e.

"No, Baas; Umbelazi and some soldiers were with her, but they did
not hear her words, for she stepped aside to speak with me. Then she
returned to them, and they walked away swiftly, and were swallowed up in
the night."

"Very good, Sikauli," I said. "Make me some coffee, and make it strong."

I dressed and drank several cups of the coffee, all the while "thinking
with my head," as the Zulus say. Then I walked up to the kraal to see
Umbezi, whom I found just coming out of his hut, yawning.

"Why do you look so black upon this beautiful morning, Macumazahn?"
asked the genial old scamp. "Have you lost your best cow, or what?"

"No, my friend," I answered; "but you and another have lost your best
cow." And word for word I repeated to him Mameena's message. When I had
finished really I thought that Umbezi was about to faint.

"Curses be on the head of this Mameena!" he exclaimed. "Surely some evil
spirit must have been her father, not I, and well was she called Child
of Storm.[*] What shall I do now, Macumazahn? Thanks be to my Spirit,"
he added, with an air of relief, "she is too far gone for me to try to
catch her; also, if I did, Umbelazi and his soldiers would kill me."

[*--That, if I have not said so already, was the meaning
which the Zulus gave to the word "Mameena", although as I
know the language I cannot get any such interpretation out
of the name, I believe that it was given to her, however,
because she was born just before a terrible tempest, when
the wind wailing round the hut made a sound like the word
"Ma-mee-na". --A. Q.]

"And what will Saduko do if you don't?" I asked.

"Oh, of course he will be angry, for no doubt he is fond of her. But,
after all, I am used to that. You remember how he went mad when she
married Masapo. At least, he cannot say that I made her run away with
Umbelazi. After all, it is a matter which they must settle between
them."

"I think it may mean great trouble," I said, "at a time when trouble is
not needed."

"Oh, why so, Macumazahn? My daughter did not get on with the Princess
Nandie--we could all see that--for they would scarcely speak to each
other. And if Saduko is fond of her--well, after all, there are other
beautiful women in Zululand. I know one or two of them myself whom I
will mention to Saduko--or rather to Nandie. Really, as things were, I
am not sure but that he is well rid of her."

"But what do you think of the matt