a present of her to me, Macumazahn?"

I answered, "No; she is not mine to give away."

"Well, then, Macumazahn, I will pay you a hundred head of cattle for
her, which is the price of a royal wife, and give you ten of the fairest
girls in Zululand in exchange."

I answered that it could not be.

Now the king began to grow angry.

"I will keep her, whether you wish it or no," he said.

"Then you will keep her dead, O Dingaan," I replied, "for there is more
of that magic which slew the vultures."

Of course, I meant that Marie would be dead. But as my knowledge of the
Zulu tongue was imperfect, he understood the words to mean that _he_
would be dead, and I think they frightened him. At any rate, he said:

"Well, I promised you all safe-conduct if you won your bet, so hamba
gachle (go in peace). I wish to have no quarrel with the white folk,
but, Macumazahn, you are the first of them who has refused a gift to
Dingaan. Still, I bear you no grudge, and if you choose to come back
again, you will be welcome, for I perceive that, although so small, you
are very clever and have a will of your own; also that you mean what you
say and speak the truth. Tell the People of George that my heart is soft
towards them." Then he turned and walked away through the gates of the
kraal.

Glad enough was I to see the last of him, for now I knew that we were
safe, except from such accidents as may overtake any travellers through
a wild country. For the present, at any rate until after he had seen
this embassy, Dingaan wished to stand well with the Boers. Therefore it
was obvious that he would never make an irreparable quarrel with them
by treacherously putting us to death as we trekked through his country.
Being sure of this, we went on our way with light hearts, thanking
Heaven for the mercies which had been shown to us.

It was on the third day of our trek, when we were drawing near to the
Tugela, that we met the Boer embassy, off-saddled by a little stream
where we proposed to outspan to rest the oxen while we ate our midday
meal. They were sleeping in the heat of the day and saw nothing of us
till we were right on to them, when, catching sight of our Zulu advance
guard, they sprang up and ran for their rifles. Then the wagons emerged
from the bush, and they stared astonished, wondering who could be
trekking in that country.

We called to them in Dutch not to be afraid and in another minute we
were among them. While we were yet s