"I see," I answered. "I am to pull Panda's hot iron out of the fire and

to extinguish the fire. If I succeed I may keep a piece of the iron when

it gets cool, and if I burn my fingers it is my own fault, and I or my

House must not come crying to Panda."

"O Watcher-by-Night, you have speared the bull in the heart," replied

Maputa, the messenger, nodding his shrewd old head. "Well, will you go

up with Saduko?"

"Say to the King, O Messenger, that I will go up with Saduko because I

promised him that I would, being moved by the tale of his wrongs, and

not for the sake of the cattle, although it is true that if I hear any

of them lowing in my camp I may keep them. Say to Panda also that if

aught of ill befalls me he shall hear nothing of it, nor will I bring

his high name into this business; but that he, on his part, must not

blame me for anything that may happen afterwards. Have you the message?"

"I have it word for word; and may your Spirit be with you, Macumazahn,

when you attack the strong mountain of Bangu, which, were I you," Maputa

added reflectively, "I think I should do just at the dawn, since the

Amakoba drink much beer and are heavy sleepers."

Then we took a pinch of snuff together, and he departed at once for

Nodwengu, Panda's Great Place.

Fourteen days had gone by, and Saduko and I, with our ragged band of

Amangwane, sat one morning, after a long night march, in the hilly

country looking across a broad vale, which was sprinkled with trees like

an English park, at that mountain on the side of which Bangu, chief of

the Amakoba, had his kraal.

It was a very formidable mountain, and, as we had already observed, the

paths leading up to the kraal were amply protected with stone walls in

which the openings were quite narrow, only just big enough to allow one

ox to pass through them at a time. Moreover, all these walls had been

strengthened recently, perhaps because Bangu was aware that Panda looked

upon him, a northern chief dwelling on the confines of his dominions,

with suspicion and even active enmity, as he was also no doubt aware

Panda had good cause to do.

Here in a dense patch of bush that grew in a kloof of the hills we held

a council of war.

So far as we knew our advance had been unobserved, for I had left my

wagons in the low veld thirty miles away, giving it out among the local

natives that I was hunting game there, and bringing on with me only

Scowl and four of my best hunters, all well-armed natives who could

shoot. The three hundred Amangwane also had advanced in small parties,

separated from each other, pretending to be Kafirs marching towards

Delagoa Bay. Now, however, we had all met in this bush. Among our number

were three Amangwane who, on the slaughter of their tribe, had fled with

their mothers to this district and been brought up among the people of

Bangu, but who at his summons had come back to Saduko. It was on these

men that we relied at this juncture, for they alone knew the country.

Long and anxiously did we consult with them. First they explained, and,

so far as the moonlight would allow, for as yet the dawn had not broken,

pointed out to us the various paths that led to Bangu's kraal.




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