Shiminya seemed to take no further notice of their presence, continuing to sway the _muti_ bowl from side to side, muttering the while. The faces of the three indunas wore an expression of scarcely to be concealed disgust; that of Zazwe in addition showed unutterable contempt. He was an unprepossessing looking man, lean, and of middle height, with a cold, cruel countenance. At bottom he loathed and despised the whole Umlimo hierarchy as a pack of rank impostors, but it suited him now to cultivate them, for he was an arrant schemer, and would fain see every white man in the country cut to pieces. "There are three goats in thy kraal beyond the river, Shiminya," he began presently, tired of the silence. "That is good, my father," the sorcerer condescended to reply. "They are for Umlimo?" "Nay; for his child." "And--for Umlimo?" "There is a young heifer." "_Au_! Of such there will soon be no more," replied Shiminya. "No more?" echoed the trio. "No more. The whites are bewitching all the cattle in the land. Soon you will see great things. The land will stink with their rotting carcases." A murmur went up from the three listeners. They all bent eagerly forward. Shiminya, who knew his dupes, was in no hurry. He continued to shake his bowl of abomination and mutter; then he went on: "The last time you heard the Great Voice, what did it say? Were not the words thereof as mine are now--I, its child? _Whau_! I fear there were some who heard that voice and laughed, Izinduna--who heard that voice and did not believe." At this juncture there came a subdued wail, inexpressibly doleful, from one of the huts. It was answered by a snarl from another. Two of the three chiefs, listening, felt perturbed, the countenance of Zazwe alone preserving its hard, sceptical expression; though, to tell the truth, even he--so rooted is the innate superstition of savages--did not feel entirely at ease in his surroundings. "There is, further, a good milch cow for the Umlimo," spake Madula, "and for his child a heifer." "It is well. There will soon be no more," repeated the wizard. "And three fat-tailed sheep, and for Umlimo a young bull," said Samvu. "That, too, is good," was the cold acknowledgment of Shiminya, "for there will soon be no more."