should sit to hear the counsel of his indunas, and give judgment on

those whom he would kill, and to-day I had chosen this place. Chaka
went alone from his hut to the kraal, and, for my own reasons, I

accompanied him, walking after him. As we went the king glanced back
at me over his shoulder, and said in a low voice:--

"Is all prepared, Mopo?"
"All is prepared, Black One," I answered. "The regiment of the Slayers

will be here by noon."
"Where are the princes, Mopo?" asked the king again.

"The princes sit with their wives in the houses of their women, O
King," I answered; "they drink beer and sleep in the laps of their

wives."
Chaka smiled grimly, "For the last time, Mopo!"

"For the last time, O King."
We came to the kraal, and Chaka sat down in the shade of the reed

fence, upon an ox-hide that was brayed soft. Near to him stood a girl
holding a gourd of beer; there were also present the old chief

Inguazonca, brother of Unandi, Mother of the Heavens, and the chief
Umxamama, whom Chaka loved. When we had sat a little while in the

kraal, certain men came in bearing cranes' feathers, which the king
had sent them to gather a month's journey from the kraal Duguza, and

they were admitted before the king. These men had been away long upon
their errand, and Chaka was angry with them. Now the leader of the men

was an old captain of Chaka's, who had fought under him in many
battles, but whose service was done, because his right hand had been

shorn away by the blow of an axe. He was a great man and very brave.
Chaka asked the man why he had been so long in finding the feathers,

and he answered that the birds had flown from that part of the country
whither he was sent, and he must wait there till they returned, that

he might snare them.
"Thou shouldst have followed the cranes, yes, if they flew through the

sunset, thou disobedient dog!" said the king. "Let him be taken away,
and all those who were with him."

Now some of the men prayed a little for mercy, but the captain did but
salute the king, calling him "Father," and craving a boon before he

died.
"What wouldst thou?" asked Chaka.

"My father," said the man, "I would ask thee two things. I have fought
many times at thy side in battle while we both were young; nor did I

ever turn my back upon the foe. The blow that shore the hand from off
this arm was aimed at thy head, O King; I stayed it with my naked arm.

It is nothing; at thy will I live, and at thy will I die. Who am I
that I should question the word of the king? Yet I would ask this,

that thou wilt withdraw the kaross from about thee, O King, that for
the last time my eyes may feast themselves upon the body of him whom,

above all men, I love."
"Thou art long-winded," said the king, "what more?"

"This, my father, that I may bid farewell to my son; he is a little
child, so high, O King," and he held his hand above his knee.

"Thy first boon is granted," said the king, slipping the kaross from
his shoulders and showing the great breast beneath. "For the second it

shall be granted also, for I will not willingly divide the father and
the son. Bring the boy here; thou shalt bid him farewell, then thou

shalt slay him with thine own hand ere thou thyself art slain; it will
be good sport to see."

Now the man turned grey beneath the blackness of his skin, and
trembled a little as he murmured, "The king's will is the will of his

servant; let the child be brought."
But I looked at Chaka and saw that the tears were running down his

face, and that he only spoke thus to try the captain who loved him to
the last.

"Let the man go," said the king, "him and those with him."
So they went glad at heart, and praising the king.

I have told you this, my father, though it has not to do with my
story, because then, and then only, did I ever see Chaka show mercy to

one whom he had doomed to die.
As the captain and his people left the gate of the kraal, it was

spoken in the ear of the king that a man sought audience with him. He
was admitted crawling on his knees. I looked and saw that this was

that Masilo whom Chaka had charged with a message to him who was named
Bulalio, or the Slaughterer, and who ruled over the People of the Axe.

It was Masilo indeed, but he was no longer fat, for much travel had
made him thin; moreover, on his back were the marks of rods, as yet

scarcely healed over.
"Who art thou?" said Chaka.

"I am Masilo, of the People of the Axe, to whom command was given to
run with a message to Bulalio the Slaughterer, their chief, and to

return on the thirtieth day. Behold, O King, I have returned, though
in a sorry plight!"

"It seems so!" said the king, laughing aloud. "I remember now: speak
on, Masilo the Thin, who wast Masilo the Fat; what of this

Slaughterer? Does he come with his people to lay the axe Groan-Maker
in my hands?"

"Nay, O King, he comes not. He met me with scorn, and with scorn he
drove me from his kraal. Moreover, as I went I was seized by the

servants of Zinita, she whom I wooed, but who is now the wife of the
Slaughterer, and laid on my face upon the ground and beaten cruelly

while Zinita numbered the strokes."
"Hah!" said the king. "And what were the words of this puppy?"

