The king was reclining upon a sort of sofa, with two or three of his
wives fanning him to drive away the flies, when The Healer was
announced; but a word caused the women to scuttle off to their own
quarters like frightened rabbits, while Lobelalatutu rose to a sitting
position as Dick entered, followed by Mafuta.
"I see you, O Healer!" exclaimed the king with cordiality, before Dick
could say a word. "Draw near and sit beside me. It is said that you
have news of 'Nkuni for me. Have you seen him?"
"Twice this day have I seen him," answered Dick; "once when I went forth
from your presence this morning, and again but a short time since. I
came hither directly from his hut."
"And has your skill enabled you to find out what is wrong with him?"
demanded the king.
"It has," answered Dick. "Your friend 'Nkuni was slowly dying from the
effects of the same poison that slew the others. But I can save him,
and he shall live, it may be to serve you better than some of those
chiefs who, professing to be loyal to you, are secretly planning your
overthrow and death."
"_Au_!" ejaculated Lobelalatutu; "is it so? Then my suspicions were not
ill-founded. But, tell me, how came you to learn this?"
"When I first visited the hut of 'Nkuni this morning, conducted thither
by the chief Ingona, whom you thought to be 'Nkuni's friend," answered
Dick, "I found that Sekosini, the chief witch doctor, had been
administering to the sick man certain medicines with the alleged purpose
of healing him of his sickness. When I entered his hut 'Nkuni seemed to
be nigh unto death, having endured much pain after swallowing a draught
of milk containing medicine supplied by Sekosini. The symptoms were
those of poisoning; I, therefore, took possession of the unwashed vessel
which had contained the milk, and also the remainder of the medicine
supplied by Sekosini, with the object of examining both. I have not yet
done that, for the examination would take time, and 'Nkuni's case seemed
urgent; therefore I went to Sekosini's hut to talk with him about it.
And when at length I stood face to face with the witch doctor I laid my
magic upon him, so that he was perforce obliged to tell me all the truth
of the matter; and he confessed that 'Nkuni's illness was part of a
conspiracy to remove your friends from you, that you might be deposed
and slain, and the iniquitous system of government practised by
M'Bongwele restored."
"_Au_, it is well!" exclaimed the king in a low stern voice; "it is very
well. The vile, treacherous witch doctor shall be brought hither and
placed before a slow fire until he gives up the names of those who are
conspiring with him, and then--"
"Nay," interrupted Dick, "there is no need; Sekosini has already
voluntarily given me the names of those chiefs who are his partners in
the conspiracy against you. They are,"--Dick drew out his pocket book
and read--"Ingona, Lambati, Mapela, Moroosi, Amakosa, N'Ampata, and
Sekukuni--nay, do nothing rashly, I pray you, but sit still and hear
what I have to say." For at the mention of those seven names the king
had sprung to his feet in an access of fury, and seemed about to summon
his guard. But at Dick's persuasion he seated himself again, though he
was much too excited for the moment to listen to his white visitor,
muttering over to himself the names of the conspirators.
"Ingona--Ingona," he hissed through his clenched teeth, "the man whom I
believed to be the most loyal of all my chiefs, the man who evidently
feigned friendship with 'Nkuni only to betray him to his death! But I
will make a terrible example of these rebels; they shall die such deaths
that--"
"Stop!" commanded Dick. "Is this how the Four Spirits who placed you on
the throne of the Makolo taught you to administer justice?"
"Nay," answered the king. "But this is no ordinary crime; it is as
vile, in intention at least, as that of those who conspired against
Seketulo and restored M'Bongwele. Those chiefs were not only
responsible for the death of Seketulo, but also for the horrors that
followed; they were--"
"Just so," interrupted Dick; "they were all that and more. But even
that does not justify you in torturing these men to death. Destroy
them, by all means, if you will, so that they may never again have the
opportunity to do perhaps irreparable mischief; and let their death be
so ignominious that it shall be a warning to all others; but let it be
humane. In a word, hang them, even as M'Bongwele and M'Pusa, his chief
witch doctor, were hanged. That surely ought to suffice for all
practical purposes, should it not?"
"Possibly," assented the king unwillingly. "The death by hanging and
the disgrace of it are greatly feared, and it may be that--"
"Yes," interrupted Dick soothingly, "of course it will. Then that is
settled, eh? Because I want you to understand that unless you
definitely promise me that there shall be no torture I shall be obliged
to withdraw from this business altogether; moreover, I will take my
magic off Sekosini, and then nothing that you can do will make him
confess or incriminate the others. You know that, don't you?"
