of the Makolo, stand forward and listen to your doom.
Out of your own mouths have ye been convicted of conspiracy against me
and the peace of the nation. You, Sekosini, Mapela, N'Ampata, and
Amakosa, yesterday boldly and defiantly acknowledged your guilt, and had
nothing to plead in extenuation of it; but you, Sekukuni, in addition to
being a conspirator, have proved yourself liar [and] coward; for at your
public trial, in the presence of those now assembled, you declared
yourself to be, like Ingona, Lambati, and Moroosi, the victim of
Sekosini's wiles and serpent tongue; whereas afterward, when you were
brought before me privately, and compelled by the Healer's magic to
speak the truth, you acknowledged that your former statement was false,
made only in the hope of mitigation of your punishment, and that in your
foul, guilty heart you thought as Sekosini, and would have fought
against me to your last man in the attempt to overthrow and destroy me.
To satisfy your unlawful ambition and greed of gain, you five men, all
holding positions of high authority and trust, would have set callously
tribe against tribe, regiment against regiment, and man against man,
until the people had fallen and strewed the ground like leaves of autumn
and the land was drenched in their blood. It is enough; you are a
menace and danger to the nation, and you must die. In the old days of
the reign of M'Bongwele--those days which you were so anxious to
restore--your dying would have been a lingering, long-drawn-out,
excruciating torment; but under the teaching of those who put me on this
throne I have learned to be merciful, and my sentence is that you be led
forth and hanged by the neck from the bough of the tree that ended
M'Bongwele's cruel and iniquitous life, and there left as an example and
a warning to all who think such evil thoughts as yours. Bind them and
take them away."

In an instant the guards who had charge of the doomed men seized them,
and proceeded to bind their hands behind them with thongs of hide, prior
to leading them away to the place of execution. With one exception they
submitted silently and without protest; Sekosini, however, the Witch
Doctor, seemed determined not to go without firing a Parthian shot, for,
fixing his eyes on Dick, he shouted in a high, piercing voice:

"Listen, O _'mlungu_! It is through you and your accursed magic that I
go forth this day to die the death of shame and ignominy; for, but for
you