Part 26 (2/2)
Back to the fire he shi+fted hi towards the blaze, made an examination
”True, Noma, true! Here is the split tooth, white as when I saw it all those years ago Oh! dear child of et with the body alone, Noreet you,” and pressing the skull to his lips, he kissed it, then set it down in front of hi to the king, and burst into one of his eerie and terrible laughs
A low moan went up froainst me, break into a profuse sweat Then suddenly Zikali's voice changed one more and became hard and businesslike, if I may call it so, similar to that of other professional doctors
”You have sent for reat things were about to happen What is the matter on which you would speak to me?”
”You knoell, Opener of Roads,” answered Cetewayo, rather shakily I thought ”The lish threaten st others that the army should be disbanded I can set them all out if you will If I refuse to do as they bid me, then within a few days they will invade Zululand; indeed their soldiers are already gathered at the drifts”
”It is not needful, King,” answered Zikali, ”since I knohat all know, neither more nor less The winds whisper the de theht Let us see how the matter stands When your father died Soreat white chief, ca This he could not do according to our law, since how can a stranger na of the Zulus? Therefore the Council of the Nation and the doctors-I was not a-moved the spirit of Chaka the Lion into the body of Soave him power to name you to rule over the Zulus So it cah the spirit of Chaka you swore certain things; that slaying for witchcraft should be abolished; that no man should die without fair and open trial, and other matters”
He paused a while, then went on, ”These oaths you have broken, O King, as being of the blood you are and what you are, youthe Council and Cetewayo half rose fro at the sky, waited till it had died away, then went on-
”Do any question my words? If so, then let them ask of the white men whether they be true or no Let them ask also of the spirits of those who have died for witchcraft, and of the spirits of the women who have been slain and whose bodies were laid at the cross-roads because they married the ave them”
”How can I ask the whitethe rest
”Are the white ? It is true that I see none and hear none, yet I seem to smell one of them close at hand” Here he took up the skull which he had laid down and whispered to it ”Ah! I thank you, , that there is a white man here hidden in this kloof, he who is naood man and a truthful, known to many of us froh he is not one of their indunas If you question my words, ask him”
”We knohat the white men think,” said Cetewayo, ”so there is no need to ask Macu The question is-whatto be a nation, becolish into the sea, and after the, ell far away and alone, knowing little of what passes in the land of Life, what the Zulus desire to do Before me sits the Great Council of the Nation Let it speak”
Then one by one the members of the Council uttered their opinions in order of rank or seniority I do not remember the names of all ere present, or what each of theananda, a very old chief-he must have been over ninety-spoke the first He told them that he had been friend of Chaka and one of his captains, and had fought in eneral of Dingaan's until that king killed the Boers under Retief, when he left hiaan was killed with the help of the Boers That he had been present at the battle of the Tugela, though he took no actual part in the fighting, and afterwards became a councillor of Panda's and then of Cetewayo his son It was a long and interesting historical recital covering the whole period of the Zulu monarchy which ended suddenly with these words-
”I have noted, O King and Councillors, that whenever the black vulture of the Zulus was content to attack birds of his own feather, he has conquered But when it has les of the white men, which come from over the sea, he has been conquered, and my heart tells me that as it was in the past, so it shall be in the future Chaka was a friend of the English, so was Panda, and so has Cetewayo been until this hour I say, therefore, let not the King tear the hand which fed hi and clutch him by the throat and choke hia, brothers of the king, who all favoured war, though the two last were guarded in their speech After these ca's uncle-he as said to be the son of a Spirit-as strong for peace, urging that the king should sub the best terms he could, that he ”should bend like a reed before the storht stand up straight again, and with him all the other reeds of the people of the Zulus”
So, too, said Seketwayo, chief of the Umdhlalosi, and more whom I cannot recall, six or seven of thewayo, who afterwards co, as were Sirayo, the husband of the tolish territory and killed, and Umbilini, the chief of Swazi blood whose surrender was demanded by Sir Bartle Frere and who afterwards commanded the Zulus in the battle at Ihlobane Last of all spoke the Prime Minister, Umnyamana, who declared fiercely that if the Zulu buffalo hid itself in the swaed it on the hills, the spirits of Chaka and all his forefathers would thrust its head into the mud and choke it
When all had finished Cetewayo spoke, saying-
”That is a bad council which has two voices, for to which of theather in front of hih and counted, and what do I find? That one half of you, men of wisdom and renown, say Yes, and that the other half of you, men of wisdom and renown, say No Which then is it to be, Yes or No? Are we to fight the English, or are we to sit still?”
”That is for the king to decide,” said a voice
”See what it is to be a king,” went on Ceteith passion ”If I declare for war and in, shall I be greater than I aives me more land, more subjects, s to h of all of the froained? I will tell you-the curse of the Zulus upon my name from father to son for ever They will say, 'Cetewayo, son of Panda, pulled down a House that once was great Because of solish ere always the friends of our people, and brought the Zulus to the dust' Sintwangu, ht heavy words from the Queen's induna which we lish soldiers in Natal are few, so few that we Zulus can s thery But are these all the soldiers of the English? I am not sure You are one of that people, Macu his massive shape towards me, ”tell us no ,” I answered, ”I do not know for certain But if the Zulus can muster fifty thousand spears, the Queen, if there be need, can send against thery, another ten times fifty, every one armed with a rifle that will fire five bullets a minute, and to accole shot would give Ulundi to the flames Out of the sea they will come, shi+pload after shi+pload, white men from where the sun sets and black men from where the sun rises, so many that Zululand would not hold therandly as I could, soh one , who is sent here to turn our hearts to water with his lies”