nd
now, her vision ended, it; was not within her power to reply to the
King's question.

"Get thee gone now, and rest, my sister, for I perceive that thy powers
are great," said Umzilikazi with a wave of the hand. And at the signal,
some of the women who hung upon the outskirts of the crowd, came forward
to lead the stranger to a large new hut which had been prepared for her
reception.

When the assembly of the people had dispersed, the King and I still
lingered talking over these matters.

"Is it for good or for ill she has come among us, Untuswa?" he said.

"For good, Great Great One."

"Ha! So thou ever sayest. Yet her prophecy as regarded the little one
was strange."

"Strange it was, Black Elephant, but it was not lightly spoken."

"She is a greater magician than this white man, for no such saying,
light or dark, did he ever utter concerning us."

"That is true, Father. Yet he is a good man."

"And the sayings of that witch who was thy chief wife, Untuswa. They,
too, were strange."

"_Whau_! They were the ravings of a jealous and evil-tongued woman,
Calf of a Black Bull. But now I am without a chief wife, give me, I
pray thee, this sorceress, Father, for there is that about her which I
love, O Stabber of the Sun."

"So, so!" said Umzilikazi, laughing softly, and there was a look on his
face which brought back the days when I, being a boy, desired leave to
_tunga_. "So, so, Untuswa? She would make a noble substitute for thy
dead witch? Ha! Yet be content, thou holder of the royal spear and the
royal shield."

There was that in the words--in the look--as the King dismissed me which
left an uncomfortable load upon my mind; and, indeed, I felt as though I
had acted like a fool.

Now, as I returned to the huts I occupied when at Kwa'zingwenya upon the
King's business, my two younger wives came about me with words of love
and thankfulness, because my voice had been raised on their behalf when
they were adjudged to die the death which had overtaken Nangeza. Yet
for these I had no ears and but little patience, for my mind was filled
with the Bakoni sorceress. Moreover, I now foresaw strife between these
two; for, Nangeza being gone, these would not rest until one or other of
them had taken her place, nor would they suffer me to rest--for so it is
with women: each must always be the greater. So I answered them but
shortly, bidding them gather up their possessions and start back at once
to my