"Yes, it is true," admitted the king reluctantly; "Sekosini is very
obstinate; and if he were so minded he would refuse to confess, even
were he staked out on an ant's nest."
"Of course he would," agreed Dick. "Therefore you see for yourself how
futile anything of that kind would be. It would only make of him a
martyr, and of you a cruel, revengeful, suspicious brute in the eyes of
your people. But if he and his fellow conspirators can be brought to
admit their guilt publicly, you at once become the righteous judge, and
score accordingly. And I can make them confess if they are really
guilty, as Sekosini asserts."
"Then tell me, O Healer! what do you advise?" asked the king.
"This," answered Dick. "I advise that you summon the whole of your
chiefs to present themselves before you, and when they are assembled,
Sekosini shall be called into your presence and commanded to tell his
version of the story of the conspiracy in the hearing of all the chiefs.
Then, if the chiefs implicated have any excuse to offer, let them offer
it; if they have not, let them be hanged as plotters against the
authority and person of the king."
"It is well said; the advice is good, and shall be followed," exclaimed
the king. "It shall be done forthwith. I will send forth a messenger
commanding all chiefs to present themselves before me in the Great
Place, in connection with a matter of import; and when they have
assembled, Sekosini also shall be brought hither."
"There is no need for you to trouble about Sekosini," answered Dick.
"When you require his presence I will bring him to you by the power of
my magic."
About an hour later Lobelalatutu, having summoned his chiefs, sat upon
his throne in the centre of the Great Place before his palace, with Dick
beside him, and his bodyguard of some five hundred warriors, fully
armed, arranged in a wide circle round him. Then the chiefs began to
arrive, singly, or in twos or threes, until all were present; and as
each arrived he was admitted to the interior of the circle of guards,
where he squatted on his haunches before the king, the entire assemblage
of chiefs, some thirty in number, forming themselves into an arc of a
circle at a distance of about twenty feet from the throne. When at
length it had been ascertained that every chief except the sick 'Nkuni
was present, the king turned to Dick and said:
"Now, O Healer! by the power of your magic, cause Sekosini, the chief
witch doctor, to come hither, I pray you."
At the king's words there occurred an uneasy movement among the
assembled chiefs, some of whom exchanged quick, furtive glances of
apprehension, which were duly noted by Dick and the king. The latter
smiled somewhat sardonically and, beckoning the chief of his bodyguard
toward him, murmured certain instructions in his ear. Meanwhile Dick,
concentrating his thoughts upon Sekosini, mentally commanded him at once
to present himself before the king in the Great Place. A quarter of an
hour of somewhat painful tension followed, during which no word was
spoken by any one of those who were hemmed in by the circle of armed
guards, and then the chief witch doctor was seen approaching. He
entered the circle of the guards, through a gap which was opened to give
him passage--and which instantly closed again behind him--did _bonga_
(homage) to the king, and then stood, silent and serene, about midway
between the king and the line of sitting chiefs. His aspect of perfect
serenity, due to the fact that he was still completely under Dick's
hypnotic influence, seemed to reassure certain of the assembled chiefs,
whose faces had shown signs of anxiety; but the fact that The Healer,
sitting there silent and impassive beside the king, had been able to
summon Sekosini from a distance, and compel his presence, had been duly
noted, and hands were placed over mouths, and low murmurs of "_Au!
'mtagati; 'mkulu 'mtagati_" (a wizard; a great wizard) ran round the
assembly.
The king himself was by no means unimpressed by this evidence of Dick's
wonderful power. He decided that it was a thing to be remembered; but
it in nowise troubled him, for it was being exercised in his behalf.
He, however, allowed time for the effect to sink into and take good hold
of the minds of the spectators, for he was shrewd enough to recognise
that the possession of such an ally must materially strengthen his own
position; and at length, when he believed that the incident had produced
its full effect, he sprang a new surprise upon his audience by saying,
in a loud voice:
"Stand forth, O Sekosini! and tell us what you know concerning the
sickness of the chief, 'Nkuni, and the deaths of those other six who
have recently travelled along the Dark Path!"