"These were his words, O King: 'Bulalio the Slaughterer, who sits
beneath the shadow of the Witch Mountain, to Bulalio the Slaughterer

who sits in the kraal Duguza--To thee I pay no tribute; if thou
wouldst have the axe Groan-Maker, come to the Ghost Mountain and take

it. This I promise thee: thou shalt look on a face thou knowest, for
there is one there who would be avenged for the blood of a certain

Mopo.'"
Now, while Masilo told this tale I had seen two things--first, that a

little piece of stick was thrust through the straw of the fence, and,
secondly, that the regiment of the Bees was swarming on the slope

opposite to the kraal in obedience to the summons I had sent them in
the name of Umhlangana. The stick told me that the princes were hidden

behind the fence waiting the signal, and the coming of the regiment
that it was time to do the deed.

When Masilo had spoken Chaka sprang up in fury. His eyes rolled, his
face worked, foam flew from his lips, for such words as these had

never offended his ears since he was king, and Masilo knew him little,
else he had not dared to utter them.

For a while he gasped, shaking his small spear, for at first he could
not speak. At length he found words:--

"The dog," he hissed, "the dog who dares thus to spit in my face!
Hearken all! As with my last breath I command that this Slaughterer be

torn limb from limb, he and all his tribe! And thou, thou darest to
bring me this talk from a skunk of the mountains. And thou, too, Mopo,

thy name is named in it. Well, of thee presently. Ho! Umxamama, my
servant, slay me this slave of a messenger, beat out his brains with

thy stick. Swift! swift!"
Now, the old chief Umxamama sprang up to do the king's bidding, but he

was feeble with age, and the end of it was that Masilo, being mad with
fear, killed Umxamama, not Umxamama Masilo. Then Inguazonca, brother

of Unandi, Mother of the Heavens, fell upon Masilo and ended him, but
was hurt himself in so doing. Now I looked at Chaka, who stood shaking

the little red spear, and thought swiftly, for the hour had come.
"Help!" I cried, "one is slaying the King!"

As I spoke the reed fence burst asunder, and through it plunged the
princes Umhlangana and Dingaan, as bulls plunge through a brake.

Then I pointed to Chaka with my withered hand, saying, "Behold your
king!"

Now, from beneath the shelter of his kaross, each Prince drew out a
short stabbing spear, and plunged it into the body of Chaka the king.

Umhlangana smote him on the left shoulder, Dingaan struck him in the
right side. Chaka dropped the little spear handled with the red wood

and looked round, and so royally that the princes, his brothers, grew
afraid and shrank away from him.

Twice he looked on each; then he spoke, saying: "What! do you slay me,
my brothers--dogs of mine own house, whom I have fed? Do you slay me,

thinking to possess the land and to rule it? I tell you it shall not
be for long. I hear a sound of running feet--the feet of a great white

people. They shall stamp you flat, children of my father! They shall
rule the land that I have won, and you and your people shall be their

slaves!"
Thus Chaka spoke while the blood ran down him to the ground, and again

he looked on them royally, like a buck at gaze.
"Make an end, O ye who would be kings!" I cried; but their hearts had

turned to water and they could not. Then I, Mopo, sprang forward and
picked from the ground that little assegai handled with the royal wood

--the same assegai with which Chaka had murdered Unandi, his mother,
and Moosa, my son, and lifted it on high, and while I lifted it, my

father, once more, as when I was young, a red veil seemed to wave
before my eyes.

"Wherefore wouldst thou kill me, Mopo?" said the king.
"For the sake of Baleka, my sister, to whom I swore the deed, and of

all my kin," I cried, and plunged the spear through him. He sank down
upon the tanned ox-hide, and lay there dying. Once more he spoke, and

once only, saying: "Would now that I had hearkened to the voice of
Nobela, who warned me against thee, thou dog!"

Then he was silent for ever. But I knelt over him and called in his
ear the names of all those of my blood who had died at his hands--the

names of Makedama, my father, of my mother, of Anadi my wife, of Moosa
my son, and all my other wives and children, and of Baleka my sister.

