The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-08-23

passed she was gone, ana once more
was alone with Chaka, with the night
and the dead.
Chaka looked up, and his face was
gray with the sweat of fear.
"Who was this, MopoT' he said in
hollow voice.
This was the Inkosazana of the Heav-
ems, she who watches ever over the peo-
pie of our race. o king, and who from
time to time is seen of men ere great
things shall befall."
Il have heard speak of this queenS~
said Chaka. Wherefore came she now.
what was the song she sang and why
did she touch me with spear"
"She came, o king, because the dead
hand of Baleka summoned her, as thou
sawest. The song she sang was Of
things too high for me, and why she
touched thee on the forehead with the
spear do not know, o king. .Perchancs
it was to crown thee chief of a yet
greater realm"
Yea; perchance to crown me chief Of
a realm of death"
That thou art already, Black One,-
l answered, CHANGING at the silent null
titude before us and the cold shape Of
Baleka.
Again Chaka shuddered- Come, let
us be going, Mopo," he said. "Now /
have learned what it is to be afraid"
"Ea.ly or late, Fear is q guest that eli
must feast, even kings, o Earth Shaker
l answered, and we turned and went
homeward in silence.
Now after this night Chaks gave il
out that his kraal of Gibamaxegu was
bewitched, and bewitched was the land
of the Zulus, because he might sleep no
more in peace, but woke ever crying ont
with fear and mrttering the name OF
Baleka. Therefore in the end he moved
his kraal far away, and built the great
town of Duguza here in Natal.
Look now. my fatheri There on the
plain far away is place of the white
men-it is called Stanger. There. where
is the white mans town, stood the great
kraal Duguza. | cannot see, for my
eyes are dark; but you can see. Where
the gate of the kraal was built there is
house. 1t is the place where the white
man gives out justice. That is fireplace
of the gate of the kraal through which
! justice never walked. Behind is an
| other house, where the white men who
| have sinned against him pray to the
| King of Heaven for forgiveness. There
on that spot have l seen many a one
who had done no wrong pray to king
! of men for mercy, but have never seen
| but one who found it. Gu! The words
! of Chaka have come true. l will tell
them to you presently, my father. The
white man holds the land; he goes to
and fro about his business of peace
| where impis ran forth to kill; his children
laugh and gather flowers where men
died in blood by hundreds; they battle
| in the waters of the ImboZamo, where
once the crocodiles We're fed daily with
human flesh, his young men WOO the
maidens where other maids have kissed
| the assegai. 1t is changed. nothing is
the same, and of Chaka are left only
grave yonder and a name Of fear.
| Now after Chaka had come to the
Duguza kraal for awhile he sat quiet:
then the old thirst for blood came on him
| and he sent his impis against the people
| of the Pondos. and they destroyed that
people and brought back their cattle.
! But the warriors might not rest Again
! they were doctored for war and sent out
| by tens of thousands to conquer SOtyan-
| CANA, chief of the people who live north
| of the Limpopo. They went singing
| after the king had looked upon them ind
! hidden them return victorious or not at
| all. Their number was so great that
! from the hour Of dawn till the sun was
! high in the heavens they passed the gates
| of the lsraal like countless herds Of cattle
they the urconquered. Little did they
| know that victory smiled on them no
more; that they must die by thousands
| Of hunger and of fever in the marshes Of
/ the Limpopo. aud that those of them who
returned should come with their shields
/ in their bellies, having devoured their
( shields because of their ravenous hunger
/ But what Of them? They were nothing.
! Dust was the name of one Of the great
regiments that went out against Sotyan-
CANA, and dust they were-dust TO be
driven to death by the breath Of Chaka
Lion of the Zulu.
Now few men remained in the luaal
Duguza, for nearly all had gone with
the impi, and only women and aged
people were left. Dingaan and Umhlan
CANA. brothers Of the king, were there,
for Chaka would not suffer them 10 de-
part, fearing lest they should plot
! against him, and he looked on them al
ways with an angry eye, so that they
trembled for their lives, though they
dared not show their fear lest fate
should follow fear. But guessed it,
and like a snake wound myself into
their secrets, and we talked together
darklv and III hints. But of that pres
emily. my father, for l must tell of the
coming of Masilo; he who would have
wed Zinita and whom Umslopogaas the
Slaughterer had driven out from the
kraals of the People Of the Ak.
1t was on the day after the impi had
left that Masilo came to the kraal Du-
guza, craving leave to speak to the king.
Chaka sat before his hut and with him
were Dingaan and Umhlangana, his
royal brothers. / was there also. and
certain of the Indunas, counselors OF
the king. Chaka was weary that morn