He sniffed at the air as a dog does, and as he sniffed drew ever nearer
to Nandie, till at last he laughed and pointed to her.
"Your child, Princess, whose name I do not know. Your firstborn child,
whom you loved more than your own heart."
She rose.
"Yes, yes, Nyanga," she cried. "I am the Princess Nandie, and he was my
child, whom I loved more than my own heart."
"Haha!" said Zikali. "Dust, you did not lie to me. My Spirit, you did
not lie to me. But now, tell me, Dust--and tell me, my Spirit--who
killed this child?"
He began to waddle round the circle, an extraordinary sight, covered
as he was with grey grime, varied with streaks of black skin where the
perspiration had washed the dust away.
Presently he came opposite to me, and, to my dismay, paused, sniffing at
me as he had at Nandie.
"Ah! ah! O Macumazana," he said, "you have something to do with this
matter," a saying at which all that audience pricked their ears.
Then I rose up in wrath and fear, knowing my position to be one of some
danger.
"Wizard, or Smeller-out of Wizards, whichever you name yourself," I
called in a loud voice, "if you mean that I killed Nandie's child, you
lie!"
"No, no, Macumazahn," he answered, "but you tried to save it, and
therefore you had something to do with the matter, had you not?
Moreover, I think that you, who are wise like me, know who did kill it.
Won't you tell me, Macumazahn? No? Then I must find out for myself. Be
at peace. Does not all the land know that your hands are white as your
heart?"
Then, to my great relief, he passed on, amidst a murmur of approbation,
for, as I have said, the Zulus liked me. Round and round he wandered,
to my surprise passing both Mameena and Masapo without taking any
particular note of them, although he scanned them both, and I thought
that I saw a swift glance of recognition pass between him and Mameena.
It was curious to watch his progress, for as he went those in front of
him swayed in their terror like corn before a puff of wind, and when he
had passed they straightened themselves as the corn does when the wind
has gone by.
At length he had finished his journey and returned to his
starting-point, to all appearance completely puzzled.
"You keep so many wizards at your kraal, King," he said, addressing
Panda, "that it is hard to say which of them wrought this deed. It would
have been easier to tell you of greater matters. Yet I have taken your
fee, and I must earn it--I must earn it. Dust, you are dumb. Now, my
Idhlozi, my Spirit, do you speak?" and, holding his head sideways,
he turned his left ear up towards the sky, then said presently, in a
curious, matter-of-fact voice: "Ah! I thank you, Spirit. Well, King, your grandchild was killed by the
House of Masapo, your enemy, chief of the Amasomi."