Black Heart and White Heart | Page 5

and pointed
towards the sea, while from his expressive gestures and sorrowful mien,
he seemed to be prophesying disaster should a certain course of action
be followed.
For a while the king listened to him, then he sprang from his seat, his
eyes literally ablaze with rage.
"Hearken," he cried to the counsellor; "I have guessed it for long, and
now I am sure of it. You are a traitor. You are Sompseu's[*] dog, and
the dog of the Natal Government, and I will not keep another man's dog

to bite me in my own house. Take him away!"
[*] Sir Theophilus Shepstone's.
A slight involuntary murmur rose from the ring of /indunas/, but the old
man never flinched, not even when the soldiers, who presently would
murder him, came and seized him roughly. For a few seconds, perhaps
five, he covered his face with the corner of the kaross he wore, then he
looked up and spoke to the king in a clear voice.
"O King," he said, "I am a very old man; as a youth I served under
Chaka the Lion, and I heard his dying prophecy of the coming of the
white man. Then the white men came, and I fought for Dingaan at the
battle of the Blood River. They slew Dingaan, and for many years I was
the counsellor of Panda, your father. I stood by you, O King, at the
battle of the Tugela, when its grey waters were turned to red with the
blood of Umbulazi your brother, and of the tens of thousands of his
people. Afterwards I became your counsellor, O King, and I was with
you when Sompseu set the crown upon your head and you made
promises to Sompseu--promises that you have not kept. Now you are
weary of me, and it is well; for I am very old, and doubtless my talk is
foolish, as it chances to the old. Yet I think that the prophecy of Chaka,
your great-uncle, will come true, and that the white men will prevail
against you and that through them you shall find your death. I would
that I might have stood in one more battle and fought for you, O King,
since fight you will, but the end which you choose is for me the best
end. Sleep in peace, O King, and farewell. /Bayéte!/"[*]
[*] The royal salute of the Zulus.
For a space there was silence, a silence of expectation while men
waited to hear the tyrant reverse his judgment. But it did not please him
to be merciful, or the needs of policy outweighed his pity.
"Take him away," he repeated. Then, with a slow smile on his face and
one word, "Good-night," upon his lips, supported by the arm of a
soldier, the old warrior and statesman shuffled forth to the place of
death.

Hadden watched and listened in amazement not unmixed with fear. "If
he treats his own servants like this, what will happen to me?" he
reflected. "We English must have fallen out of favour since I left Natal.
I wonder whether he means to make war on us or what? If so, this isn't
my place."
Just then the king, who had been gazing moodily at the ground,
chanced to look up. "Bring the stranger here," he said.
Hadden heard him, and coming forward offered Cetywayo his hand in
as cool and nonchalant a manner as he could command.
Somewhat to his surprise it was accepted. "At least, White Man," said
the king, glancing at his visitor's tall spare form and cleanly cut face,
"you are no '/umfagozan/' (low fellow); you are of the blood of chiefs."
"Yes, King," answered Hadden, with a little sigh, "I am of the blood of
chiefs."
"What do you want in my country, White Man?"
"Very little, King. I have been trading here, as I daresay you have heard,
and have sold all my goods. Now I ask your leave to hunt buffalo, and
other big game, for a while before I return to Natal."
"I cannot grant it," answered Cetywayo, "you are a spy sent by
Sompseu, or by the Queen's Induna in Natal. Get you gone."
"Indeed," said Hadden, with a shrug of his shoulders; "then I hope that
Sompseu, or the Queen's Induna, or both of them, will pay me when I
return to my own country. Meanwhile I will obey you because I must,
but I should first like to make you a present."
"What present?" asked the king. "I want no presents. We are rich here,
White Man."
"So be it, King. It was nothing worthy of your taking, only a rifle."
"A rifle, White Man? Where is it?"

"Without. I would have brought it, but your servants told me that it is
death to