the only one to know of this
place?"

"The only one--he and the slave who brought you hither. What of them?"
And her tone became quick and anxious.

"The slave, or what is left of him, lies above our heads. He got no
further than the entrance hither when last I passed out through it. For
Tauane, he is as the ashes of last season's burnt grass."

And then I told her all about the end of the prisoners, how the chief
would have sold the secret of her hiding-place to save his own life, and
how I had so misinterpreted his words as to prevent him from doing so.
Lalusini's eyes beamed with delight.

"Ha! You deserve to be an _induna_," she said, "and a great one. The
big, brave, strong fighting-man is frequently a fool in matters
requiring head. But you, Untuswa, are no part of a fool. You have both
the head and the strength. Lalusini--Baqulusini!" she repeated.
"_Whau_! that was crafty indeed. But the King, did he have no
suspicion?"

"He showed none," I answered, in just the shadow of a cloud. "Yet how
will I finally bring you in among ourselves? The name will bring back
the King's recollections."

"Perhaps I will never go back among yourselves," she answered. "There
is a people into whose midst I will one day return, and there I shall be
great indeed, and you through me. Come now, Untuswa--let us return to
that people together."

"_Hau_!" I cried, with a very dissatisfied shake of the head. "That
which is distant is ever that which is uncertain." For this proposition
startled me. It reminded me too much of past foolishness. Once before
I had sacrificed my chances as a warrior, had deserted my people, and
had thrown away my life with both hands, all for the sake of a girl, and
had found the position so little to my liking that I had willingly
exchanged it for certain death. I had not found the death I expected,
but life and great honour; yet that was a marvel, and such marvels do
not occur twice within the experience of any one man. Now, I desired
Lalusini greatly, but I desired her as a favourite wife of the King's
_induna_--not as the mate of a disgraced runaway. Wherefore her
proposal found but little favour in my eyes; and, indeed, I thought she
had made it only to try me.

Then we talked of other things, of Tauane and the nation we had
destroyed; but of her powers as a sorceress she would tell me nothing,
or how she had come among that people. And I sat and listened to her
talk, for I w