Then, to the unutterable confusion and dismay of his fellow
conspirators, the chief witch doctor, speaking in a loud, clear voice,
proceeded clearly and succinctly to unfold detail after detail of the
plot for the overthrow of the king, and the means whereby it had been
hoped to accomplish it, including the murder of the six chiefs who, it
was believed, were powerful enough to render the scheme abortive. As
the full, cold-blooded atrocity of the conspiracy became revealed,
murmurs of anger and detestation, low at first, but louder as the story
proceeded, began to run round the line of chiefs, while those who sat
next the parties implicated edged away from them on either side as far
as possible, until they crouched, isolated, crestfallen, and self-
condemned by their guilty countenances, a target for all eyes. At
length Sekosini's story came to an end, and for a few tense moments a
profound silence ensued. There was not an individual present who did
not realise the vital importance to the entire nation of the issues that
had been raised by the witch doctor's confession, and the manner in
which those issues would be dealt with by the king. Disaffection,
secretly fomented and carefully nurtured, had grown so strong that it
now threatened to disintegrate the whole nation, and unless it were
firmly dealt with would probably split up the Makolo into a number of
petty tribes, at enmity with each other, and an easy prey to those other
nations who surrounded them. Would the king have the courage boldly to
seize the hydra-headed menace and choke the life out of it, or would he
resort to a policy of temporising and concession? Everybody present
awaited the king's action in breathless suspense, while some were
already grimly counting the number of spears upon which they might
reckon to back them. But the anxious broodings of the assemblage were
suddenly broken in upon by the voice of the king, who, lifting his head,
cried in a loud voice:
"Ingona, trusted friend and counsellor of the king, induna of the
Makolosi regiment, the very flower and backbone of my army, you have
heard the tale told by Sekosini. Say now, is that tale false, or is it
true?"
Ingona, a war-scarred veteran of perhaps fifty years of age, tall,
straight as a spear shaft, and of commanding presence, rose to his feet
and answered in a clear, deep voice:
"It is true, O Mighty One! true in every detail."
"It is true," repeated the king, in a tone of deep sorrow; "yes,
unhappily there is no room to doubt it; every word carried conviction of
its truthfulness to my mind. It is true; and the meaning of that is
that the chiefs of the Makolo are divided into two factions, one of
which would leave the government of the nation in my hands, while the
other would entrust it to--whom?"
"Nay, O Great One! who can say? We had not agreed as to that," answered
Ingona.
"Then--after my death--how was the matter to have been decided?"
demanded the king.
"Who can say?" again answered Ingona. "We should probably have fought
it out, and the victor would have seized the throne."
"And ye would have set the Makolo at each other's throats for--what?"
demanded Lobelalatutu.
"Truly, I know not," answered Ingona, "unless it were to satisfy the
ambition of Sekosini. He has already confessed that he was the
originator of the conspiracy, and therein he spoke no more than the
truth. He is guileful as a snake; he has the gift of persuasive speech,
and knowing that some of us were chafing under prolonged inaction, he
used his cunning and the power of his tongue to stir our discontent into
indignation, and finally into hatred and a fierce determination to
effect a change. By the power of his magic he turned our hearts from
thee, O Great One! and made us long, even as he did, for a return of
such days as those when M'Bongwele reigned, when we were ever at war,
when our young men became warriors instead of husbandmen, and when we
enriched ourselves with the spoils of the vanquished. It was a dazzling
dream that he brought before our eyes, and for a time it blinded me to
the evils that lay behind it, and it is only now, when it is too late,
that I perceive that evil, and understand that Sekosini befooled and
bewitched me to the end that he might be raised to such power as M'Pusa
enjoyed during the reign of M'Bongwele, when he and not M'Bongwele
actually ruled the Makolo people. It is enough; I have said!"
"Take him away to his hut; set a guard over him; and see that he escape
not," ordered the king. "If he be not forthcoming when wanted, the
officer and guard who have him in charge shall be crucified. Lambati,
you too are implicated in this conspiracy. Have you aught to say in
your defence?"
"Nay, O Great One!" answered Lambati; "I could but repeat the words of
Ingona; and what would that avail me? Nothing! I, too, have said!"
"Let him also be taken away, and watched as carefully as Ingona,"
ordered the king. "Mapela, have you aught to say in justification of
your conspiracy against me?"
