“Indeed,” said Dingaan suspiciously, “if that is what this man-woman says, her eyes tell one story and her lips another. Oh! Tho-maas, lie no more. Speak the true words of the white chieftainess, lest I should find them out otherwise, and give you to the slayers.” Thus adjured, Halstead explained that he had not yet told all the words. The “man-woman,” who was, as he, Dingaan, supposed, a great chieftainess among the Dutch, added that if he, the mighty and glorious king, the earth-shaker, the world-eater, killed her or any of her subjects, her people would avenge her by killing him and his people. “Does she say that?” said Dingaan. “Then, as I thought, these Boers are dangerous, and not the peaceful folk they make themselves out to be,” and he brooded for a while, staring at the ground. Presently he lifted his head and went on: “Well, a bet is a bet, and therefore I will not wipe out this handful, as otherwise I would have done at once. Tell the old cow of a chieftainess that, notwithstanding her threats, I stick to my promise. If the little Son of George, Macumazahn, can shoot three vultures out of five by help of his magic, then she and her servants shall go free. If not, the vultures which he has missed shall feed on them, and afterwards I will talk with her people when they come to avenge her. Now, enough of this _indaba_. Bring those evildoers here that they may thank and praise me, who give them so merciful an end.” So the grandfather, the father, and the son were hustled before Dingaan by the soldiers, and greeted him with the royal salute of “_bayète_.” “O king,” said the old man, “I and my children are innocent. Yet if it pleases you, O king, I am ready to die, and so is my son. Yet we pray you to spare the little one. He is but a boy, who may grow up to do you good service, as I have done to you and your House for many years.” “Be silent, you white-headed dog!” answered Dingaan fiercely. “This lad is a wizard, like the rest of you, and would grow up to bewitch me and to plot with my enemies. Know that I have stamped out all your family, and shall I then leave him to breed another that would hate me? Begone to the World of Spirits, and tell them how Dingaan deals with sorcerers.” The old man tried to speak again, for evidently he loved this grandchild of his, but a soldier struck him in the face, and Dingaan shouted: “What! Are you not satisfied? I tell you that if you say more I will force you to kill the boy with your own hand. Take them away.” Then I turned and hid my face, as did all the white folk. Presently I heard the old man, whom they had saved to the last that he might witness the deaths of his descendants, cry in a loud voice: “On the night of the thirtieth full moon from this day I, the far-sighted, I, the prophet, summon thee, Dingaan, to meet me and mine in the Land of Ghosts, and there to pay—”