gathered to salute the king there in his Great Place according to
custom, you shall stand forth before the king and renounce Noma, and she
shall pass back to the care of my household. You yourself shall bring
her to where I stand, and as I take her from you I will put into your
hand a certain powder. Then you shall return to the side of the
king, and after our fashion shall give him to drink the bowl of the
first-fruits; but as you stir the beer, you will let fall into it that
powder which I have given you. The king will drink, and what he leaves
undrunk you will throw out upon the dust.

"Now he will rise to give out to the people his royal decree, whereby,
Prince, you are to be deposed from your place as heir, and your brother,
Nodwengo, is to be set in your seat. But of that decree never a word
shall pass his lips; if it does, recall your saying and take back the
lady Noma from where she stands beside me. I tell you that never a word
will pass his lips; for even as he rises a stroke shall take him, such
a stroke as often falls upon the fat and aged, and he will sink to the
ground snoring through his nostrils. For a while thereafter--it may be
six hours, it may be twelve--he shall lie insensible, and then a cry
will arise that the king is dead!"

"Ay," said Hafela, "and that I have poisoned him!"

"Why, Prince? Few know what is in your father's mind, and with those,
being king, you will be able to deal. Also this is the virtue of the
poison which I choose, that it is swift, yet the symptoms of it are the
symptoms of a natural sickness. But that your safety and mine may be
assured, I have made yet another plan, though of this there will be
little need. You were present two days since when a runner came from the
white man who sojourns beyond our border, he who seeks to teach us, the