"Ay, that have I," answered Mapela, springing to his feet and speaking
in a defiant tone of voice. "My justification, O Lobelalatutu! is that
under your governance the Makolo, formerly the most powerful and warlike
nation in the world, is fast becoming a nation of women, and the
contempt and laughing-stock of our neighbours. Soon shall we forget the
art of war, our young men will sicken at the sight and smell of blood,
and we shall become the prey of the first nation that dares attack us.
Are not these sufficient reasons for our desire to see thee removed, and
a man placed upon the throne in thy stead?"
A low murmur, whether of approval or the reverse it was difficult to
say, ran round the line of assembled chiefs at this defiant speech from
the mouth of one of the most powerful chiefs of the nation, but it
subsided again instantly.
"Have you aught further to say, O Mapela?" demanded the king.
"Nay," answered Mapela, still in the same defiant tone of voice. "What
I have already said should surely be sufficient."
"It is," answered the king dryly, as he signed the guards to remove the
rebel. "Is there anyone present who thinks and feels as does Mapela?"
"Yea!" answered two of the implicated chiefs, named respectively Amakosa
and N'Ampata, as they simultaneously sprang to their feet.
"And have you, Amakosa, anything to add to, or take from, what Mapela
has said?" demanded the king.
"Nothing!" briefly answered Amakosa.
"Or you, N'Ampata?" pressed the king.
"Only this, O Great One! that I think it would have been better had we
approached thee and opened our minds to thee before conspiring against
thee. But the plan was Sekosini's, and he would listen to no such
proposal; while I, who had been sworn to secrecy, dared not break my
oath," answered N'Ampata.
"Why not?" demanded Lobelalatutu. "When I was placed upon the throne,
did not you, N'Ampata, with all the other chiefs, swear allegiance and
loyalty to me? Yet you have dared to break that oath. Why, then,
should you not dare to break your oath to Sekosini? Was he greater than
I, or his power more than mine?"
"He persuaded me that it was; and also that, since in the opinion of
many you were misgoverning the nation, I should be justified in breaking
my oath of allegiance," was the answer.
"Take them away!" commanded the king. And when they had gone he called
upon the two remaining chiefs, Moroosi and Sekukuni, to justify
themselves, if they could.
"I have naught to say, O Great One!" answered Moroosi, "save that, as it
was with Ingona so was it with me."
"And you, Sekukuni?" demanded the king.
"I also am the victim of Sekosini's wiles and his serpent tongue,"
answered the chief. "I should never have joined the conspiracy had he
not led me secretly to believe that when thou wert gone I should be made
king in thy stead. And the prospect dazzled me, for I believed that I
could govern better than thou."
Again the king waved his hand, and the last two of the conspirators were
led away, amid an intense, breathless, almost ominous silence. For a
few minutes Lobelalatutu sat, with his chin resting upon his chest,
apparently reviewing the situation; then, lifting his head, he spoke.
"Chiefs of the Makolo," he said, "ye have to-day heard how Sekosini, the
chief witch doctor, and seven of the most powerful and influential among
you secretly plotted together to destroy me, and, by so doing, to set
you at each other's throats like wolves fighting over a carcass, and ye
have also heard what means were adopted to render the plot successful;
how six of your number were sent along the Dark Path by the witchcraft
of Sekosini, and how another would have taken the same journey but for
the superior witchcraft of him who sits here at my side. It was his
power that compelled Sekosini to come hither to-day and tell the truth;
and it is to his power that 'Nkuni will owe his life, for the Healer has
promised to save him and make him whole again. Think ye that it was
mere chance that brought the Healer and his friend the Mighty Hunter
into the land of the Makolo at the moment when, but for them, Sekosini's
plot must have been crowned with success? I tell you, nay; it is
because it has been ordained that I, whom the Four Spirits of the Winds
set upon the throne, should continue to rule over you! It is useless to
plot against me, who am under the protection of the Spirits; for, as ye
have seen, it can but lead to the detection and overthrow of the
plotters. Yet the eight who have to-day confessed their guilt before
you are not all equally guilty, and therefore their punishment shall not
be equally severe. Had such a thing as this happened in the days of
M'Bongwele they had all died lingering and painful deaths; but I have
been taught to temper justice with mercy; therefore, while all must be
punished for conspiring against me, their lawful king, their punishment
shall be in strict proportion to their guilt. And this is a matter that
requires careful consideration; for while, on the one hand, I am
determined that the punishment shall not be too severe, I am equally
determined that it shall not be weakly lenient. Go, therefore, now; and
to-morrow I will summon you again to hear sentence pronounced upon the
guilty ones. You are dismissed."
