"I gave it to both of you, O twin stars of the morning, princes of the
Zulu--in the dream of Chaka I gave it to both of you."
Now the princes looked this way and that, and were silent, not knowing
what to say, for these princes hated each other, though adversity and
fear had brought them to one bed.
"But what avails it to talk thus, ye lords of the land," I went on,
"seeing that, both of you, ye are already as dead men, and that
vultures which are hungry to-night to-morrow shall be filled with meat
of the best? Chaka the king is now a Doctor of Dreams, and to clear
away such a dream as this he has a purging medicine."
Now the brows of these brothers grew black indeed, for they saw that
their fate was on them.
"These are the words of Chaka the king, O ye bulls who lead the herd!
All are doomed, ye twain and I, and many another man who loves us. In
the great kraal beyond the river there sits a regiment: it is summoned
--and then--good-night! Have ye any words to say to those yet left
upon the earth? Perhaps it will be given to me to live a little while
after ye are gone, and I may bring them to their ears."
"Can we not rise up now and fall upon Chaka?" asked Dingaan.
"It is not possible," I said; "the king is guarded."
"Hast thou no plan, Mopo?" groaned Umhlangana. "Methinks thou hast a
plan to save us.
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