His eyes and ears were open, and I think, my father, that he saw and
understood; I think also that the hate upon my face as I shook my

withered hand before him was more fearful to him that the pain of
death. At the least, he turned his head aside, shut his eyes, and

groaned. Presently they opened again, and he was dead.
Thus then, my father, did Chaka the King, the greatest man who has

ever lived in Zululand, and the most evil, pass by my hand to those
kraals of the Inkosazana where no sleep is. In blood he died as he had

lived in blood, for the climber at last falls with the tree, and in
the end the swimmer is borne away by the stream. Now he trod that path

which had been beaten flat for him by the feet of people whom he had
slaughtered, many as the blades of grass upon a mountain-side; but it

is a lie to say, as some do, that he died a coward, praying for mercy.
Chaka died, as he had lived, a brave man. Ou! my father, I know it,

for these eyes saw it and this hand let out his life.
Now he was dead and the regiment of the Bees drew near, nor could I

know how they would take this matter, for, though the Prince
Umhlangana was their general, yet all the soldiers loved the king,

because he had no equal in battle, and when he gave he gave with an
open hand. I looked round; the princes stood like men amazed; the girl

had fled; the chief Umxamama was dead at the hands of dead Masilo; and
the old chief Inguazonca, who had killed Masilo, stood by, hurt and

wondering; there were no others in the kraal.
"Awake, ye kings," I cried to the brothers, "the impi is at the gates!

Swift, now stab that man!"--and I pointed to the old chief--"and leave
the matter to my wit."

Then Dingaan roused himself, and springing upon Inguazonca, the
brother of Unandi, smote him a great blow with his spear, so that he

sank down dead without a word. Then again the princes stood silent and
amazed.

"This one will tell no tales," I cried, pointing at the fallen chief.
Now a rumour of the slaying had got abroad among the women, who had

heard cries and seen the flashing of spears above the fence, and from
the women it had come to the regiment of the Bees, who advanced to the

gates of the kraal singing. Then of a sudden they ceased their singing
and rushed towards the hut in front of which we stood.

Then I ran to meet them, uttering cries of woe, holding in my hand the
little assegai of the king red with the king's blood, and spoke with

the captain's in the gate, saying:--
"Lament, ye captains and ye soldiers, weep and lament, for your father

is no more! He who nursed you is no more! The king is dead! now earth
and heaven will come together, for the king is dead!"

• counsel [´kaunsəl] n.商议；劝告；律师 (初中英语单词)
• regiment [´redʒimənt] n.团；一大群 (初中英语单词)
• errand [´erənd] n.差使，使命 (初中英语单词)
• withdraw [wið´drɔ:] v.收回；撤销；撤退 (初中英语单词)
• farewell [feə´wel] int.再见 n.&a.告别 (初中英语单词)
• running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
• audience [´ɔ:diəns] n.听众；观众；接见 (初中英语单词)
• moreover [mɔ:´rəuvə] ad.再者，此外，而且 (初中英语单词)
• beaten [´bi:tn] beat 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• tribute [´tribju:t] n.贡物；献礼；颂词 (初中英语单词)
• thrust [θrʌst] v.&n.猛推；冲；刺；挤进 (初中英语单词)
• waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
• spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• sprang [spræŋ] spring 的过去式 (初中英语单词)
• breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
• presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
• messenger [´mesindʒə] n.使者；送信人 (初中英语单词)
• feeble [´fi:bəl] a.虚弱的，无力的 (初中英语单词)
• swiftly [´swiftli] ad.迅速地，敏捷地 (初中英语单词)
• plunge [plʌndʒ] v.插进 n.投入；冲击 (初中英语单词)
• pointed [´pɔintid] a.尖(锐)的；中肯的 (初中英语单词)
• prince [´prins] n.王子；亲王；君主 (初中英语单词)
• fearful [´fiəfəl] a.可怕的；担心的 (初中英语单词)
• swimmer [´swimə] n.游泳者 (初中英语单词)
• stream [stri:m] n.河 vi.流出；飘扬 (初中英语单词)
• coward [´kauəd] n.胆怯者 a.胆小的 (初中英语单词)
• abroad [ə´brɔ:d] ad.海外；到处；广泛 (初中英语单词)
• advanced [əd´vɑ:nst] a.先进的；高级的 (初中英语单词)
• grimly [´grimli] ad.严厉地；坚强地 (高中英语单词)
• bearing [´beəriŋ] n.举止；忍耐；关系 (高中英语单词)
• finding [´faindiŋ] n.发现物；判断；结果 (高中英语单词)
• obedience [ə´bi:djəns] n.服从；顺从 (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• lament [lə´ment] v.哀悼 n.哀悼；恸哭 (高中英语单词)
• willingly [´wiliŋli] ad.情愿地，乐意地 (英语四级单词)
• blackness [´blæknis] n.黑色；阴险 (英语四级单词)
• asunder [ə´sʌndə] a.分开地；零散地 (英语四级单词)
• calling [´kɔ:liŋ] n.点名；职业；欲望 (英语六级单词)
• craving [´kreiviŋ] n.渴望，热望 (英语六级单词)
• shrank [ʃræŋk] shrink的过去式 (英语六级单词)
• holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)