Five minutes later the Great Place was empty, Dick having followed the
king, by the invitation of the latter, into his house. For several
minutes Lobelalatutu remained sunk in a profound reverie, evidently
pondering upon some question of exceeding difficulty; at length,
however, he raised his head and said:
"I give you hearty thanks, O Healer, for the help which you have
afforded me in the discovery of those who are concerned in the
conspiracy that has this day been revealed. I have for some time
suspected that something of the kind existed, but I dreamed not that it
was so serious, or that so many of my chiefs were involved in it; nor
could I devise a means by which to discover the truth. It is your
wisdom, O Healer, that found a way; and now I again desire the help of
that wisdom to enable me to apportion to each offender a punishment
proportionate to his crime. You heard what each culprit had to say in
his defence, and I doubt not that you saw, as I did, that all were not
equally guilty. I am not troubled about Sekosini, Mapela, and Amakosa;
their guilt is indisputable, and they die the death; if they were
permitted to live they would but plot against me again. N'Ampata also
is a dangerous man; he, too, is opposed to my system of government, and
is not to be trusted; it were better that he should die, than that he
should live and perchance stir up another conspiracy against me, to be
suppressed only at the cost of many more lives. A chief is not like
ordinary men; he wields power, influence, authority; as he thinks, so do
his followers; and if he were to call his people to arms against even
me, they would obey him, and the country would thus be involved in a
civil war, resulting in much slaughter. For the sake of my people I
must prevent this; and the only way to do this is to remove the
disaffected. Is not this the truth, O Healer?"
"Undoubtedly," answered Dick. "It is better that a few should die than
many; and those who foment rebellion, stir up strife, and incite to acts
of violence and murder are even more guilty than the misguided
individuals who listen to them and act upon their suggestions."
The king nodded his agreement with this expression of opinion.
"Therefore," said he, "in order to prevent the stirring up of strife and
the incitement to bloodshed, Sekosini, Mapela, Amakosa, and N'Ampata
must die. But as to the others I am not so sure. They have conspired
against me, it is true; they consented to the slaying of seven of my
most trusted chiefs and counsellors; and they would have brought anarchy
upon the people; therefore must they also be punished. Yet Ingona,
Lambati, Moroosi, and Sekukuni have all been my friends; they have aided
me with valuable counsel when I have been confronted with problems of
great difficulty and danger; and never until now have they shown the
least sign of disloyalty. They are valuable servants whom it would be
most difficult if not altogether impossible to replace; and, above all,
I feel almost certain that in their hearts they are not disloyal, but
that, as Ingona said, they have been bewitched and led astray by the
craft of Sekosini. I think that, the head Witch Doctor and his evil
influence removed, they would henceforward be, as they were aforetime,
true, loyal subjects; and I would not destroy them if they may otherwise
be safely dealt with. What does your wisdom advise in their case, O
Healer?"
It was a very difficult and delicate question upon which to advise, and
Dick never, perhaps, felt more heavily handicapped by his youth and
inexperience than he did at that moment; yet it was evident that this
savage king, himself at a loss how to deal with the problem, was
practically leaving the decision as to the fate of those four men in his
hands, and that, whatever his advice might be, it would be followed.
For several minutes he anxiously pondered upon the situation, and then
light and inspiration suddenly came to him. Why should he not again
employ his marvellous hypnotic powers to solve the problem? He had
already done so with perfect success in the case of Sekosini; why not in
that of these others? He could place them under his influence and then
compel them to disclose the innermost secrets of their hearts, thus
determining beyond a doubt exactly how deep their feeling of disloyalty
went and whether it went too deep to be capable of being uprooted and
replaced by one of absolute fidelity in the future. This point
determined, he would be able to advise with absolute confidence, or,
better still, enable the king to decide for himself. Yes, that was
undoubtedly the best thing to be done, and he turned to Lobelalatutu
with a sigh of relief.
"Listen, O Great One!" he said. "You ask for my advice, and now I am
ready to give it. Let the four chiefs, Ingona, Lambati, Moroosi, and
Sekukuni, be brought hither in charge of the guards which you have
placed over them; then will I lay my magic upon them so that they shall
speak only the plain, simple truth, even as Sekosini spoke it just now
to his own condemnation; and thus shall ye be able to judge exactly how
far each man may be trusted in the future. Is my advice good and
acceptable?"
