During this speech Tuys watched me keenly. I could feel that there was war in the air. The people of Swaziland had come to the end of their patience and were determined to set up their king whether Labotsibeni and Lomwazi liked it or not. On my part, I was practically pledged to keep peace in Swaziland and could not be party to a war, even if it meant the success of my enterprise. Keeping this thought in mind, I addressed the queen before Tuys could reply. "Nkosikaas, Mother of the King," I said as impressively as I could, "this is talk of war! We must not have killing. Your son must not gain his throne through bloodshed. "This would be a poor business, Nkosikaas. The government would not sanction his taking the throne by force and he would be driven out by the rifles of the English. War must be avoided at all costs, since Sebuza would lose, even if he won!" I went on at length, pointing out the foolishness of war and trying to get the queen and the indunas to change their minds. I could see that the indunas were set on war, and they had convinced Tzaneen that it was the only way. Down in my heart I had a sort of feeling that they were right. Tuys also backed me up and talked of the mistakes made by the Swazis when he was young. He explained that they must obey the government and told them how impossible it would be for them to wage war against Labotsibeni without its consent. He made a good argument against killing and practically converted the queen. Then Sebuza came in! With him was Lochien and a number of the younger indunas. Immediately the debate became heated. Lochien took our side, but Sebuza and his men sided with the indunas from Stegea. The queen remained neutral, though I felt she would have liked to come out for war. It was Sebuza who made the deciding speech. "Who am I that I am kept out of my kingdom?" he almost shouted. "I, the son of Buno and grandson of Umbandine! I have thousands and thousands of warriors, and all the people of my country wait for me to become king. All my indunas and warriors wait for me to give the word, when they will sweep over the land and crush Labotsibeni and Lomwazi! "I call for war! I call to my people to come to me and destroy those who hold the throne from Sebuza, son of Buno!" With this kindly thought the prince sat down, and I could see that practically all the indunas were in favor of his suggestions. It looked as though we were to have a civil war whether we wanted it or not. But I thought of Commissioner Honey's remarks and decided to make another effort to avoid a conflict. I suggested to the queen that the indunas be dismissed and that we hold a conference to decide the question of whether or not there should be war. When the indunas had gone, there was a sort of "executive session" attended by the queen, Sebuza, Lochien, Vilakazi, Oom Tuys, and myself.