And you, my captains, you little guessedhow great a king the Heavens have set to rule over you, nor how deepis the mind of the king that watches ever over his people's welfare.Now the land is free from the White Wizards of whose footsteps theBlack One croaked as he gave up his life, or soon shall be, for thisis but a beginning. Now when I had spoken thus the heart of Dingaan grew heavy and hisface dark, for my words stuck in his breast like a barbed spear.Still, he made no answer, but dismissed the council.īefore this time, indeed, a few white men had come to and fro to thekraals of Chaka and Dingaan, but these came to pray and not to fight.Now the Boers both fight and pray, also they steal, or used to steal,which I do not understand, for the prayers of you white men say thatthese things should not be done.Īh, my captains," he said, "when the vultures plumed themselves thismorning, and shrieked to the sky for blood, they did not look for sucha feast as I have given them. AhBut what does it matter? In any case most of them would have been deadby now. But he was secret, and told nothing except to thecaptains of the regiment aloneno, not even to one of his council.Yet I knew that he planned evil, and was half inclined to warn theCaptain Retief, but did not, fearing to make myself foolish. Now allthis while I wondered what was in the mind of Dingaan and was afraidfor the Amaboona. Before the paper was signed the king gave a great dance, forthere were many regiments gathered at the kraal, and for three daysthis dance went on, but on the third day he dismissed the regiments,all except one, an impi of lads, who were commanded to stay. On the morrow the king promised to sign the paper giving the landsthey asked for to the Boers, and all was smooth as water when there isno wind. Ou I think ill of thoseAmaboona, though it was I who gave them the victory over DingaanIand Umslopogaas. Now it is, my father, that the white men come into my story, whom wenamed the Amaboona, but you call the Boers. Now the messengers cried out the royal salute of Bayete, and, leapingforward like spears from the hand of the thrower, were gone at once.But we, the councillors, the members of the Amapakati, still stoodsilent. We found him standing before his greathut, and, lifting our hands, we saluted him silently, saying no word.It was Dingaan who spoke, laughing a little as he spoke, like a manwho is uneasy in his mind. Now I and the other councillors turned away and walked silentlytowards the house of the king. We, the councillors, stood astounded, like men who had become stone but before we could speak or act the captain of the regiment had alsocried aloud, "Bulalani Abatakati I will not tell youthey were massacred and piled in aheap, and that was of their story, my father.
Then he turned and walked back again towards thegateway which led to his royal house, and I saw that near thisentrance stood the captain of the regiments, as one stands by whowaits for orders. It was atthis moment that I heard Dingaan give an order to a messenger to runswiftly to the white Doctor of Prayers, who was staying without thekraal, telling him not to be afraid, and I wondered what this mightmean for why should the Prayer Doctor fear a dance such as he hadoften seen before? Presently Dingaan rose, and, followed by all,walked through the press to where the Captain Retief stood, and badehim goodbye, shaking him by the hand and bidding him hambla gachle,to go in peace. Now the regiment began to dance, singing the Ingomo, that is the warchant of us Zulus, my father, and the Boers drew back towards thecentre of the space to give the soldiers room to dance in. Now, of a sudden, my father, Dingaan stopped and cried with a loudvoice, "Bulalani Abatakati" slay the wizards, and having cried it,he covered his face with the corner of his blanket, and passed behindthe fence.
Thisthe Boers agreed to, and went to attack the chief, and in a littlewhile they came back again, having destroyed the people of Sigomyela,and driving his cattle before them as well as those which had beenstolen from the king. But, by my council and that of other indunas, Dingaan,bargained with the Boers that first they should attack a certain chiefnamed Sigomyela, who had stolen some of the king's cattle, and wholived near the Quathlamba Mountains, and bring back those cattle. This was their purpose: to get a grant ofthe land in Natal that lies between the Tugela and the Umzimouburivers. Well, when I had been back from the Ghost Mountain something less thana moon, the Boers came, sixty of them commanded by a captain namedRetief, a big man, and armed with roersthe long guns they had inthose daysor, perhaps they numbered a hundred in all, counting theirservants and afterriders.
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