"It is very good, and we will act upon it forthwith," answered
Lobelalatutu; and, clapping his hands to summon a messenger, he gave
instructions that the four chiefs should be at once brought into his
presence. A few minutes later they stood before him, each in charge of
two fully armed guards; and Dick, after allowing them to stand for a
full minute in the oppressive silence that prevailed, in order that
their minds might be suitably attuned to the ordeal which they were to
undergo, suddenly rose to his feet, and, walking up to each man, gazed
steadfastly at him in the peculiar manner which he had already found so
marvellously effective, and at once brought him under hypnotic control.
Then, retiring to the seat which he had just quitted, he powerfully
willed that each man should reply with absolute truth and candour to all
questions asked him, concealing nothing, and laying bare the inmost
secrets of his heart. As he thus concentrated his will upon theirs he
watched each man narrowly, and presently, seeing that they were all
absolutely under his control, he raised his hand, and said, in a low,
impressive voice:
"Listen, O Ingona, Lambati, Moroosi, and Sekukuni! Lobelatatutu, the
king, the Great One, is about to question you further concerning the
conspiracy in which ye have been engaged with Sekosini, and it is my
will that ye shall answer his every question truthfully and without
reservation or concealment of any kind. Ye hear?"
"We hear, O Healer, and we will obey," answered the four, as with one
voice.
"It is well," said Dick. "Now, O Great One! proceed with your
questions, and be assured that ye shall learn the whole truth."
"Listen, O Ingona," said the king. "A while ago ye attempted to explain
to me why ye had joined this conspiracy fomented by Sekosini. Is there
aught more that ye would say in extenuation of your crime?"
"Nothing, O Great One," answered Ingona sadly. "Our crime is too rank
to admit of extenuation. It is true that there are those among us who
think that even peace may be bought at too high a price, if that price
includes the forgetting by our warriors of the art of war, and the
impossibility of training our young men to fight. Never since the death
of M'Bongwele have we been allowed to wash our spears in the blood of
our enemies; and, in the opinion of many, those enemies are consequently
growing overbold and insolent. But who are we that we should presume to
judge the king's actions, or to say to him: `Ye shall do this,' or `Ye
shall not do that'? To do so is a crime; and the king who tamely
suffers it is too weak to govern so powerful a nation as the Makolo.
Yet I committed that crime; and now, when it is too late, when that has
been done which may never be undone, my greatest shame and grief are
that I was ever weak enough to open my ears to the beguilings of that
serpent Sekosini, that I ever permitted him to turn my eyes from the
straight path and hide from them, until too late, the dreadful
consequences that must have ensued had Sekosini's plot succeeded."
"Tis pity that ye saw not all this in time, Ingona," said the king
reproachfully. "Tell me, now--If this conspiracy had ripened to
fruition, would you, O Ingona, have taken the field and led your
warriors against me?"
"Nay," answered Ingona, "that would I not. The time was when, blinded
and misled by Sekosini's plausible arguments and misrepresentations, I
might have done so. But that time is past; even before the arrival of
the Healer I had begun dimly to foresee the evil that must come to the
nation through the plot; and it was in my mind to take steps for its
frustration, but he forestalled me."
"And you, Lambati?" demanded the king.
"Nay, O Great One," answered the chief. "That I conspired against you,
and joined your enemies, is true; but I know now that my madness was but
momentary, and that, had the time come, I should have arrayed myself on
your side, and against your enemies."
"And you, Moroosi?" questioned the king.
"As I answered you a while ago, O Great One, as it was with Ingona, so
was it and is it with me. I have no gift of fluent speech, but I pray
you to recall what he said, and to believe that I agree with every word,
and would fain say them all again."
"And you, Sekukuni?" reiterated Lobelalatutu.
"I spoke falsely, O King, when I said that I was the victim of
Sekosini's wiles," answered Sekukuni. "I think as he thinks, and
answered as I did only in the hope that my punishment might be
mitigated. But I tell you, Lobelalatutu, that if yonder white man had
not interfered and saved you by his magic, I would have fought against
you, even to the last man; for I was to have been king in your stead;
and I know that under my rule the Makolo nation would have recovered all
its lost greatness."
The king for a moment looked astounded at this bold and defiant speech,
for he had hitherto regarded Sekukuni as one of his most trustworthy
chiefs; but he quickly recovered from his astonishment, and signed the
guards to lead away their prisoners.