Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 26, 2025
Good night to you, Watcher-by-Night with the white heart and the strange destiny, good night to you, and try not to think too hardly of the old Kafir cheat who just now is called 'Opener-of-Roads. My servant waits without to lead you to your hut, and if you wish to be back at Umbezi's kraal by nightfall to-morrow, you will do well to start ere sunrise, since, as you found in coming, Saduko, although he may be a fool, is a very good walker, and you do not like to be left behind, Macumazahn, do you?"
I answered him that I could not speak with the king alone without the permission of the commandant. Thereon Kambula said: "Come with me, I pray you, O Macumazahn, since otherwise you will be taken by force." Now, I told Hans to gallop on to Retief, and tell him of my predicament, for already I saw that at some sign from Kambula I was being surrounded by Zulus.
"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.
My Spirit whispered in my ear. It said, 'If Mauriti and Macumazahn were dead the lady Heddana would be left alone in a strange land. Then she would learn to rest upon you as upon a stick, and learn to love the stick on which she rested, though it be so rough and homely. But how can I kill them, I asked of my Spirit, and myself escape death?
I was about to answer sharply when Cetewayo himself addressed me. "Macumazahn," he said, "you are now my enemy, like all your people, and from sunrise to-morrow morning your safe-conduct here ends, for if you are found at Ulundi two hours after that time, it will be lawful for any man to kill you. Yet as you are still my guest, I will give you an escort to the borders of the land.
"There it is," I answered, pointing to it; "but what is the use of a saddle without a horse?" "The horse you rode has been kept for you, Macumazahn," he replied.
"Sometimes if the mind is old, Macumazahn, which is why I love the Spirits only who are more ancient than the mountains, and with them Zikali their servant, who was young before the Zulus were a people, or so he says, and still year by year gathers wisdom as the bee gathers honey. Inspan your horses, Macumazahn, for I have done my business and am ready to start."
'How can I speak with thee? she answered, looking fixedly before her; 'Queens are not like other people. I am surrounded and watched. 'Listen, Nyleptha, thus. I will be before the statue of Rademas in the great hall at midnight. I have the countersign and can pass in. Macumazahn will be there to keep guard, and with him the Zulu. Oh come, my Queen, deny me not.
It is his gift and duty to spy, as it is mine to smite with the axe, and yours to lead, Macumazahn. Let him go, I say." I nodded my head, and having kissed my hand in his silly fashion in token of much that he did not wish to say, Hans slipped out of sight, saying that he hoped to be back within an hour.
When I spoke to him on the subject he merely said, 'Take it, Macumazahn, take it; you have earned it well, and, to speak the truth, though I say it who shouldn't, I think I had. So we pressed several hundred Matuku bearers into our service, and next day marched off with the lot.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking