Unquestionably the most important personage in this group was a splendid figure of a savage, attired in a sort of petticoat of leopard-skin reaching to just above the knee, a mantle of lion-skin thrown over his shoulders, gold bangles on his arms and ankles, a beautifully worked coronet of gold adorned with crimson feathers of the flamingo, two necklaces--one composed of lions' teeth and claws, and the other, and larger, of unpolished stones that seemed to emit a faint glint of ruddy fire--round his neck. He was armed with a sheaf of short, broad-bladed stabbing spears, and was seated on a sort of throne entirely covered with an immense kaross of lions' skin. Behind him stood eight savages, as finely built men as himself, whose dress and adornments at once proclaimed them to be chiefs, and persons of very great importance in the Makolo nation. The individual upon the throne was of course none other than the king himself. Boldly advancing to within about ten paces of the seated monarch, Grosvenor and Dick halted, and, according to pre-arrangement, gave His Majesty a military salute. Then Dick, addressing the king in his best Kafir, remarked: "Hail! Lobelalatutu, King of the Makolo, we salute you." Which the interpreter, who had followed them, promptly interpreted. "I see you, white men," answered the king, slightly raising his right hand in acknowledgement of the salute. "You are welcome to the country of the Makolo. When I was informed of your approach I gave certain orders to my people concerning your comfort and welfare. I trust that those orders have been obeyed to your satisfaction." "Your words, O King! have been most implicitly obeyed, and we thank you for them, as also for the welcome that you have extended to us," returned Dick. "The four Spirits of the Winds will be pleased to learn, when we return, that you have not forgotten the injunctions that they laid upon you." "The four Spirits of the Winds!" ejaculated the king, in great surprise, not wholly untinged with trepidation--which emotions were even more strongly displayed by the chiefs who stood about him. "Know ye then those terrible beings?" [Note 1.] "Even so," answered Dick composedly. "We know that they twice visited the Makolo country; and we also know,"--he added with emphasis--"what happened upon each of those occasions. We know what happened to M'Bongwele, the former king of the Makolo; and we know why Lobelalatutu was chosen king in his place." "_Wau_!" murmured the assembled chiefs behind their hands, in awestricken tones; "it is wonderful!" while Lobelalatutu shifted uneasily in his seat as he gazed apprehensively in the faces of his two visitors. For nearly a minute he remained silent, apparently debating within himself some very puzzling question. Then he said: