s 'empty as a gourd.'

"'Quite so,' I answered; 'still, go and tell the headman that Macumazahn
wishes to speak with him.'

"The boy departed, and presently I saw a face that seemed familiar to
me peeping round the edge of the gateway. After a careful inspection its
owner emerged.

"He was a tall, thin man of indefinite age, perhaps between sixty and
seventy, with a finely-cut face, a little grey beard, kind eyes and very
well-shaped hands and feet, the fingers, which twitched incessantly,
being remarkably long.

"'Greeting, Macumazahn,' he said, 'I see you do not remember me. Well,
think of the battle of the Tugela, and of the last stand of the Tulwana,
and of a certain talk at the kraal of our Father-who-is-dead' (that is
King Panda), 'and of how he who sits in his place' (he meant Cetewayo),
'told you that if he had his way he would find a hide rope to fit the
neck of a certain one.'

"'Ah!' I said, 'I know you now, you are Magepa the Buck. So the Runner
has not yet been run down.'

"'No, Macumazahn, not yet, but there is still time. I think that many
swift feet will be at work ere long.'

"'How have you prospered?' I asked him.

"'Well enough, Macumazahn, in all ways except one. I have three wives,
but my children have been few and are dead, except one daughter, who is
married and lives with me, for her husband, too, is dead. He was killed
by a buffalo, and she has not yet married again. But enter and see.'

"So I went in and saw Magepa's wives, old women all of them. Also, at
his bidding, his daughter, whose name was Gita, brought me some _maas_,
or curdled milk, to drink. She was a well-formed woman, very like
her father, but sad-faced, perhaps with a prescience of evil to come.
Clinging to her finger was a beautiful boy of something under two years
of age, who, when he saw Magepa, ran to him and threw his little arms
about his legs. The old man lifted the child and kissed him tenderly,
saying:

"'It is well that this toddler and I should love one another,
Macumazahn, seeing that he is the last of my race. All the other
children here are those of the people who have come to live in my
shadow.'

"'Where are their fathers?' I asked, patting the little boy who, his
mother told me, was named Sinala upon the cheek, an attention that he
resented.

"'They have been called away on duty,' answered Magepa shortly; and I
changed the subject.

"Then we began to talk about old times, and I asked him if he had