For I felt this scene to be strained and one that
hid, or presaged, something I did not comprehend.
"This is the Chief she loves?" said Nombe to me, studying
Anscombe with her steady eyes after Heda had gone. "Well, he is
no common man and brave, if idle; one, too, who may grow tall in
the world, should he live, when he has learned to think. But,
Macumazahn, if she met you both at the same time why did she not
choose you?"
"Just now you said you were wise, Nombe," I replied laughing,
"but now I see that, like most of your trade, you are but a vain
boaster. Is there a hat upon my head that you cannot see the
colour of my hair, and is it natural that youth should turn to
age?"
"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."
CHAPTER XI
ZIKALI
Ten days had gone by when once more I found myself drawing near
to the mouth of the Black Kloof where dwelt Zikali the Wizard.
Our journey in Zululand had been tedious and uneventful. It
seemed to me that we met extraordinarily few people; it was as
though the place had suddenly become depopulated, and I even
passed great kraals where there was no one to be seen.
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