how
I came to be married, seeing that Chaka forbade marriage to all his
soldiers till they were in middle life and had put the man's ring upon
their heads. It was a boon he granted me as inyanga of medicine, saying
it was well that a doctor should know the sicknesses of women and
learn how to cure their evil tempers. As though, my father, that were
possible!

When the king heard that Baleka was sick he did not kill her outright,
because he loved her a little, but he sent for me, commanding me to
attend her, and when the child was born to cause its body to be brought
to him, according to custom, so that he might be sure that it was dead.
I bent to the earth before him, and went to do his bidding with a heavy
heart, for was not Baleka my sister? and would not her child be of my
own blood? Still, it must be so, for Chaka's whisper was as the shout of
other kings, and, if we dared to disobey, then our lives and the lives
of all in our kraals would answer for it. Better that an infant should
die than that we should become food for jackals. Presently I came to the
Emposeni, the place of the king's wives, and declared the king's word to
the soldiers on guard. They lowered their assegais and let me pass, and
I entered the hut of Baleka. In it were others of the king's wives, but
when they saw me they rose and went away, for it was not lawful that
they should stay where I was. Thus I was left alone with my sister.

For awhile she lay silent, and I did not speak, though I saw by the
heaving of her breast that she was weeping.

"Hush, little one!" I said at length; "your sorrow will soon be done."

"Nay," she answered, lifting her head, "it will be but begun. Oh, cruel
man! I know the reason of your coming. You come to murder the babe that
shall be born of me."

"It is the king's word, woman."

"It is the king's word, and what is the king's word? Have I, then,
naught to say in this matter?"

"It is the king's child, woman."

"It is the king's child, and it is not also my child? Must my babe be
dragged from my breast and be strangled, and by you, Mopo? Have I
not loved you, Mopo? Did I not flee with you from our people and the
vengeance of our father? Do you know that not two moons gone the king
was wroth with you because he fell sick, and would have caused you to
be slain had I not pleaded for you and called his oath to mind? And thus
you pay me: you come to kill my child, my first-born child!"

"It is the king's word,