“So, Macumazahn, thou seest we have no water here, and but a little food, and we must choose between these three things—­to languish like a starving lion in his den, or to strive to break away towards the north, or”—­and here he rose and pointed towards the dense mass of our foes—­“to launch ourselves straight at Twala’s throat.  Incubu, the great warrior—­for to-day he fought like a buffalo in a net, and Twala’s soldiers went down before his axe like young corn before the hail; with these eyes I saw it—­Incubu says ‘Charge’; but the Elephant is ever prone to charge.  Now what says Macumazahn, the wily old fox, who has seen much, and loves to bite his enemy from behind?  The last word is in Ignosi the king, for it is a king’s right to speak of war; but let us hear thy voice, O Macumazahn, who watchest by night, and the voice too of him of the transparent eye.”

“What sayest thou, Ignosi,” I asked.

“Nay, my father,” answered our quondam servant, who now, clad as he was in the full panoply of savage war, looked every inch a warrior king, “do thou speak, and let me, who am but a child in wisdom beside thee, hearken to thy words.”

Thus adjured, after taking hasty counsel with Good and Sir Henry, I delivered my opinion briefly to the effect that, being trapped, our best chance, especially in view of the failure of our water supply, was to initiate an attack upon Twala’s forces.  Then I recommended that the attack should be delivered at once, “before our wounds grew stiff,” and also before the sight of Twala’s overpowering force caused the hearts of our soldiers “to wax small like fat before a fire.”  Otherwise, I pointed out, some of the captains might change their minds, and, making peace with Twala, desert to him, or even betray us into his hands.

This expression of opinion seemed, on the whole, to be favourably received; indeed, among the Kukuanas my utterances met with a respect which has never been accorded to them before or since.  But the real decision as to our plans lay with Ignosi, who, since he had been recognised as rightful king, could exercise the almost unbounded rights of sovereignty, including, of course, the final decision on matters of generalship, and it was to him that all eyes were now turned.

At length, after a pause, during which he appeared to be thinking deeply, he spoke.

“Incubu, Macumazahn, and Bougwan, brave white men, and my friends; Infadoos, my uncle, and chiefs; my heart is fixed.  I will strike at Twala this day, and set my fortunes on the blow, ay, and my life—­my life and your lives also.  Listen; thus will I strike.  Ye see how the hill curves round like the half-moon, and how the plain runs like a green tongue towards us within the curve?”

“We see,” I answered.