Witch who sits aloft forever stared down on us from the mountain top.
At length, an hour before sundown, we came to the open lands, and

there, on the crest of a rise beyond the river, we saw the kraal of
the People of the Axe. It was a great kraal and well built, and their

cattle were spread about the plains like to herds of game for number.
We went to the river and passed it by the ford, then sat down and

waited, till presently I saw the man whom I had sent forward returning
towards us. He came and saluted me, and I asked him for news.

"This is my news, Mopo," he said: "I have seen him who is named
Bulalio, and he is a great man--long and lean, with a fierce face, and

carrying a mighty axe, such an axe as he bore last night who hunted
with the wolves. When I had been led before the chief I saluted him

and spoke to him--the words you laid upon my tongue I told to him. He
listened, then laughed aloud, and said: 'Tell him who sent you that

the mouth of Dingaan shall be welcome, and shall speak the words of
Dingaan in peace; yet I would that it were the head of Dingaan that

came and not his mouth only, for then Axe Groan-Maker would join in
our talk--ay, because of one Mopo, whom his brother Chaka murdered, it

would also speak with Dingaan. Still, the mouth is not the head, so
the mouth may come in peace.'"

Now I started when for the second time I heard talk of one Mopo, whose
name had been on the lips of Bulalio the Slaughterer. Who was there

that would thus have loved Mopo except one who was long dead? And yet,
perhaps the chief spoke of some other Mopo, for the name was not my

own only--in truth, Chaka had killed a chief of that name at the great
mourning, because he said that two Mopos in the land were one too

many, and that though this Mopo wept sorely when the tears of others
were dry. So I said only that this Bulalio had a high stomach, and we

went on to the gates of the kraal.
There were none to meet us at the gates, and none stood by the doors

of the huts within them, but beyond, from the cattle kraal that was in
the centre of the huts, rose a dust and a din as of men gathering for

war. Now some of those were with me were afraid, and would have turned
back, fearing treachery, and they were yet more afraid when, on coming

to the inner entrance of the cattle kraal, we saw some five hundred
soldiers being mustered there company by company, by two great men,

who ran up and down the ranks shouting.
But I cried, "Nay! nay! Turn not back! Bold looks melt the hearts of

foes. Moreover, if this Bulalio would have murdered us, there was no
need for him to call up so many of his warriors. He is a proud chief,

and would show his might, not knowing that the king we serve can
muster a company for every man he has. Let us go on boldly."

So we walked forward towards the impi that was gathered on the further
side of the kraal. Now the two great men who were marshalling the

soldiers saw us, and came to meet us, one following the other. He who
came first bore the axe upon his shoulder, and he who followed swung a

huge club. I looked upon the foremost of them, and ah! my father, my
heart grew faint with joy, for I knew him across the years. It was

Umslopogaas! my fosterling, Umslopogaas! and none other, now grown
into manhood--ay, into such a man as was not to be found beside him in

Zululand. He was great and fierce, somewhat spare in frame, but wide
shouldered and shallow flanked. His arms were long and not over big,

but the muscles stood out on them like knots in a rope; his legs were
long also, and very thick beneath the knee. His eye was like an

eagle's, his nose somewhat hooked, and he held his head a little
forward, as a man who searches continually for a hidden foe. He seemed

to walk slowly, and yet he came swiftly, but with a gliding movement
like that of a wolf or a lion, and always his fingers played round the

horn handle of the axe Groan-Maker. As for him who followed, he was
great also, shorter than Umslopogaas by the half of a head, but of a

sturdier build. His eyes were small, and twinkled unceasingly like
little stars, and his look was very wild, for now and again he

grinned, showing his white teeth.
When I saw Umslopogaas, my father, my bowels melted within me, and I

longed to run to him and throw myself upon his neck. Yet I took
council with myself and did not--nay, I dropped the corner of the

kaross I wrote over my eyes, hiding my face lest he should know me.
Presently he stood before me, searching me out with his keen eyes, for

I drew forward to greet him.
"Greeting, Mouth of Dingaan!" he said in a loud voice. "You are a

little man to be the mouth of so big a chief."
"The mouth is a little member, even of the body of a great king, O

Chief Bulalio, ruler of the People of the Axe, wizard of the wolves
that are upon the Ghost Mountain, who aforetime was named Umslopogaas,

son of Mopo, son of Makedama."
Now when Umslopogaas heard these words he started like a child at a

rustling in the dark and stared hard at me.
"You are well instructed," he said.

