“Aye, Macumazahn,” he answered, “I, too, think that ufulatewe idhlozi [that is, his own Spirit] has turned its back on him.  Also I think that Saduko is no good councillor.  Indeed, were I the prince,” added the old fellow shrewdly, “I would not keep him whose wife I had stolen as the whisperer in my ear.”

“Nor I, Maputa,” I answered as I bade him good-bye.

Two days later, early in the morning, Maputa came to me again and said that Panda wished to see me.  I went to the head of the kraal, where I found the King seated and before him the captains of the royal Amawombe regiment.

“Watcher-by-Night,” he said, “I have news that the great battle between my sons will take place within a few days.  Therefore I am sending down this, my own royal regiment, under the command of Maputa the skilled in war to spy out the battle, and I pray that you will go with it, that you may give to the General Maputa and to the captains the help of your wisdom.  Now these are my orders to you, Maputa, and to you, O captains—­that you take no part in the fight unless you should see that the Elephant, my son Umbelazi, is fallen into a pit, and that then you shall drag him out if you can and save him alive.  Now repeat my words to me.”

So they repeated the words, speaking with one voice.

“Your answer, O Macumazana,” he said when they had spoken.

“O King, I have told you that I will go—­though I do not like war—­and I will keep my promise,” I replied.

“Then make ready, Macumazahn, and be back here within an hour, for the regiment marches ere noon.”

So I went up to my wagons and handed them over to the care of some men whom Panda had sent to take charge of them.  Also Scowl and I saddled our horses, for this faithful fellow insisted upon accompanying me, although I advised him to stay behind, and got out our rifles and as much ammunition as we could possibly need, and with them a few other necessaries.  These things done, we rode back to the gathering-place, taking farewell of the wagons with a sad heart, since I, for one, never expected to see them again.

As we went I saw that the regiment of the Amawombe, picked men every one of them, all fifty years of age or over, nearly four thousand strong, was marshalled on the dancing-ground, where they stood company by company.  A magnificent sight they were, with their white fighting-shields, their gleaming spears, their otter-skin caps, their kilts and armlets of white bulls’ tails, and the snowy egret plumes which they wore upon their brows.  We rode to the head of them, where I saw Maputa, and as I came they greeted me with a cheer of welcome, for in those days a white man was a power in the land.  Moreover, as I have said, the Zulus knew and liked me well.  Also the fact that I was to watch, or perchance to fight with them, put a good heart into the Amawombe.

There we stood until the lads, several hundreds of them, who bore the mats and cooking vessels and drove the cattle that were to be our commissariat, had wended away in a long line.  Then suddenly Panda appeared out of his hut, accompanied by a few servants, and seemed to utter some kind of prayer, as he did so throwing dust or powdered medicine towards us, though what this ceremony meant I did not understand.