“We understand,” rang the answer from three hundred throats.
“Let your king advance, let him tell me his name, and let him open his ears and lips so that he can hear better.”
“M’Rua! M’Rua!” many voices began to cry out.
M’Rua stepped out of the rank and file, but took only three steps forward. He was an aged n***o, tall and strongly built, but who evidently had no courage to spare, for his legs trembled so that he had to dig the point of his spear into the ground and to lean on its hilt to keep from falling.
Other warriors followed his example, and dug their spears into the ground, as a sign that they wished to listen peacefully to the tidings of the stranger.
Thereupon Kali declaimed at the top of his voice:
“M’Rua, and you, M’Rua’s people! You have heard that the son of the king o
