Nada the Lily

any were smelt out by the witch-doctors as working magic against the king. Now things had come to this pass in Zululand-that the whole people cowered before the witch-docto

the land was that he whom the witch-doctor touched must die, he and all his house; therefore the king was in a cleft stick, for he scarcely dared to save even those whom he loved. One night I came to doctor him, for he was sick in his mind. On that very day there had been an Ingomboco,

e, then, is it to end? Shall I myself be smelt out and slain? These Isanusis are too strong

darkly; "even witch-doctors cannot keep a footing on that bridge. Has not a witch

o darest to speak thus to me, Mopo," he said. "Dost t

ue Isanusi, but what if the Isanusi be a liar? What if he smell out falsely, bringing those to death who are i

ow tell me, son of Makedama, how

ring into the ear of the Blac

Also, I feared for my own life and for the lives of all those who were dear to me. For they

n worked upon him by a wizard. They came together and saw this. On the door-posts of the gateway of the Intunkulu, the house of the king, were great smears of blo

terrible voice. "Who has dared to bewitch

spirits. All his tribe shall go with him, down to the baby in his hut and cattle in his kraal! Let messengers go out east and west, and north and south, and summon the witch-doctors from every quarter! Let them summon the cap

flocked up to the gates of the royal kraal, and, creeping on their knees before the majesty of the king, praised him aloud. But he vouchsafed an answer to no

ood is known in Nata

em, and they were made hideous and terrible with the white bones of men, with bladders of fish and of oxen, with fat of wizards, and with skins of

we have come from th

he sw

the blood o

ost from the air as vu

a

nt the blood

king: with each Wis

os

the name of

or we are the sons a

s our feet t

er the plain, red sin

s, and bid t

eds, you who cried fo

all we bid

rds, for they knew well that many a man would be switched with the gnu's tail before the sun sank once more. And I, too, trembled, for my heart was full of fear. Ah! my father, those were evil days to live

was death-and seated themselves in the great circle before the gates of the royal house. Oh! their looks were sad, and they had little stomach for eating that morning, they who were foo

any as the game on the hills-cast themselves to earth, and from every lip sharp and sudden went up the royal salute of Bayete. But Chaka took no note; his brow was cloudy as a mountain-top. He cast one gl

a band of maidens arrayed in their beaded dancing-dresses, and carrying green b

lds of the king

hall eat i

is good to die

In the left hand of each was the tail of a vilderbeeste, in the right a bundle of assegais and a little shield. They were awful to see, and the bones about them rattled as they ran, the bladders and the snake-skins floated in the air behind them, their faces sho

ry rattling of their bony necklets, till they stood in long ranks before the Black One. Awhile they stood thus, then sud

ildren!" ans

, Father?" they cr

the guilty,"

ach; the company of the men spo

f the Zulu

fed!" screa

the Zulu sm

e it!" screa

earch out t

their dead!" scr

he paths of the air and find them, ye vultures! Smell at the gates of the people and name them, ye jackals! ye hunters in the night! Drag them from the caves if they be hidden, from the distance if they be fled, from the graves if they be

nished, Father,

her Isanusis, male and female, sat down in a half-moon facing the king, but this woman drew forward, and with her came nine of her sisterhood. They turned east and west, north and south, searching the heavens; they turned east and west, north and south, searching the earth; they turned east and west, north and south

h Nobela

mell him,

him," they

t in the ea

the east," t

n of a strang

son of a

s I, my father, I who was about to be smelt out; and if I was smelt out I should be killed with all my house, for the king's oath would scarcely avail me against the witch-doctors. I looked at the fierce faces of the Isanusis before me, as they crept, crept like snakes. I glanced behind and saw the slayers grasping their kerries for the deed of death, and

e quite near

lsely, sisters?" as

he night we see in th

his name in you

d the necklets of bones rattled on their skinny necks. Then they drew their heads

Let him be named by it in the face of Heaven, him and a

head. They leaped at me, pointing to me with the tails of the vilderbeestes in their h

who smotest blood on the door-posts of the king t

bounded forward to hale me to the dreadful death, but my tongue clave to the roof of my mouth-I could not say

ped in their stride, the witch-doctors stood with outstretched a

, and those with thee who have named him evildoer! What? Shall I be satisfied with the life of one d

d. For till this hour, when a man was swept with the gnu's tail of the Isanusi that was the instant of his death. Why, then, men asked in their hearts, was the deat

did, and yet they worked otherwise, for this is the fashion of the Isanusis, that no two of them smell out in the

t; "and ye who have hunted out their wickedness, stand ye with those

e. And they named certain of the great generals, and were in turn

snare. Yet the king's bidding must be done, and though their magic failed them here, victims must be found. So they smelt out this man and that man till we were a great company of the doomed, who sat in silence on the ground looking at each other with sad eyes and watching the sun, which we deemed our last, climb slowly

ers of the Emposeni, the house of the women. But there was one man of their company, a young man and a tall, who held ba

e whom they had smelt out, the king called aloud to the last of the witch-doc

am of the tribe of the Maquilisini. Does the king bid me to smell out

ee," said

gestures, but as one who walks from his gate to the cattle kraal, and suddenly he struck the

title for t

ltitude, and all looked to see this fool kille

and who were the false! Now it seems that in the land of the Zulu there is one true doctor-this young man-and of the false, look at them and count them, they are like the leaves. See! there they stand

p from all the multitude

d. "Let them die

tearing themselves with their nails, for least of all things did they desire

omed to death by these false prophets. Now glut yourselves upon them. Slay them, my ch

terrors we had borne. The doomed slew the doomers, while from the circle of the Ingomboco a great roa

e feet of many. The king drew near to look. He came alone, and all who had done his bidding bent their heads and crept past him, praising him as they went. Only I stood still, covered, as I

set the snare for them; yet methought I saw thee start when Nobela, queen of the witch-doctresses, switched death on thee. Well, they are dead, and

e slain this way and that, till at length it stood upon its feet and tottered towards us-a thing dreadful to look on. The shape was the shape of an aged woman, and eve

d wounds upon her face and form. I saw that she was dying, but life

ng!" she

he answered;

orning when I was alive; now that I am as one already dead, I smell him out again. He shall bewitch thee with blood indeed, Chaka-he and Unandi, thy mother, and Bal

ds of dead Nobela remained fixed in his memory, or so much of them as had been spoken of Unandi and Ba

o of Chaka, the greatest Ingomboc