tell me, Bangu, for there are so many worlds beyond the sun, and I would
learn for certain which of them such a one as you inhabits: a man who
for hatred and for gain murders the father and the mother and then
butchers the child--the child that could slay a warrior who has seen
war--with the spear hot from his mother's heart.'

"'Do you mean that I shall die if I kill this lad?' shouted Bangu in a
great voice.

"'What else?' answered Zikali, taking another pinch of snuff.

"'This, Wizard; that we will go together.'

"'Good, good!' laughed the dwarf. 'Let us go together. Long have I
wished to die, and what better companion could I find than Bangu, Chief
of the Amakoba, Slayer of Children, to guard me on a dark and terrible
road. Come, brave Bangu, come; kill me if you can,' and again he
laughed at him.

"Now, Macumazahn, the people of Bangu fell back muttering, for they
found this business horrible. Yes, even those who held my arms let go
of them.

"'What will happen to me, Wizard, if I spare the boy?' asked Bangu.

"Zikali stretched out his hand and touched the scratch that the assegai
had made in me here. Then he held up his finger red with my blood, and
looked at it in the light of the moon; yes, and tasted it with his
tongue.