reason, Cetywayo, who was blown up with pride, was at first adverse
to being thus nominated, and came down to the royal kraal with three
thousand armed followers, meaning, it would see, to kill Mr. Shepstone,
whom he had never before met. Panda, the old king, had an inkling of
what was to happen, but was powerless to control his son, so he confined
himself to addressing the assembled multitude in what I have heard Sir
Theophilus Shepstone say was the most eloquent and touching speech he
ever listened to, the subject being the duties of hospitality. He did
not at the time know how nearly the speech concerned him, or that its
object was to preserve his life. This, however, soon became manifest
when, exception being taken to some breech of etiquette by one of his
servants, he was surrounded by a mob of shouting savages, whose evident
object was to put an end to him and those with him. For two hours he
remained sitting there, expecting that every moment would be his
last, but showing not the slightest emotion, till at length he got an
opportunity of speaking, when he rose and said, "I know that you mean to
kill me; it is an easy thing to do; but I tell you Zulus, that for every
drop of my blood that falls to the ground, a hundred men will come
out of the sea yonder, from the country of which Natal is one of the
cattle-kraals, and will bitterly avenge me." As he spoke he turned
and pointed towards the ocean, and so intense was the excitement that
animated it, that the whole great multitude turned with him and stared
towards the horizon, as though they expected to see the long lines of
avengers creeping across the plains. Silence followed his speech; his
imperturbability and his well-timed address had saved his life. From
that day his name was a power in the land.[*]

[*] A very good description of this scene was published in
the _London Quarterly Review_ in 1878. The following is an
extract: