ed light
of the sunset playing on him. He greeted me and pointed to another stool
on which I sat myself down. Apparently he had been watching my eyes, for
he said,

"I see that like other creatures which move at night, such as leopards
and hyenas, you take note of all, O Watcher-by-Night, even of the
soldier who guards this place and of where the fence is set and of how
its gate is fashioned."

"Had I not done so I should have been dead long ago, O Chief."

"Yes, and because it is not my nature to do so as I should, perchance
I shall soon be dead. It is not enough to be fierce and foremost in the
battle, Macumazahn. He who would sleep safe and of whom, when he dies,
folk will say 'He has eaten' (i.e., he has lived out his life), must do
more than this. He must guard his tongue and even his thoughts! he must
listen to the stirring of rats in the thatch and look for snakes in
the grass; he must trust few, and least of all those who sleep upon his
bosom. But those who have the Lion's blood in them or who are prone to
charge like a buffalo, often neglect these matters and therefore in the
end they fall into a pit."

"Yes," I answered, "especially those who have the lion's blood in them,
whether that lion be man or beast."

This I said because of the rumours I had heard that this Slaughterer was
in truth the son of Chaka. Therefore not knowing whether or no he were
playing on the word "lion," which was Chaka's title, I wished to draw
him, especially as I saw in his face a great likeness to Chaka's brother
Dingaan, whom, it was whispered, this same Umslopogaas had slain. As it
happened I failed, for after a pause he said,

"Why do you come to visit me, Macumazahn, who have never done so
before?"

"I do not come to visit you, Umslopogaas. That was not my intention. You
brought me, or rather the flooded rivers and you together brought me,
for I was on my way to Natal and could not cross the drifts."

"Yet I think you have a message for me, White Man, for not long ago a
certain wandering witch-doctor who came here told me to expect you and
that you had words to say to me."

"Did he, Umslopogaas? Well, it is true that I have a message, though it
is one that I did not mean to deliver."

"Yet being here, perchance you will deliver it, Macumazahn, for those
who have messages and will not speak them, sometimes come to trouble."

"Yes, being here, I will deliver it, seeing that so it seems to be
fated. Tell me, do you ch