dream as this he has a purging medicine."

Now the brows of these brothers grew black indeed, for they saw that
their fate was on them.

"These are the words of Chaka the king, O ye bulls who lead the herd!
All are doomed, ye twain and I, and many another man who loves us.
In the great kraal beyond the river there sits a regiment: it is
summoned--and then--good-night! Have ye any words to say to those yet
left upon the earth? Perhaps it will be given to me to live a little
while after ye are gone, and I may bring them to their ears."

"Can we not rise up now and fall upon Chaka?" asked Dingaan.

"It is not possible," I said; "the king is guarded."

"Hast thou no plan, Mopo?" groaned Umhlangana. "Methinks thou hast a
plan to save us."

"And if I have a plan, ye Princes, what shall be my reward? It must be
great, for I am weary of life, and I will not use my wisdom for a little
thing."

Now both the princes offered me good things, each of them promising more
than the other, as two young men who are rivals promise to the father
of a girl whom both would wed. I listened, saying always that it was not
enough, till in the end both of them swore by their heads, and by the
bones of Senzangacona, their father, and by many other things, that I
should be the first man in the land, after them, its kings, and should
command the impis of the land, if I would but show them a way to kill
Chaka and become kings. Then, when they had done swearing, I spoke,
weighing my words:--

"In the great kraal beyond the river, O ye Princes, there sit, not one
regiment but two. One is named the Slayers and loves Chaka the king, who
has done well by them, giving them cattle and wives. The other is named
the Bees, and that regiment is hungry and longs for cattle and girls;
moreover, of that regiment the Prince Umhlangana is the general, and
it loves him. Now this is my plan--to summon the Bees in the name
of Umhlangana, not the Slayers in the name of Chaka. Bend forward, O
Princes, that I may whisper in your ears."

So they bent forward, and I whispered awhile of the death of a king, and
the sons of Senzangacona nodded their heads as one man in answer. Then I
rose up, and crept from the hut as I had entered it, and rousing certain
trusty messengers, I dispatched them, running swiftly through the night.

CHAPTER XXI. THE DEATH OF CHAKA

Now, on the morrow, two hours before midday, Chaka came from the
hut where he had sat through the n