"You are too honest to prosper in the world, Macumazahn.
Well, I must find other means to bring the House of Cetewayo to
the end that he deserves, who has been an evil and a cruel king."
All this he said, showing neither surprise nor resentment, which
convinced me of what I had suspected throughout, that never for
an instant did he believe that I should fall in with his
suggestions and try to influence the Zulus to declare war. No,
this talk of his was but a blind; there was some deeper scheme at
work in his cunning old brain which he was hiding from me. Why
exactly had he beguiled me to Zululand? I could not divine, and
to ask him would be worse than useless, but then and there I made
up my mind that I would get away from the Black Kloof early on
the following morning, if that were possible.
He began to speak of other matters in a low, droning voice, like
a man who converses with himself. Sad, all of them, such as the
haunted death of Saduko who had betrayed his lord, the Prince
Umbelazi, because of a woman, every circumstance of which seemed
to be familiar to him.
I made no answer, who was waiting for an opportunity to leave the
hut, and did not care to dwell on these events. He ceased and
brooded for a while, then said suddenly--
"You are hungry and would eat, Macumazahn, and I who eat little
would sleep, for in sleep the multitudes of Spirits visit me,
bringing tidings from afar. Well, we have spoken together and of
that I am glad, for who knows when the chance will come again,
though I think that soon we shall meet at Ulundi, Ulundi where
Fate spreads its net.
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