"The ears of the king are large, if his mouth be small, O Chief
Bulalio," I answered, "and I, who am but the mouth, speak what the

ears have heard."
"How know you that I have dwelt with the wolves upon the Ghost

Mountain, O Mouth?" he asked.
"The eyes of the king see far, O Chief Bulalio. Thus last night they

saw a great chase and a merry. It seems that they saw a koodoo bull
running at speed, and after him countless wolves making their music,

and with the wolves two men clad in wolves' skins, such men as you,
Bulalio, and he with the club who follows you."

Now Umslopogaas lifted the axe Groan-Maker as though he would cut me
down, then let it fall again, while Galazi the Wolf glared at me with

wide-opened eyes.
"How know you that once I was named Umslopogaas, who have lost that

name these many days? Speak, O Mouth, lest I kill you."
"Slay if you will, Umslopogaas," I answered, "but know that when the

brains are scattered the mouth is dumb. He who scatters brains loses
wisdom."

"Answer!" he said.
"I answer not. Who are you that I should answer you? I know; it is

enough. To my business."
Now Umslopogaas ground his teeth in anger. "I am not wont to be

thwarted here in my own kraal," he said; "but do your business. Speak
it, little Mouth."

"This is my business, little Chief. When the Black One who is gone yet
lived, you sent him a message by one Masilo--such a message as his

ears had never heard, and that had been your death, O fool puffed up
with pride, but death came first upon the Black One, and his hand was

stayed. Now Dingaan, whose shadow lies upon the land, the king whom I
serve, and who sits in the place of the Black One who is gone, speaks

to you by me, his mouth. He would know this: if it is true that you
refuse to own his sovereignty, to pay tribute to him in men and maids

and cattle, and to serve him in his wars? Answer, you little headman!
--answer in few words and short!"

Now Umslopogaas gasped for breath in his rage, and again he fingered
the great axe. "It is well for you, O Mouth," he said, "that I swore

safe conduct to you, else you had not gone hence--else you had been
served as I served certain soldiers who in bygone years were sent to

search out one Umslopogaas. Yet I answer you in few words and short.
Look on those spears--they are but a fourth part of the number I can

muster: that is my answer. Look now on yonder mountain, the mountain
of ghosts and wolves--unknown, impassable, save to me and one other:

that is my answer. Spears and mountains shall come together--the
mountain shall be alive with spears and with the fangs of beasts. Let

Dingaan seek his tribute there! I have spoken!"
Now I laughed shrilly, desiring to try the heart of Umslopogaas, my

fosterling, yet further.
"Fool!" I said. "Boy with the brain of a monkey, for every spear you

have Dingaan, whom I serve, can send a hundred, and your mountain
shall be stamped flat; and for your ghosts and wolves, see, with the

mouth of Dingaan I spit upon them!" and I spat upon the ground.
Now Umslopogaas shook in his rage, and the great axe glimmered as he

shook. He turned to the captain who was behind him, and said: "Say,
Galazi the Wolf, shall we kill this man and those with him?"

"Nay," answered the Wolf, grinning, "do not kill them; you have given
them safe conduct. Moreover, let them go back to their dog of a king,

that he may send out his puppies to do battle with our wolves. It will
be a pretty fight."

"Get you gone, O Mouth," said Umslopogaas; "get you gone swiftly, lest
mischief befall you! Without my gates you shall find food to satisfy

your hunger. Eat of it and begone, for if to-morrow at the noon you
are found within a spear's throw of this kraal, you and those with you

shall bide there forever, O Mouth of Dingaan the king!"
Now I made as though I would depart, then, turning suddenly, I spoke

once more, saying:--
"There were words in your message to the Black One who is dead of a

certain man--nay, how was he named?--of a certain Mopo."
Now Umslopogaas started as one starts who is wounded by a spear, and

stared at me.
"Mopo! What of Mopo, O Mouth, whose eyes are veiled? Mopo is dead,

whose son I was!"
"Ah!" I said, "yes, Mopo is dead--that is, the Black One who is gone

killed a certain Mopo. How came it, O Bulalio, that you were his son?"
"Mopo is dead," quoth Umslopogaas again; "he is dead with all his

house, his kraal is stamped flat, and that is why I hated the Black
One, and therefore I hate Dingaan, his brother, and will be as are

Mopo and the house of Mopo before I pay him tribute of a single ox."
All this while I had spoken to Umslopogaas in a feigned voice, my

father, but now I spoke again and in my own voice, saying:--
"So! Now you speak from your heart, young man, and by digging I have

reached the root of the matter. It is because of this dead dog of a
Mopo that you defy the king."

Umslopogaas heard the voice, and trembled no more with anger, but
rather with fear and wonder. He looked at me hard, answering nothing.

