“These courtesies concluded, Nala called upon his daughter Maiwa to tell her tale to the head men, and this she did most simply and effectively. She reminded them that she had gone as an unwilling bride to Wambe—that no cattle had been paid for her, because Wambe had threatened war if she was not sent as a free gift. Since she had entered the kraal of Wambe her days had been days of heaviness and her nights nights of weeping. She had been beaten, she had been neglected and made to do the work of a low-born wife—she, a chief’s daughter. She had borne a child, and this was the story of the child. Then amidst a dead silence she told them the awful tale which she had already narrated to me. When she had finished, her hearers gave a loud ejaculation. ‘_Ou!_’ they said, ‘_ou!_ Maiwa, daughter of Nala!’ “‘Ay,’ she went on with flashing eyes, ‘ay, it is true; my mouth is as full of truth as a flower of honey, and for tears my eyes are like the dew upon the grass at dawn. It is true I saw the child die—here is the proof of it, councillors,’ and she drew forth the little dead hand and held it before them. “‘_Ou!_’ they said again, ‘_ou!_ it is the dead hand!’ “‘Yes,’ she continued, ‘it is the dead hand of my dead child, and I bear it with me that I may never forget, never for one short hour, that I live that I may see Wambe die, and be avenged. Will you bear it, my father, that your daughter and your daughter’s child should be so treated by a Matuku? Will ye bear it, men of my own people?’ “‘No,’ said an old Induna, rising, ‘it is not to be borne. Enough have we suffered at the hands of these Matuku dogs and their loud-tongued chief; let us put it to the issue.’ “‘It is not to be borne indeed,’ said Nala; ‘but how can we make head against so great a people?’ “‘Ask of him—ask of Macumazahn, the wise white man,’ said Maiwa, pointing at me. “‘How can we overcome Wambe, Macumazahn the hunter?’ “‘How does the jackal overreach the lion, Nala?’ “‘By cleverness, Macumazahn.’ “‘So shall you overcome Wambe, Nala.’ “At this moment an interruption occurred. A man entered and said that messengers had arrived from Wambe. “‘What is their message?’ asked Nala. “‘They come to ask that thy daughter Maiwa be sent back, and with her the white hunter.’ “‘How shall I make answer to this, Macumazahn?’ said Nala, when the man had withdrawn. “‘Thus shalt thou answer,’ I said after reflection; ‘say that the woman shall be sent and I with her, and then bid the messengers be gone. Stay, I will hide myself here in the hut that the men may not see me,’ and I did. “Shortly afterwards, through a crack in the hut, I saw the messengers arrive, and they were great truculent-looking fellows. There were four of them, and evidently they had travelled night and day. They entered with a swagger and squatted down before Nala. “‘Your business?’ said Nala, frowning. “‘We come from Wambe, bearing the orders of Wambe to Nala his servant,’ answered the spokesman of the party.