"Where is U' Ben?" began the Zulu. This was Ben Halse's name among
them, being, of course, an adaptation of his Christian name.

She told him, and then went on to talk--and she spoke the Zulu language
fluently. This man, whose name was Sapazani, was the chief of one of
the powerful septs which went to make up the Zulu nation, and which
occupied the adjoining mountain fastnesses. He was on very friendly
terms with Ben Halse, a fact which might yet stand the latter in good
stead, for the secret heart of the nation was seething with unrest,
although long since under British rule. Further, it ensured him the
monopoly of a roaring trade.

"What is the news?" asked the chief at last.

"News?" echoed Verna, flashing at him a bright glance of merriment.
"Now what, I would ask, could have happened here that a great chief such
as Sapazani would care to hear about?"

"That I know not, unless that it came from the lips of _Izibu_," he
answered, with a merry twinkle in his eyes.

It is not as a rule respectful for a native to address the superior
white by his or her nickname. But "Izibu"--meaning water-lily--Verna
considered rather pretty and poetic, and did not discourage its use.
Moreover, she had been accustomed to natives all her life, and
understood them thoroughly. She appreciated, too, the position of her
father and herself among this once kingly race, where they dwelt in
perfect security as to person and property, so much so that they never
troubled to put a lock on anything, not even on the trading store. Now
she laughed gaily at the compliment which had accompanied the use of the
name, and went on chatting, easily, merrily, even banteringly--that to
any one unaware of the stern and rigid line of demarcation in such
matters, between white and coloured, which has ever saturated public
opinion throughout South Africa, it might have seemed that she was
carrying on a sort of mild flirtation with this splendid savage. The
latter had produced his snuff-box, and was absorbing a portion of its
contents in grave silence.

"But I am forgetting!" exclaimed Verna. "The day is hot, and a visitor
must not go away without food and drink