“Ignosi, Son of the Lightning,” answered his uncle, “to-night is the great dance and witch-hunt.  Many shall be smelt out and perish, and in the hearts of many others there will be grief and anguish and fury against the king Twala.  When the dance is over, then I will speak to some of the great chiefs, who in turn, if I can win them over, will speak to their regiments.  I shall speak to the chiefs softly at first, and bring them to see that thou art indeed the king, and I think that by to-morrow’s light thou shalt have twenty thousand spears at thy command.  And now I must go and think, and hear, and make ready.  After the dance is done, if I am yet alive, and we are all alive, I will meet thee here, and we can talk.  At the best there must be war.”

At this moment our conference was interrupted by the cry that messengers had come from the king.  Advancing to the door of the hut we ordered that they should be admitted, and presently three men entered, each bearing a shining shirt of chain armour, and a magnificent battle-axe.

“The gifts of my lord the king to the white men from the Stars!” said a herald who came with them.

“We thank the king,” I answered; “withdraw.”

The men went, and we examined the armour with great interest.  It was the most wonderful chain work that either of us had ever seen.  A whole coat fell together so closely that it formed a mass of links scarcely too big to be covered with both hands.

“Do you make these things in this country, Infadoos?” I asked; “they are very beautiful.”

“Nay, my lord, they came down to us from our forefathers.  We know not who made them, and there are but few left.[*] None but those of royal blood may be clad in them.  They are magic coats through which no spear can pass, and those who wear them are well-nigh safe in the battle.  The king is well pleased or much afraid, or he would not have sent these garments of steel.  Clothe yourselves in them to-night, my lords.”

[*] In the Soudan swords and coats of mail are still worn by Arabs,
    whose ancestors must have stripped them from the bodies of
    Crusaders.—­Editor.

The remainder of that day we spent quietly, resting and talking over the situation, which was sufficiently exciting.  At last the sun went down, the thousand watch fires glowed out, and through the darkness we heard the tramp of many feet and the clashing of hundreds of spears, as the regiments passed to their appointed places to be ready for the great dance.  Then the full moon shone out in splendour, and as we stood watching her rays, Infadoos arrived, clad in his war dress, and accompanied by a guard of twenty men to escort us to the dance.  As he recommended, we had already donned the shirts of chain armour which the king had sent us, putting them on under our ordinary clothing, and finding to our surprise that they were neither very heavy nor uncomfortable.  These steel shirts, which evidently had been made for men of a very large stature, hung somewhat loosely upon Good and myself, but Sir Henry’s fitted his magnificent frame like a glove.  Then strapping our revolvers round our waists, and taking in our hands the battle-axes which the king had sent with the armour, we started.