"I daresay," I exclaimed; "but, at any rate, she is done with, so what
is the use of talking about her?"
"Ah! Macumazahn, she is done with, or so you think, though that is a
strange saying for a white man who believes in much that we do not know;
but at least her work remains, and it has been a great work. Consider
now. Umbelazi and most of the princes, and thousands upon thousands
of the Zulus, whom I, the Dwande, hate, dead, dead! Mameena's work,
Macumazahn! Panda's hand grown strengthless with sorrow and his eyes
blind with tears. Mameena's work, Macumazahn! Cetewayo, king in all
but name; Cetewayo, who shall bring the House of Senzangakona to the
dust. Mameena's work, Macumazahn! Oh! a mighty work. Surely she has
lived a great and worthy life, and she died a great and worthy death!
And how well she did it! Had you eyes to see her take the poison which I
gave her--a good poison, was it not?--between her kisses, Macumazahn?"
"I believe it was your work, and not hers," I blurted out, ignoring
his mocking questions. "You pulled the strings; you were the wind that
caused the grass to bend till the fire caught it and set the town in
flames--the town of your foes."
"How clever you are, Macumazahn! If your wits grow so sharp, one day
they will cut your throat, as, indeed, they have nearly done several
times already. Yes, yes, I know how to pull strings till the trap falls,
and to blow grass until the flame catches it, and how to puff at that
flame until it burns the House of Kings. And yet this trap would have
fallen without me, only then it might have snared other rats; and this
grass would have caught fire if I had not blown, only then it might have
burnt another House. I did not make these forces, Macumazahn; I did but
guide them towards a great end, for which the White House [that is, the
English] should thank me one day." He brooded a while, then went on:
"But what need is there to talk to you of these matters, Macumazahn,
seeing that in a time to come you will have your share in them and see
them for yourself? After they are finished, then we will talk."
"I do not wish to talk of them," I answered. "I have said so already.
But for what other purpose did you take the trouble to come here?"
"Oh, to bid you farewell for a little while, Macumazahn. Also to tell
you that Panda, or rather Cetewayo, for now Panda is but his Voice,
since the Head must go where the Feet carry it, has spared Saduko at the
prayer of Nandie and banished him from the land, giving him his cattle
and any people who care to go with him to wherever he may choose to live
from henceforth. At least, Cetewayo says it was at Nandie's prayer,
and at mine and yours, but what he means is that, after all that has
happened, he thought it wise that Saduko should die of himself."