"Have you a hut near by, O Chief Bulalio, foe of Dingaan the king,
where I, the mouth of the king, may speak with you a while apart, for

I would learn your message word by word that I may deliver it without
fault. Fear not, Slaughterer, to sit alone with me in an empty hut! I

am unarmed and old, and there is that in your hand which I should
fear," and I pointed to the axe.

Now Umslopogaas, still shaking in his limbs, answered "Follow me, O
Mouth, and you, Galazi, stay with these men."

So I followed Umslopogaas, and presently we came to a large hut. He
pointed to the doorway, and I crept through it and he followed after

me. Now for a while it seemed dark in the hut, for the sun was sinking
without and the place was full of shadow; so I waited while a man

might count fifty, till our eyes could search the darkness. Then of a
sudden I threw the blanket from my face and looked into the yes of

Umslopogaas.
"Look on me now, O Chief Bulalio, O Slaughterer, who once was named

Umslopogaas--look on me and say who am I?" Then he looked at me and
his jaw fell.

"Either you are Mopo my father grown old--Mopo, who is dead, or the
Ghost of Mopo," he answered in a low voice.

"I am Mopo, your father, Umslopogaas," I said. "You have been long in
knowing me, who knew you from the first."

Then Umslopogaas cried aloud, but yet softly, and letting fall the axe
Groan-Maker, he flung himself upon my breast and wept there. And I

wept also.
"Oh! my father," he said, "I thought that you were dead with the

others, and now you have come back to me, and I, I would have lifted
the axe against you in my folly. Oh, it is well that I have lived, and

not died, since once more I look upon your face--the face that I
thought dead, but which yet lives, though it be sorely changed, as

though by grief and years."
"Peace, Umslopogaas, my son," I said. "I also deemed you dead in the

lion's mouth, though in truth it seemed strange to me that any other
man than Umslopogaas could have wrought the deeds which I have heard

of as done by Bulalio, Chief of the People of the Axe--ay, and thrown
defiance in the teeth of Chaka. But you are not dead, and I, I am not

dead. It was another Mopo whom Chaka killed; I slew Chaka, Chaka did
not slay me."

"And of Nada, what of Nada, my sister?" he said.

• presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
• fierce [fiəs] a.残忍的；强烈的 (初中英语单词)
• welcome [´welkəm] a.受欢迎的；可喜的 (初中英语单词)
• stomach [´stʌmək] n.胃；胃口，食欲 (初中英语单词)
• moreover [mɔ:´rəuvə] ad.再者，此外，而且 (初中英语单词)
• knowing [´nəuiŋ] a.会意的，心照不宣的 (初中英语单词)
• shallow [´ʃæləu] a.肤浅的；表面的 (初中英语单词)
• hooked [hukt] a.钩状的；上瘾的 (初中英语单词)
• hidden [´hid(ə)n] hide 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• swiftly [´swiftli] ad.迅速地，敏捷地 (初中英语单词)
• tribute [´tribju:t] n.贡物；献礼；颂词 (初中英语单词)
• breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
• monkey [´mʌŋki] n.猴子 v.乱弄；胡闹 (初中英语单词)
• hunger [´hʌŋgə] n.饥饿；渴望 (初中英语单词)
• therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
• spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• pointed [´pɔintid] a.尖(锐)的；中肯的 (初中英语单词)
• doorway [´dɔ:wei] n.门口 (初中英语单词)
• softly [´sɔftli] ad.软化地；柔和地 (初中英语单词)
• wrought [rɔ:t] work 的过去式(分词) (初中英语单词)
• mighty [´maiti] a.强有力的 ad.很 (高中英语单词)
• treachery [´tretʃəri] n.背叛；背信弃义 (高中英语单词)
• foremost [´fɔ:məust] a.最重要的；最先的 (高中英语单词)
• continually [kən´tinjuəli] ad.不断地，频繁地 (高中英语单词)
• countless [´kauntlis] a.无数的 (高中英语单词)
• befall [bi´fɔ:l] v.降临；发表(于) (高中英语单词)
• gathering [´gæðəriŋ] n.集会，聚集 (英语四级单词)
• wizard [´wizəd] n.术士；男巫 (英语四级单词)
• sovereignty [´sɔvrinti] n.主权；君权 (英语四级单词)
• sundown [´sʌndaun] n.日落 (英语六级单词)
• sorely [´sɔ:li] ad.痛苦地；剧烈地 (英语六级单词)
• shrilly [´ʃrili] ad.尖声地 (英语六级单词)