es with all the little things their women had bought from
the traders. Few of us could believe that, _Nkose_--the tale is too
strange; and yet it was somewhat after this manner that I loved
Lalusini--I, the second induna of the King's warriors, I, who since I
was but a boy had slain with my own hand more of the King's enemies than
I could count. I, moreover, who had known what the ingratitude and
malice of women could do, in the person of my first wife, Nangeza, for
whom I had sacrificed my fidelity to the King and the nation--even my
life itself. But with Lalusini, ah! it was very different. No evil or
sullen mood was ever upon her; nor did she ever by look or word give me
to understand that a daughter of the House of Senzangakona, the royal
house of Zululand, might perchance be greater than even the second
induna of a revolted and fugitive tribe, now grown into a nation. Even
her counsels, which were weighty and wise, she would put forward as
though she had not caused me to win the White Shield--had not saved our
nation at the Place of the Three Rifts.

"It seems to me, Lalusini," I said at last, "it seems to me that in this
nation there is no longer any room for us two. I have served Umzilikazi
faithfully and well. I have more than once snatched back the life of
the King, when it was tottering on the very brink of the Dark Unknown,
but kings are ever ungrateful; and now I and my house are promised the
death of the traitor. The destruction of the Red Terror, which is my
ordeal, is no real trial at all--it is but a trick. The King would be
rid of us, and, whether I succeed or whether I fail, the Dark Unknown is
to be our portion."

Lalusini bent her head with a murmur of assent, but made no remark.

"And now I am weary of this ingratitude," I went on, sinking my voice to
a whisper, but speaking in a tone of fierce and gloomy determination.
"What has been done before can be done again. I have struck down more
of the enemies of our nation than the King himself. One royal spear--
one white shield is as good to sit under as another; and--it is time our
new nation sat down under its _second_ king."

"Great dreams, Untuswa," said Lalusini, with a smile that had something
of sadness in it.

"Great acts shouldst thou say rather, for I am no dreamer of dreams," I
answered bitterly. "Ha! do I not lead the whole nation in war? for, of
late, Kalipe is old, and stiff in the limbs. One swift stroke of this
broad sp